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by Harry Cowell

How old is song
Language: English 
Before a man had sung a note
Or a song bird warbled in its throat,
The winds were whipering through the trees 
Wild prehistoric melodies
Prophetic of the days to come
When man would make him harps to strum
The halls of heaven with music rang
The morning stars together sang,
Prophetic of the voice of him
Who chants of choiring Seraphin
From chaos the orchestral seas
Were forming polyharmonies.
No song is new, Man sings and rings
Times changes in eternal things;
His voice prophetic of a long
Lone silence to succeed his song.

Note: the author is the father of the composer Henry Cowell.


Text Authorship:

  • by Harry Cowell  [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Henry Dixon Cowell (1897 - 1965), "How old is song", L. 477, published 1931 [voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-07-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 95

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