The sands of Dee (David Christmas Williams)
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- (Posted 2023-12-18) CPDL #78327:
- Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-12-18). Score information: Letter, 16 pages, 656 kB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes:
General Information
Title: The sands of Dee
Composer: David Christmas Williams
Lyricist: Charles Kingsley
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB, divisi
Genre: Secular, Partsong
Language: English
Instruments: A cappella
First published: 1912 Stainer & Bell
Description:
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
‘O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home
Across the sands of Dee;’
The western wind was wild and dank with foam,
And all alone went she.
The western tide crept up along the sand,
And o’er and o’er the sand,
And round and round the sand,
As far as eye could see.
The rolling mist came down and hid the land:
And never home came she.
‘Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair,
A tress of golden hair,
A drownèd maiden’s hair
Above the nets at sea?
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes of Dee.’
They rowed her in across the rolling foam,
The cruel crawling foam,
The cruel hungry foam,
To her grave beside the sea:
But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home
Across the sands of Dee.