by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
The Queen she sent to look for me
Language: English
The Queen she sent to look for me, The sergeant he did say, "Young man, a soldier will you be For thirteen pence a day?" For thirteen pence a day did I Take off the things I wore, And I have marched to where I lie, And I shall march no more. My mouth is dry, my shirt is wet, My blood runs all away, So now I shall not die in debt For thirteen pence a day. To-morrow after new young men The sergeant he must see, For things will all be over then Between the Queen and me. And I shall have to bate my price, For in the grave, they say, Is neither knowledge nor device Nor thirteen pence a day.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), "Grenadier", appears in Last Poems, no. 5, first published 1922 [author's text checked 2 times 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 John Addison (b. 1920), "Grenadier", published 1951 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin Burrows (1891 - 1966), "Grenadier", 1927 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "Thirteen pence a day" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Oskar Morawetz (b. 1917), "Grenadier", 1950, published 1962 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "The grenadier - The Queen she sent to look for me" [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-18
Line count: 20
Word count: 124