Calypso
communicator tells me it's National Poetry Day again, which is handy, as I'd been trying to think of an excuse to post this since the weekend. Apparently the theme is home, so, er, where the heart is...
Oddly enough, I didn't know Auden's Calypso. I stumbled on it via YouTube while I was trying out different performances of Britten's setting of O Tell me the Truth about Love, because another friend died recently, whose daughter sang that song at her golden and diamond wedding anniversaries. I wish I had a recording of Rebecca singing it, but having tried various online versions I offer this one.
Anyway, while I was looking for that, my eyes were drawn (as they would be) to the name "Calypso", and what turned out to be another Britten setting of another Auden poem. So I did some more digging, and came across an alternative setting, which perhaps I like better, though the Britten may be growing on me.
Anyway, the text first. I don't have a proper edition of Auden here, because my sister claimed the family copy. I've found a couple of versions online; some have "pavement" and some "sidewalk", and there seems to be some confusion about whether the last line starts with "even" (which makes more sense) or "ever". He seems to have written it in 1939, so maybe he was still thinking in English then but revised it later.
Calypso, by W. H. Auden
Driver, drive faster and make a good run
Down the Springfield Line under the shining sun.
Fly like the aeroplane, don't pull up short
Till you brake for Grand Central Station, New York.
For there in the middle of that waiting hall
Should be standing the one that I love best of all.
If he's not there to meet me when I get to town,
I'll stand on the pavement with tears rolling down.
For he is the one that I love to look on,
The acme of kindness and perfection.
He presses my hand and he says he loves me
Which I find an admirable peculiarity.
The woods are bright green on both sides of the line;
The trees have their loves though they're different from mine.
But the poor fat old banker in the sun-parlour car
Has no one to love him except his cigar.
If I were the head of the Church or the State
I'd powder my nose and just tell them to wait.
For love's more important and powerful than
Even a priest or a politician.
This is Britten's setting, which is how I found it first:
It's the reiteration of "drive faster" that puts me off, as it's not there in the original; it feels like an unnecessary attempt to add greater drama.
And here's the other setting, composed by one A. Anders:
Neither setting strikes me as a calypso. But I particularly like the line about the trees.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.
Oddly enough, I didn't know Auden's Calypso. I stumbled on it via YouTube while I was trying out different performances of Britten's setting of O Tell me the Truth about Love, because another friend died recently, whose daughter sang that song at her golden and diamond wedding anniversaries. I wish I had a recording of Rebecca singing it, but having tried various online versions I offer this one.
Anyway, while I was looking for that, my eyes were drawn (as they would be) to the name "Calypso", and what turned out to be another Britten setting of another Auden poem. So I did some more digging, and came across an alternative setting, which perhaps I like better, though the Britten may be growing on me.
Anyway, the text first. I don't have a proper edition of Auden here, because my sister claimed the family copy. I've found a couple of versions online; some have "pavement" and some "sidewalk", and there seems to be some confusion about whether the last line starts with "even" (which makes more sense) or "ever". He seems to have written it in 1939, so maybe he was still thinking in English then but revised it later.
Calypso, by W. H. Auden
Driver, drive faster and make a good run
Down the Springfield Line under the shining sun.
Fly like the aeroplane, don't pull up short
Till you brake for Grand Central Station, New York.
For there in the middle of that waiting hall
Should be standing the one that I love best of all.
If he's not there to meet me when I get to town,
I'll stand on the pavement with tears rolling down.
For he is the one that I love to look on,
The acme of kindness and perfection.
He presses my hand and he says he loves me
Which I find an admirable peculiarity.
The woods are bright green on both sides of the line;
The trees have their loves though they're different from mine.
But the poor fat old banker in the sun-parlour car
Has no one to love him except his cigar.
If I were the head of the Church or the State
I'd powder my nose and just tell them to wait.
For love's more important and powerful than
Even a priest or a politician.
This is Britten's setting, which is how I found it first:
Click to viewIt's the reiteration of "drive faster" that puts me off, as it's not there in the original; it feels like an unnecessary attempt to add greater drama.
And here's the other setting, composed by one A. Anders:
Neither setting strikes me as a calypso. But I particularly like the line about the trees.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.