Thursday, November 16, 2006

The rain it raineth ev'ry day

Well, an exaggeration, but it certainly rained heavily today - not continuously, but every time I went out I got wet.

I listened a couple of nights ago to a CD containing Howard Skempton's rather lovely setting of Feste's song:

When that I was and a little tiny boy
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth ev'ry day.

But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth ev'ry day.

But when I came, alas, to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swagg'ring could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth ev'ry day.

But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth ev'ry day.

A great while ago the world began,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you ev'ry day.

Since listening to it I've been unable to get out of my head, not Skempton's setting, but Morley's famous one. (I'e just listened to the Skempton again, and they're not similar.) Curious how word-based is my musical memory.

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