Beat! Beat! Drums!

Beat! beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows - through doors - burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,
Into the school where the scholar is studying;
Leave not the bridegroom quiet - no happiness must he have now with his bride,
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,
So fierce you whirr an pound you drums - so shrill you bugles blow.

Beat! beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow!
Over the traffic of cities - over the rumble of wheels in the streets;
Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep
       in those beds,
No bargainers bargains by day - no brokers or speculators - would they continue?
Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums - you bugles wilder blow.

Beat! beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow!
Make no parley - stop for no expostulation,
Mind not the timid - mind not the weeper or prayer,
Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,
Let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties,
Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses,
So strong you thump O terrible drums - so loud you bugles blow.

by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!"

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1928 [voice, piano], from Ten Songs by Ernst Bacon
by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", op. 56 no. 6, published 1903 [baritone or contralto, piano or orchestra], from Six American Lyrics, no. 6.
by Howard Hanson (1896-1981) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1935 [SATB chorus, orchestra], from Drum Taps
by Fenno Heath , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1955. [TTBB chorus, piano]
by Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (1861-1935) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1932. [unison male voices, percussion, two pianos or wind orchestra]
by William Harold Neidlinger (1863-1924) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1920 [baritone or tenor, piano], from Memories of President Lincoln
by Sam Raphling (1910-) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1968. [medium voice, piano]
by Albert Stoessel (1894-1943) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1922. [SATB chorus, piano or trumpets and drums]
by Richard Pearson Thomas (1957-) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", from Drum Taps, no. 2.
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) , "Beat! beat! drums!", published 1936 [SATB chorus, soprano, baritone, orchestra (or piano and string orchestra)], from Dona nobis pacem, no. 2.
by Christos Vrionides (1894-1961) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1952, from A Cycle of Whitman Poems
by Kurt Weill (1900-1950) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1942 [voice, piano], from Three Walt Whitman Songs
by Kurt Weill (1900-1950) , "Beat! Beat! Drums!", published 1977. [voice, orchestra]

by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) , "Schlagt! Schlagt! Trommeln!", op. 14 no. 3 (1919) [baritone, piano], from Drei Hymnen von Walt Whitman, no. 3.
by Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957) , "Trommelschläge", op. 26 (1915). [chorus, orch]

Date added to the website: 2003-11-04.

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