by Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875)
Oh! I wish I were a tiny browny bird...
Language: English
Oh! I wish I were a tiny browny bird from out the south, Settled among the alder-holts, and twittering by the stream; I would put my tiny tail down, and put up my tiny mouth, And sing my tiny life away in one melodious dream. I would sing about the blossoms, and the sunshine and the sky, And the tiny wife I mean to have in such a cosy nest; And if some one came and shot me dead, why then I could but die, With my tiny life and tiny song just ended at their best.
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Text Authorship:
- by Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875), "Valentine's Day", written 1873, appears in Poems, first published 1878 [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 Murray MacDonald Davey , "Valentine's Day", published 1902 [ voice and piano ], from Song Tide, London: Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1877 - 1946), "Valentine's Day", published c1932 [ unison chorus and piano ], London: Edward Arnold [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hermann Frederic Löhr (1872 - 1943), "I wish I were a tiny bird", published 1902 [ voice and piano; also published as a vocal duet ], London: Chappell [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hubert S. Middleton , "Valentine's Day", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], Composers Music Corp. [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-02-18
Line count: 8
Word count: 97