1. |
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The words (taking the last verse) are
...on the twelfth day of Christmas the choir processed in song
and twelve candles dripped
eleven altos flipped
and ten lines were clipped
and nine gins were sipped
and eight crept to the crypt
and seven hymn books slipped
and six basses quipped
and five sang in tune!
and four cassocks ripped
and three lost their script
and two tenors tripped
and the soloist got it all wrong.
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2. |
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Refrain
There were plums and prunes and cherries
There were raisins and currants and cinnamon too.
There were nuts and cloves and berries
but the crust it was stuck on with glue.
There were caraway seeds in abundance,
It would give yer a fine stomach ache
'Twould kill any man twice to be eatin'
A slice of Mrs Hooligan's Christmas cake.
As I sat in me window last evenin'
A letterman came unto me.
He'd a nice little neat invitation
Sayin' "Won't you come over to tea?"
I knew it was Hooligan sent it
So I went for our friendship's sake
And the first thing he gave me to tackle
Was a slice of Mrs. Hooligan's cake.
Now Bridie Mulligan wanted to taste it,
Ah but sure it was all of no use.
Though she worked at it over one hour
Still she could get not any of it loose.
Till Hooligan went for the hatchet,
And Kelly came in with the saw
That cake was enough, by the power,
To paralyse any man's jaw.
Now Mrs. Hooligan proud as a peacock,
she was smilin' and blinkin' away
Till she tripped over Flanigan's brogans
and spill'd the whole brewins of tay.
Mrs Hooly, she cried: "you're not eatin'.
Won't you try a bit more for my sake."
"I've a roof to repair, Misses Hoolie,
so I'd like the recipe for that cake."
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3. |
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Venerable Mother Toothache
Climb down from your white battlements,
Stop twisting in your yellow fingers
The fourfold rope of nerves;
And tomorrow I will give you a tot of whiskey
To hold in your cupped hands,
A garland of anise flowers,
And three cloves like nails.
And tell the attendant gnomes
It is time to knock off now,
To shoulder their little pick-axes,
Their cold-chisels and drills.
And you may mount by a silver ladder
Into the sky, to grind
In the cracked polished mortar
Of the hollow moon.
By the lapse of warm [waters],
And the poppies nodding like red coals,
The paths on the granite mountains,
And the plantation of my dreams.
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4. |
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Wenn der Pott aber nu ein Loch hat [English translation below]
lieber Heinrich, lieber Heinrich?' -
'Stopf's zu liebe Liese, liebe Liese, stopf's zu!'
Womit soll ich's denn aber zustopfen, lieber Heinrich, lieber Heinrich?
Mit Stroh, liebe Liese, liebe Liese, mit Stroh!
Wenn's Stroh aber nu zu lang ist…
Hack's ab…
Womit soll ich's denn abhacken…
Mit'm Beil…
Wenn's Beil aber nu zu stumpf ist..
Mach's scharf…
Womit soll ich's aber scharf machen…
Mit'm Stein…
Wenn der Stein aber nu zu trocken ist…
Mach's nass…
Womit soll ich's aber nass machen…
Mit Wasser…
Womit soll ich aber Wasser holen
Mit'm Pott….
Aber wenn der Pott aber nu ein Loch hat......
But if the pot has a hole in it
dear Henry, dear Henry?
Plug it dear Lisa, dear Lisa plug it
But what should I plug it with
dear Henry dear Henry?
With straw dear Lisa, dear Lisa with straw
But if the straw is too long?
cut it...
But what should I cut it with?
with an axe...
But if the axe is too blunt?
sharpen it....
What should I sharpen it with?
with a stone...
If the stone is too dry?
make it wet
What should I make it wet with?
with water...
What should I fetch water with?
With the pot....
But if the pot has a hole in it.....
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5. |
Wine and Water
02:35
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Old Noah he had an ostrich farm with eggs on the largest scale,
He ate his egg with a ladle in a egg-cup big as a pail,
And the soup he took was Elephant Soup and fish he took was Whale,
But they all were small to the cellar he took when he set out to sail,
And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine,
"I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine."
