Price codeC
Young voicesCatalogue no. 6003
The windmill
Music: Sheena Phillips, Words: William Soutar (1898-1943)
Voicing: treble (SA) chorus & piano
Performance time approx: 1m 45s
Range S: e'♭ – e''♭ / A: e'♭ – d''♭
Price code: C
Complexity:
This piece is part of the set "Three Soutar songs".
The set also includes:
The soprano part tells the story, with a bluesy melody, while the altos portray the creaking windmill, accompanied by a hopping piano part (which is fairly demanding).
An auld man stands abune the hill:
Crick-crack, crick-crack
He's unco comfie gin he's still:
Crick-crack, crick-crack creeshie
But whan his airms flee round and round:
Crick-crack, crick-crack
He deaves the clachan wi' his sound:
Crick-crack, crick-crack creeshie
His spauls jirg on like murlin stanes:
Crick-crack, crick-crack
The weet has roustit a' his banes:
Crick-crack, crick-crack creeshie
The weet has roustit a' his banes;
Crick-crack, crick-crack creeshie
William Soutar
Reproduced with permission from the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland, who hold William Soutar's copyright.
English transliteration
An old man stands at the top of the hill
He's very comfy when he's still
But when his arms fly round and round
He deafens the village with his sound
His joints creak on like crumbling stones
The wet has rusted all his bones.