“Sing! Get Happy!” Text
Click the title to read the text of each piece, or just scroll through the concert.
Hallelujah! Get Happy! / Yellow Bird / Five English Folk Songs / 1. The Dark-Eyed Sailor / 2. The Springtime of the Year / 3. Just as the Tide Was Flowing / 4. The Lover’s Ghost / 5. The Wassail Song / The Monk and His Cat / Old Mother Hubbard / The Rhythm of Life / For the Beauty of the Earth / In My Life / I Write the Songs / With a Voice of Singing / How Can I Keep from SInging / Nyon, Nyon
Hallelujah/Get Happy!
(Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler, arr. Mac Huff)
See the program notes
Forget your troubles, Come on get happy
You better chase all your cares away
Shout hallelujah, Come on get happy
Get ready for the judgement day
The sun is shining, Come on get happy
The lord is waiting to take your hand
Shout hallelujah, Come on get happy
We’re going to the promise land
We’re heading across the river
Wash your sins away in the tide
It’s all so peaceful on the other side
Forget your troubles, Come on get happy
You better chase all you cares away
Shout hallelujah, Come on get happy
Get ready for the judgement day
Forget your troubles, Come on get happy
Chase your cares away
Hallelujah get happy
Before the judgement day
The sun is shining, Come on get happy
The lord is waiting to take your hand
Shout hallelujah, Come on get happy
We’re gonna be going to the promise land
We’re heading across the river
Wash your sins away in the tide
It’s quiet and peaceful on the other side
Forget your troubles, Get happy
Your cares fly away
Shout hallelujah, Get happy
Get ready for your judgement day
Come on get happy, Chase your cares away
Shout hallelujah, Come on get happy
Get ready for the judgement day
The sun is shining, Come on get happy
The lord is waiting to take your hand
Hallelujah, Come on get happy
We’re going to the promise land
We’re heading across the river
Wash your sins away in the tide
It’s all so peaceful on the other side
Shout hallelujah, Come on get happy
You better chase all your cares away
Shout hallelujah, Come on get happy
Get ready, Get ready, Get ready
For the judgement day
Yellow Bird
(Original by Michel Mauléart Monton (1893), lyrics from “Choucoune” a Haitian Creole poem by Oswald Durand (1883). English lyrics c. 1957 Norman Luboff, A. & M. Bergman; this version arr. Chuck Cassey)
See the program notes
Yellow bird, up high in banana tree
Yellow bird, you sit all alone like me
Did your lady friend leave your nest again?
That is very sad, makes me feel so bad
You can fly away, in the sky away
You’re more lucky than me
I also had a pretty girl
She’s not with me today
They’re all the same, the pretty girls
Take tenderness, then they fly away
Yellow bird, up high in banana tree
Yellow bird, you sit all alone like me
Let her fly away, in the sky away
Pick a town and, soon, pick from night to noon
Black and yellow, you like banana too
They might pick you someday
Wish that I were a yellow bird
I’d fly away with you
But I am not a yellow bird
So here I sit, nothin’ else to do
Yellow bird, Yellow bird
Yellow bird, Yellow bird
Five English Folk Songs
(Or Four English Folk Songs plus One)
A Song Cycle by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958)
See the program notes
1. The Dark‑Eyed Sailor
It was a comely young lady fair,
Was walking out for to take the air;
She met a sailor all on her way,
So, I paid attention to what they did say.
Said William, “Lady, why walk alone?
The night is coming and the day near gone.”
She said, while tears from her eyes did fall,
“It’s a dark-eyed sailor that’s proving my downfall.
“It’s two long years since he left the land;
He took a gold ring from off my hand,
We broke the token, here’s part with me,
And the other lies rolling at the bottom of the sea.”
Then half the ring did young William show,
She was distracted midst joy and woe.
“O welcome, William, I’ve lands and gold
For my dark-eyed sailor so manly, true and bold.”
Then in a village down by the sea,
They joined in wedlock and well agree.
So maids be true while your love’s away,
For a cloudy morning brings forth a shining day.
2. The Springtime of the Year
As I walked out one morning,
In the springtime of the year,
I overheard a sailor boy,
Likewise, a lady fair.
They sang a song together,
Made the valleys for to ring,
While the birds on spray
And the meadows gay
Proclaimed the lovely spring.
