My little doll | I once had a sweet little doll, dears | I once had a sweet little doll, dears

I once had a sweet little doll, dears

Language: English

I once had a sweet little doll, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world;
Her cheeks were so red and so white, dears,
And her hair was so charmingly curled.
But I lost my poor little doll, dears,
As I played in the heath one day;
And I cried for more than a week, dears,
But I never could find where she lay.

I found my poor little doll, dears,
As I played in the heath one day:
Folks say she is terribly changed, dears,
For her paint is all washed away,
And her arms trodden off by the cows, dears
And her hair not the least bit curled:
Yet for old sakes' sake she is still, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875), "My little doll", appears in The Water-Babies, first published 1862 [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 (William) Havergal Brian (1876 - 1972), "The Lost Doll", 1914, published 1929 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912), "A sweet little doll", op. 19 no. 2e (1898), published 1898 [ voice and piano ], from Little Songs for Little Folks, op. 19 no. 2, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by (Isador) George Henschel (1850 - 1934), "I once had a sweet little doll", op. 36 no. 3, published 1884 [ voice and piano ], from Three Songs from Kingsley's "Water-Babies", no. 3, Hamburg, Cranz, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
by Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (1862 - 1901), "I once had a sweet little doll, dears", 1883 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger (1837 - 1917), "I once had a sweet little doll, dears", op. 14 [ high voice and piano ], Éditions de la Société musicale (G. Astruc & Cie), also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger (1837 - 1917) ; composed by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by George Henschel.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-02
Line count: 16
Word count: 124