The cataract of the cliff of heaven fell blinding off the brink
As if it would wash the stars away as suds go down a sink,
The seven heavens came roaring down for the throats of hell to drink,
And Noah he cocked his eye and said, "It looks like rain, I think,
The water has drowned the Matterhorn as deep as a Mendip mine,
But I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine."
But Noah he sinned, and we have sinned; on tipsy feet we trod,
Till a great big black teetotaller was sent to us for a rod,
And you can't get wine at a P.S.A., or chapel, or Eisteddfod,
For the Curse of Water has come again because of the wrath of God,
And water is on the Bishop's board and the Higher Thinker's shrine,
But I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine.
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6. |
Motor Bus
01:55
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What is it that roareth thus? [English translation below]
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum...
Implet in the Corn and High
Terror me Motoris Bi
Bo motori clamitabo
Ne motore caedar a bo...
Dative be or Ablative
So thou only let us live
Whither shall thy victims flee?
Spare us, spare us Motor Be....
Thus I sang and still anigh
Came in hordes Motores Bi
Et complebat omne forum
Copia Motorum Borum!
How shall wretches live like us
Cincti bis Motoribus
Domine defende nos
Contra nos motores bos!
- A.D. Godley
[English Translation]
What is is that roars so,
Can it be a motor bus?
Yes the smell and hideous hum
Indicates a motor bus...
In the Cornmarket and the High Street
Fear of the motor bus fills me
I call out to the motor bus
Lest I be killed by the motor bus
Dative be or Ablative
So thou only let us live
Whither shall thy victims flee?
Spare us, spare us Motor Bus....
So I sang and on and on
Motor buses came in hordes
And the whole market place was filled
With a host of motor buses
How shall wretches live like us
Beleaguered by motor buses
Lord defend us
From these motor buses!
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7. |
The mending of fuses
02:04
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Tonight we shall have the mending of fuses
Yesterday we had cleaning of waste pipes
and tomorrow mornng we shall have horrors we dare not imagine
But Tonight we shall have the mending of fuses
For convenience, fuse boxes are located in the darkest and most inaccessible corners of the domicile
Groping among spiders webs, I know whichever I choose first
The one I wanted will be last
To effect fuse mending properly one needs fuse wire
We ought to have had some somewhere
Butr would have saved an hour
If we had borrowed from next door in the first place
Tonight - after the flash! - we shall have the mending of fuses again
After the mending of plugs
Which we could do if we could remember the wiring
Which we could do if we could find the diagram from the Electicity board
Tomorrow we shall have the mending of fuses again
For tonight we shall make do with candles
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8. |
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You bumbling stupidity of buzzzzz
Striped furriness of fuzzzz
a dangleness of legs
noisily battering against the
unseen solidness of sky's deprivation
does freedom mean so much
that you buzz in fury
yet mean so little
that you scorn the other window's open aid
You bumbling stupidity of buzzzzzz
Striped furriness of fuzzzzz
be calm you furry roundness of anger
Lower frenzy's pitch
Let be gentle guided
to deep hummed content
sun-soaring unconfined
sun-soaring unconfined
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9. |
The witches' recipe
02:53
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Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd
Thrice and once the hedgepig whin'd
Harper cries: 'Tis time, 'tis time.
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights hast thirty one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hellbroth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch's mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd saltsea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark
Liver of blasphemer too,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
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10. |
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A centipede was happy quite,
until a frog in fun said:
"Pray tell which leg comes after which?"
This raised her mind to such a pitch,
She lay distracted in a ditch,
Considering how to run.
She stopped and thought
and mystified
and lifted one leg slowly
put right foot first
and found it left
her left leg was wrong
right side
She lay distracted in a ditch,
Considering how to run.
She stopped and
thought
and mystified
and lifted one
leg slowly
put right foot
first
and found it
left
wrong side
right side
with a left
right wrong
She lay distracted
in a ditch,
Considering
how to run.
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11. |
Bring us in good ale
02:34
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Bring us in good ale, and bring us in good ale;
For our Blessed Lady's sake, bring us in good ale.
1. Bring us in no brown bread, for that is made of bran,
Nor bring us in no white bread, there therein is no game;
But bring us in good ale.