3. Just as the tide was flowing
One morning in the month of May,
Down by some rolling river,
A jolly sailor, I did stray,
When I beheld my lover,
She carelessly along did stray,
A-picking of the daisies gay;
And sweetly sang her roundelay,
Just as the tide was flowing.
O! her dress it was so white as milk,
And jewels did adorn her.
Her shoes were made of the crimson silk,
Just like some lady of honour.
Her cheeks were red, her eyes were brown,
Her hair in ringlets hanging down;
She’d a lovely brow, without a frown,
Just as the tide was flowing.
I made a bow and said, Fair maid,
How came you here so early?
My heart, by you it is betray’d
For I do love you dearly.
I am a sailor come from sea,
If you will accept of my company
To walk and view the fishes play,
Just as the tide was flowing.
No more we said, but on our way
We’d gang’d along together;
The small birds sang, and the lambs did play,
And pleasant was the weather.
When we were weary, we did sit down
Beneath a tree with branches round;
For my true love at last I’d found,
Just as the tide was flowing.
4. The Lover’s Ghost
Well met, well met, my own true love,
Long time I have been absent from thee,
I am lately come from the salt sea,
And ’tis all for the sake, my love, of thee.
I have three ships all on the salt sea,
And one of them has brought me to land,
I’ve four and twenty mariners on board,
You shall have music at your command.
The ship wherein my love shall sail
Is glorious for to behold,
The sails shall be of shining silk,
The mast shall be of the fine beaten gold.
I might have had a king’s daughter
And fain she would have married me,
But I forsook her crown of gold
And ’tis all for the sake, my love, of thee.
5. The Wassail Song
(from Folk Songs of the Four Seasons)
Wassail, Wassail, all over the town,
Our bread it is white and ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the green maple tree;
In the Wassail bowl we’ll drink unto thee.
Here’s a health to the ox and to his right eye,
Pray God send our master a good Christmas pie,
A good Christmas pie as e’er I did see.
In the Wassail bowl we’ll drink unto thee.
Here’s a health to the ox and to his right horn,
Pray God send our master a good crop of corn,
A good crop of corn as e’er I did see,
In the Wassail bowl we’ll drink unto thee.
Here’s a health to the ox and to his long tail,
Pray God send our master a good cask of ale,
A good cask of ale as e’er I did see,
In the Wassail bowl we’ll drink unto thee.
Come, butler, come fill us a bowl of the best;
Then I pray that your soul in heaven may rest;
But if you do bring us a bowl of the small,
May the Devil take butler, bowl and all!
Then here’s to the maid in the lily-white smock,
Who tripp’d to the door and slipp’d back the lock;
Who tripp’d to the door and pull’d back the pin,
For to let these jolly Wassailers walk in.
The Monk and His Cat
(Samuel Barber, from Hermit Songs)
See the program notes
Pangur, white Pangur
How happy we are
Alone together, Scholar and cat
Each has his own work to do daily;
For you it is hunting, for me, study
Your shining eye watches the wall;
My feeble eye is fixed on a book
You rejoice when your claws entrap a mouse;
I rejoice when my mind fathoms a problem
Pleased with his own art
Neither hinders the other;
Thus we live ever
Without tedium and envy
Pangur, white Pangur
How happy we are
Alone togethеr, Scholar and cat
Old Mother Hubbard
(Victor Hely Hutchinson)
See the program notes
Old Mother Hubbard
She went to the cupboard,
To fetch her poor dog a bone;
But when she got there
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.
She went to the baker’s
To buy him some bread;
When she came back
The dog was dead!
She went to the undertaker’s
To buy him a coffin;
When she came back
The dog was laughing.
She took a clean dish
to get him some tripe;
When she came back
He was smoking his pipe.
She went to the fishmonger’s
to buy him some fish;
When she came back
He was licking the dish.
She went to the alehouse
To get him some beer;
When she came back
The dog sat in a chair.
She went to the tavern
For white wine and red;
When she came back
The dog stood on his head.
She went to the fruiterer’s
To buy him some fruit;
When she came back
He was playing the flute.
She went to the tailor’s
To buy him a coat;
When she came back
He was riding a goat.
She went to the hatter’s
To buy him a hat;
When she came back
He was feeding her cat.
She went to the barber’s
To buy him a wig
When she came back
He was dancing a jig.
