by John Gay (1685 - 1732)
Youth's the season made for joys
Language: English
Youth's the season made for joys; Love is then our duty. She alone who that employs Well deserves her beauty. Let's be gay while we may Drink and sport yet today; Let's be gay while we may, Beauty's a flow'r despis'd in decay. Let us drink and sport today; Ours is not tomorrow. Love with youth flies swift away, Age is naught but sorrow.1 Dance and sing, Time's on the wing, Life never knows the return of spring.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Carter adds
Let's be gay, Dance and sing; Let's be gay, Time's on the wing,
Text Authorship:
- by John Gay (1685 - 1732), Air XXII from The Beggar's Opera, first published 1728 [author's text not yet checked 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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Youth's the season made for joys", 2005 [ tenor and piano ], from Three Airs from the Beggar's Opera, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (1908 - 2012), "Let's be gay" [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 78