2. Bring us in no beef, for there is many bones,
But bring us in good ale, for that goes down at once;
And bring us in good ale.
3. Bring us in no bacon, for that is passing fat,
But bring us in good ale, and give us enough of that;
And bring us in good ale.
4. Bring us in no mutton, for that is often lean,
Nor bring us in no tripes, for they be seldom clean;
And bring us in good ale.
5. Bring us in no eggs, for there are many shells,
But bring us in good ale, and give us nothing else;
And bring us in good ale.
6. Bring us in no butter, for therein are many hairs;
Nor bring us in no pig's flesh, for that will make us boars;
And bring us in good ale.
7. Bring us in no puddings, for therein is all God's good;
Nor bring us in no venison, for that is not for our blood;
And bring us in good ale.
8. Bring us in no capon's flesh, for that is often dear;
Nor bring us in no duck's flesh, for they slobber in the mere;
And bring us in good ale.
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12. |
Mit Lust tret ich
01:43
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Mit Lust tret ich an diesen Tanz, ich hoff,
mir werd ein schöner Kranz von einem schön
Jungfräuelein darum will ich ihr eigen sein.
So tret ich hie auf einen Stein:
Gott grüss mirs zart Jungfräuelein!
Und grüss euch Gott allsamt geleich,
sie seien arm oder reich,
Gott grüss euch all in einer G’mein,
darzu auch die klein!
So ich ein grüss, die ander nit,
so wär ich kein rechter Singer nit!
Right pleased am I to join this dance, I hope
a beautiful young maiden will give me a garland
Then I will be her own
So I step up here upon a stone
Tender maiden may God greet you
and may God greet all here the same,
be they poor or rich
God greet everyone together here,
even the little ones!
Because if I greet one and not the others,
I would not be a true singer!
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13. |
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Voice 3 sings "DOMINO" (= to the Lord) throughout
(sung here in octave organum)
Voice 1 sings:
Je languis de maus d'amours
Mieux aime assez qu'il m'ocie
Que nul autre maus
Trop est jolie la mort
Allegiés moi douce amie ceste maladie
Qu'amours ne m'ocie
(I languish from the pains of love
I really prefer that it should kill me
than any other pains
Death is too pretty
Sweet lover, relieve me of this illness
So that love may not kill me)
Voices 1 and 3 sing as before
Voice 2 joins in and sings:
Pucelete bele e avenant
Joliete polie et plaisant - la sadete que je desir tant
Mi fait lies jolis envoisies et amant
N'est en mai ainsi gai roussignolet chantant
S'amerai de cuer entierement
M'amiete la brunete jolietement
Bele amie qui ma vie en vo baillie aves tenue tant
Je voz cri merci en souspirant
(Beautiful maid, so lovely to see
Pretty, refined and pleasing - the young maid I desire so much
You make me happy, you make me fall in love
There is no nightingale that sings in May
Who would love so completely from the heart
My beautiful brunette, so prettily
My beautiful friend, who has my life in her hands,
I call upon you for mercy as I sigh)
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14. |
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Thule, the period of cosmography,
Doth vaunt of Hecla, whose sulphureous fire
Doth melt the frozen clime and thaw the sky;
Trinacrian Etna's flames ascend not higher.
These things seem wondrous, yet more wondrous I,
Whose heart with fear doth freeze, with love doth fry.
The Andalusian merchant, that returns
Laden with cochineal and China dishes,
Reports in Spain how strangely Fogo burns
Amidst an ocean full of flying fishes.
These things seem wondrous, yet more wondrous I,
Whose heart with fear doth freeze, with love doth fry.
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15. |
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Far in the distant Nile Valley down nameless highways unknown,
where the Dead Sea`s gloomy ripples break,
straining on their way unfinished home,
with a song in their hearts,
the swallows died,
unable to return.
Far in the distant Nile Valley down down nameless highways unknown.
They never came back to adorn the Spring with heady song,
to chant with the winds the green meadow,
rebuild abandoned nests.
They died on distant mountains, plains afar,
unable to return. Far away.
Can they subsist with the love of our hearts
or our gardens` blossoms gay
or our joyous vernal rains?