She went to the cobbler’s
To buy him some shoes;
When she came back
He was reading the news.
She went to the sempstress
To buy him some linen;
When she came back
The dog was spinning.
She went to the hosier’s
To buy him some hose;
When she came back
He was dressed in his clothes.
The Dame made a curtsy,
The dog made a bow;
The Dame said, Your servant;
The dog said, Bow-wow.
This wonderful dog
Was Dame Hubbard’s delight,
He could read, he could dance,
He could sing, he could write;
She gave him rich dainties
Whenever he fed,
And erected this monument
When he was dead.
The Rhythm of Life
(Cy Coleman, arr. Richard Barnes)
See the program notes
When I started down the street last Sunday,
Feelin’ mighty low and kinda mean,
Suddenly a voice said, “go forth, neighbor!
Spread the picture on a wider screen!”
And the voice said, “Neighbor there’s a million reasons
Why you should be glad in all four seasons!
Hit the road, neighbor, leave your worries and strife!
Spread the religion of the rhythm of life.”
For the rhythm of life is a powerful beat,
Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet!
Rhythm on the inside, rhythm on the street,
And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat!
To feel the rhythm of life,
To feel the rhythm of life,
To feel the powerful beat,
To feel the tingle in your fingers,
To feel the tingle in your feet.
Go, go, go! Go, go go! Tell them everything you know!
Go and spread the gospel in Milwaukee;
Take a walkie-talkie to Rocky Ridge!
All the way to Canton, then to Scranton,
Even tell it under the Manhattan Bridge.
You will make a new sensation,
Have a growing congregation,
Build a glowing operation here below!
Like a Pied Piper blowing,
Lead and keep the music flowing,
Keep the rhythm go, go, going; go, go, go!
Flip your wings and fly up high!
Fly, fly, fly up high!
You can do it if you try!
Try, try, try to fly!
Like a bird up in the sky!
Fly, fly, fly!
For the rhythm of life is a powerful beat,
Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet!
Rhythm on the inside, rhythm on the street,
And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat!
To feel the rhythm of life, to feel the powerful beat,
To feel the tingle in your fingers, to feel the tingle in your feet.
Go, go, go! Go, go go! Tell them everything you know!
To feel the rhythm of life, to feel the powerful beat,
To feel the tingle in your fingers, To feel the tingle in your feet
Life! Life! Life!
Neighbor you’ve got the Rhythm, Rhythm, Rhythm,
Rhythm of life!
For the Beauty of the Earth
(Traditional, arr. John Rutter)
See the program notes
[Verse 1]
For the beauty of the earth
For the beauty of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies
[Chorus]
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise
[Verse 2]
For the beauty of the hour
Of the day and of the night
Hill and vale and tree and flower
Sun and moon and stars of light
[Chorus]
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise
[Verse 3]
For the joy of human love
Brother, sister, parent, child
Friends on earth and friends above
For all gentle thoughts and mild
[Chorus]
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise
[Verse 4]
For each perfect gift of thine
To our race so freely given
Graces human and divine
Flow’rs of earth and buds of heav’n
[Chorus]
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn, our joyful hymn of praise
This our joyful hymn of praise
In My Life
(John Lennon & Paul McCartney, arr. Steve Zegree)
See the program notes
There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed (Ooh, ooh, ooh)
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain (Ooh, ooh, ooh)
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I’ve loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you (Ooh, ooh, ooh)
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new (Ooh, ooh, ooh)
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more
I Write the Songs
(Bruce Johnson, arr. Harry Simeone)
See the program notes
[Verse 1]
I’ve been alive forever
And I wrote the very first song
I put the words and the melodies together
I am music and I write the songs
[Chorus]
I write the songs that make the whole world sing
I write the songs of love and special things
I write the songs that make the young girls cry
I write the songs, I write the songs
[Verse 2]
My home lies deep within you
And I’ve got my own place in your soul
Now when I look out through your eyes
I’m young again, even though I’m very old
[Chorus]
I write the songs that make the whole world sing
I write the songs of love and special things
I write the songs that make the young girls cry
I write the songs, I write the songs
[Bridge]
Oh, my music makes you dance
And gives your spirit to take a chance
And I wrote some rock ‘n’ roll so you can move
Music fills your heart, well, that’s a real fine place to start
It’s from me, it’s for you
It’s from you, it’s from me
It’s a worldwide symphony
[Chorus]
I write the songs that make the whole world sing
I write the songs of love and special things
I write the songs that make the young girls cry
I write the songs, I write the songs
[Outro]
I am music, and I write the songs
the songs of love and special things
I write the songs
How Can I Keep from Singing
(Traditional, arr. J. Edmund Hughes)
See the program notes
My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation,
I catch the sweet, though far-off hymn
That hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear that music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?
