Just So Songs

for children's voices, piano and (optional) percussion

Duration flexible

Words by Rudyard Kipling

commissioned by Farnham Festival 2007

Text

no 1 - The Camel's Hump
(from How the Camel Got His Hump)

The Camel's hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the Zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.
[etc...]

no 2 - There runs a road
(from How the First Letter was Written)

There runs a road by Merrow Down -
A grassy track today it is -
An hour out of Guildford town,
Above the river Wey it is.
[etc...]

no 3 - Rolling down to Rio
(from The Beginning of the Armadillos)

I've never sailed the Amazon,
I've never reached Brazil;
But the Don and Magdalena,
They can go there when they will!
[etc...]

no 4 - Free and fair she flits
(from How the Alphabet was made)

Of all the Tribe of Tegumai
Who cut that figure, none remain, -
On Merrow Down the cuckoos cry -
The silence and the sun remain.
[etc...]

no 5 - Balkis and Solomon
(from The Butterfly that Stamped)

There was never a Queen like Balkis,
From here to the wide world's end;
But Balkis talked to a butterfly
As you would talk to a friend.
[etc...]

Categories choral - high voices accompanied