They who died on the way unfinished home.
Far in the distant Nile Valley.
Unable to return.
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16. |
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Up I arose in verno tempore [in springtime]
and found a maiden sub quadam arbore [under a tree]
that did complain in suo pectore [in her chest]
saying "I feel puerum movere [the little boy moving]
Adieu pleasures antiquo tempore, [in times gone by]
full oft with you solebam ludere. [I used to play]
but for my sins mihi deridere [they hold me in derision]
with right good cause incipio flere [I start to weep]
Now what shall I say meis parentibus, [to my parents]
because I lay with quidam clericus [some man of the cloth]
They will beat me cum virgis et fustibus [with sticks and clubs]
and me sore chaste coram omnibus [in front of everybody]
With the said child quid faciam [what shall I do]
shall I it keep vel interficiam [or kill it]
If I slay it quo loco fugiam [where shall I flee to]
I shall lose God et vitam eternam [and eternal life]
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17. |
Being but men
02:47
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Being but men, we walked into the trees
Afraid, letting our syllables be soft
For fear of waking the rooks,
For fear of coming
Noiselessly into a world of wings and cries.
If we were children we might climb,
Catch the rooks sleeping, and break no twig,
And, after the soft ascent,
Thrust out our heads above the branches
To wonder at the unfailing stars.
Out of confusion, as the way is,
And the wonder, that man knows,
Out of the chaos would come bliss.
That, then, is loveliness, we said,
Children in wonder watching the stars,
Is the aim and the end.
Being but men, we walked into the trees.
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18. |
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Ευλογητός εί, Χριστέ ο Θεός ημών,
ο πανσόφους τους αλιείς αναδείξας,
καταπέμψας αυτοίς το Πνεύμα το Άγιον,
και δι' αυτών την οικουμένην σαγηνεύσας,
Φιλάνθρωπε,
δόξα Σοι
[Transliteration]
Evloyitos i, Khriste o Theos imon
o pansofus tus aliis anadixas
katapempsas avtis to Pnevma to Ayion
ke dhi avton tin ikumenin sayinevsas
Filanthrope
Dhoxa Si
[English translation]
Blessed be you, O Christ our God
Who showed the fishermen to be most wise
you sent the Holy Spirit upon them
and through them you caught the inhabited world in your net
O Lover of Mankind
Glory to you
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19. |
Sing o daughter of Zion
03:20
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Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
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20. |
Flow my tears
03:58
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Flow, my tears,
fall from your springs!
Exiled for ever,
let me mourn;
Where night's black bird
her sad infamy sings,
There let me live
forlorn.
Down vain lights,
shine you no more!
No nights are dark
enough for those
That in despair
heir lost fortunes deplore.
Light doth but shame
disclose.
Never may my woes
be relieved,
Since pity is fled;
And tears and
sighs and groans
my weary days
Of all joys
have deprived.
From the highest
spire of contentment
My fortune is thrown;
And fear and grief
and pain for my deserts
Are my hopes,
since hope is gone.
Hark! you shadows
that in darkness dwell,
Learn to contemn light
Happy, happy they
that in hell
Feel not the
world's despite.
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21. |
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Come away, come sweet love
The golden morning breaks.
All the earth, all the air,
Of love and pleasure speaks:
Teach thine arms then to embrace,
And sweet Rosy Lips to kiss,
And mix our souls in mutual bliss.
Eyes were made for beauty's grace,
Viewing, Rueing. Love's long pain
Procur'd by beauty's rude disdain.
Come away, come sweet love,
The golden morning wastes,
While the sun from his sphere,
His fiery arrow casts:
Making all the shadows fly,
Playing, Staying In the grove,
To entertain the stealth of love.
Thither sweet love let us hie,
Flying, Dying In desire,
Wing'd with hopes and heav'nly fire.
Come away, come sweet love,
Do not in vain adorn
Beauty's grace, that should rise,
Like to the naked morn:
Lilies on the river's side,
And fair Cyprian Flow'rs new-blown.
Desire no beauties but their own.
Ornament is nurse of pride,
Pleasure Measure Love's desire:
Haste then sweet love our
wished flight
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22. |
Dont vient cela
02:53
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Dont vient cela, belle, je vous supply,
Que plus à moy ne vous recommandez ?