Refrain:
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that Rock I’m clinging;
Since Love is Lord of heav’n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
I lift my eyes, the clouds grow thin,
I see the blue above me
All things are mine since truth I’ve found,
How can I keep from singing?
Nyon, Nyon
(Jake Runestad)
See the program notes
Nyon nyon, nyon nyon, nyon nyonnnnnn-
Nyon (Nyon, nyon nyon nyon, nyon nyon nyon, nyon nyon, nyon)
Nyon (Nyon, nyon nyon nyon, nyon nyon nyon, nyon nyon, nyon)
Nyon (Nyon, nyon nyon nyon, nyon nyon nyon, nyon nyon, nyon)
Nyon (Nyon, nyon nyon nyon, nyon nyon nyon, nyon nyon, nyon)
See maka hu when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu when ya ba da
See maka hu when ya ba doobe da
When ya ba doobe da
Da
See maka hu when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu when ya su ba da
See maka hu when ya su ba da
See maka hu when ya su ba da
See maka hu when ya su ba da
Su ba da
Su ba da
Nyon, nyon nyon
Nyon, nyon nyon
Nyon, nyon nyon
Nyon, nyon nyon
Nyon, nyon nyon
Nyon, nyon nyon
Nyon, nyon nyon
Ooit! *Pop* ti kah, ah sa (wee-ahh, wee-ahh)
Ooit! *Pop* ti kah, ah sa (wee-ahh, wee-ahh)
Ooit! *Pop* ti kah, ah sa (wee-ahh, wee-ahh)
Ooit! *Pop* ti kah, ah sa (wee-ahh, wee-ahh)
See maka hu, when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu, when ya ba da
See maka hu, when ya ba doobe da
When ya ba doobe da
See maka hu, when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu, when ya ba da
See maka hu, when ya ba doobe da
When ya ba doobe da
See maka hu, when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu, when ya ba da
See maka hu, when ya ba doobe da
When ya ba doobe da
See maka hu, when ya ba doobe da
See maka hu, when ya ba da
See maka hu, when ya ba doobe da
When ya ba doobe da
Wa-na na na na na na-na na
Wa-na na na na na na-na na
Wa-na na na na na na-na na
Nyon, nyon, nyon nyon, nyon, nyon nyon, nyon
Nyah! Nee! Ooh! Ah!
When wa wah now, wha now ow whanow anow
When wa wah now, wha now ow whanow anow
When wa wah now, wha now ow whanow anow
When wa wah now, wha now ow whanow anow
When wa wah now, wha now ow whanow anow
When wa wah now, wha now ow whanow anow
When wa wah now, wha now ow whanow anow
When wa wah now, wha now ow whanow anow
When wa ow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow
Wow
Wow
Wow
3. Just as the tide was flowing
One morning in the month of May,
Down by some rolling river,
A jolly sailor, I did stray,
When I beheld my lover,
She carelessly along did stray,
A-picking of the daisies gay;
And sweetly sang her roundelay,
Just as the tide was flowing.
O! her dress it was so white as milk,
And jewels did adorn her.
Her shoes were made of the crimson silk,
Just like some lady of honour.
Her cheeks were red, her eyes were brown,
Her hair in ringlets hanging down;
She’d a lovely brow, without a frown,
Just as the tide was flowing.
I made a bow and said, Fair maid,
How came you here so early?
My heart, by you it is betray’d
For I do love you dearly.
I am a sailor come from sea,
If you will accept of my company
To walk and view the fishes play,
Just as the tide was flowing.
No more we said, but on our way
We’d gang’d along together;
The small birds sang, and the lambs did play,
And pleasant was the weather.
When we were weary, we did sit down
Beneath a tree with branches round;
For my true love at last I’d found,
Just as the tide was flowing.