O Mary, go and call the cattle home

"O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
    And call the cattle home,
    And call the cattle home,
  Across the sands o' Dee;"
The western wind was wild and dank wi' foam,
  And all alone went she.

The creeping tide came 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 blinding mist came down and hid the land--
  And never home came she.

"Oh, is it weed, or fish, or floating hair--
    A tress o' golden hair,
    O' drowned maiden's hair,
  Above the nets at sea?
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair,
  Among the stakes on 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 o' Dee.

by Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) , no title, from Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet An Autobiography, published 1850

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

by Michael William Balfe (1808-1870) , "The Sands of Dee", published 1859. [soprano or tenor and piano]
by John Blockley (1800-1882) , "The Sands o' Dee", <<1882. [voice and piano]
by Francis Boott (1813-1904) , "The Sands o' Dee", published 1857 [voice and piano], from Florence, no. ?
by (William) Havergal Brian (1876-1972) , "Sands o' Dee", <<1914. [mixed chorus]
by E. Campbell , "The Sands o' Dee", published 1876. [voice and piano]
by Frederick Clay (1838-1889) , "The Sands o' Dee", published <<1929. [high or low voice and piano]
by Irvin Cooper , "The Sands of Dee", published 1953. [SATB chrous a cappella]
by Charlotte Helen Dolby (1821-1885) , "The Sands o' Dee" [voice and piano]
by William J. Fenney (1891-?) , "The Sands o' Dee", published 1914. [voice and piano]
by Charles A. E. Harriss , "The Sands of Dee", published 1906. [SATB chorus and orchestra]
by John Liptrot Hatton (1809-1886) , "The Sands of Dee", published 1910.
by Julia Howe , "Mary, go and call the cattle home", <<1910. [voice and piano]
by John Pike Hullah (1812-1884) , "The Sands of Dee" [unison voices and piano]
by George Herbert Jones , "The Sands of Dee", published 1929. [SS chorus and piano]
by Oliver A. King (1855-1923) , "The Sands o' Dee", op. 90, published 1894. [chorus and orchestra]
by George Alexander MacFarren (1813-1887) , "Alton Locke's song", published c1866. [SATB chorus and piano ad libitum]
by George Alexander MacFarren (1813-1887) , "The Sands of Dee", published 1866. [SATB chorus and piano ad libitum]
by Alice Forrester MacKay , "The Sands of Dee" [voice and piano]
by Thomas Baron Pitfield (1903-1999) , "The Sands of Dee", 1953. [low voice and piano]
by Cyril Meir Scott (1879-1970) , "The Sands of Dee", 1917. [voice and piano]
by Freda Swain (1902-) , "The Sands of Dee", 1946. [unaccompanied voice]

by Mark Vladimirovich Mil'man (1910-) , unknown title, 1941, published 1945 [voice and piano], from Morskije pesni (Sea songs), no. ?

Date added to the website: 2009-01-10.

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