If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Text
Drowned
English source:
Folksong
No wonder my heart is sore,
No wonder the tears that I weep;
My true love I’ll see him no more,
He lies fathoms down in the deep.
He lies fathoms down in the deep,
Where the cold clammy seaweeds abound:
How cruel thy wild waves to me,
O sea that my true love hast drowned!
O sea that my true love hast drowned,
Thou hast reft me of joy evermore;
Thy waves make me shudder with fear
As I listen and hear their wild roar.
My true love and I,hand in hand,
Often wandered the uplands among,
Where the wild flowers are freshest to see,
And the wild birds are freest of song.
But alas for the days that are gone,
Alas for my sorrow and me!
Alas that my true love is drowned
Fathoms down in the depths of the sea!
No wonder the tears that I weep;
My true love I’ll see him no more,
He lies fathoms down in the deep.
He lies fathoms down in the deep,
Where the cold clammy seaweeds abound:
How cruel thy wild waves to me,
O sea that my true love hast drowned!
O sea that my true love hast drowned,
Thou hast reft me of joy evermore;
Thy waves make me shudder with fear
As I listen and hear their wild roar.
My true love and I,hand in hand,
Often wandered the uplands among,
Where the wild flowers are freshest to see,
And the wild birds are freest of song.
But alas for the days that are gone,
Alas for my sorrow and me!
Alas that my true love is drowned
Fathoms down in the depths of the sea!
Composer
Percy Grainger
Percy Aldridge Grainger was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 on and became a citizen in 1918. Read more here.