Tousjours seray de tristesse remply,
Jusques a tant qu'au vray me le mandez.
Je croy que plus d'amy ne demandez.
Ou maulvais bruyt de moy on vous revelle
Ou vostre cœur a fait amour nouvelle.
Si vous laissez d'amour le train joly,
Vostre beauté prisonniere rendez ;
Si pour autruy m'avez mis en oubly,
Dieu vous y doint le bien que pretendez
Mais si de mal en rien m'apprehendez,
Je veulx qu'autant que vous me semblez belle,
D'autant ou plus vous me soyez rebelle.
[English translation]
Why is it beautiful lady, I beg you
that you no longer confide yourself in me?
I shall always be sorrowful
until you let me know the truth.
I believe you no longer need a lover
or that you have heard bad things about me
or that your heart now has a new love.
Even if you abandon the pretty path of love
Your beauty makes you a prisoner.
If you have forgotten me for another
May God grant you the happiness you desire
But if you don't think ill of me
I wish that, just as you seem beautiful to me,
You do not act so wilfully towards me.
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23. |
O lusty May
01:13
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O lusty May, with Flora queen!
The balmy dropis from Phoebus sheen
Preluciand beams before the day:
By that Diana growis green
Through gladness of this lusty May.
Then Esperus, that is so bricht,
Til woful hairtis castis his light,
With bankis that bloomis on every brae;
And schouris are shed forth of their sicht
Through gladness of this lusty May.
Birdis on bewis of every birth,
Rejoicing notis makand their mirth
Richt plesantly upon the spray,
With flourishingis o'er field and firth
Through gladness of this lusty May.
All luvaris that are in care
To their ladies they do repair
In fresh morningis before the day,
And are in mirth ay mair and mair
Through gladness of this lusty May.
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24. |
To Music Bent
01:58
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To Musicke bent is my retyred minde
And faine would I some song of pleasure sing ;
But in vaine ioys no comfort now I finde,
From heau'nly thoughts all true delight doth spring.
Thy power, O God, thy mercies, to record,
Will sweeten eu'ry note and eu'ry word.
All earthly pompe or beauty to expresse,
Is but to carue in snow, on waues to write.
Celestiall things, though men conceiue them lesse,
Yet fullest are they in themselues of light :
Such beames they yeeld as know no meanes to dye,
Such heate they cast as lifts the Spirit high.
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25. |
Tant que vivray
02:06
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Tant que vivray en aage florissant
As long as I am in the prime of life
Je serviray d'amour le dieu puissant,
I shall serve the powerful god of love
En faictz, en ditz, en chansons et accordz;
In all I do and say and in my songs and harmony
Par plusieurs jours m'a tenu languissant,
For many days he made me languish
Et puis apres ma fait resjoyssant,
But afterwards he made me rejoice,
Car j'ay l'amour de la belle au gent corps;
Because I have the love of the fair lady
Son alliance, c'est ma fiance,
Her betrothal is pledged to me
Son coeur est mien, le mien est sien,
Her heart is mine, my heart is hers
Fy de tristesse, vive liesse,
Away with sadness, welcome gladness
Puisqu'en amours j'ay tant de biens.
Because I have such riches in love
Quand je la veulx servir et honorer,
When I wish to serve and honour her
Quand par escriptz veulx son nom decorer,
When I wish to praise her name in my writings
Quand je la veoy et visite souvent,
When I see her and visit her often
Ses envieux n'en font que murmurer;
Envious folk just murmur
Mais nostre amour n'en scauroit moins durer;
But our love will endure nonetheless;
Autant ou plus en emporte le vent,
The wind may blow all else away,
Maulgre envie, toute ma vie,
Despite those envious souls, all my life
Je l'aymeray et chanteray;
I shall love her and sing
C'est la premiere, c'est la derniere
She is the first and last
Que j'ay servie et serviray.
Whom I have served and will serve
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David Warin Solomons Sale, UK
Composer from UK born in 1953, concentrating on lyrical and tonal works for chamber music combinations, solo voice and choral works.
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