The Sands of Dee | O Mary, go and call the cattle home

O Mary, go and call the cattle home

Language: English

"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.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875), no title, appears in Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet An Autobiography, first published 1850 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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 ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Blockley (1800 - 1882), "The Sands o' Dee", <<1882 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Francis Boott (1813 - 1904), "The Sands o' Dee", published 1857 [ voice and piano ], from Florence, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by (William) Havergal Brian (1876 - 1972), "Sands o' Dee", <<1914 [ mixed chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
by E. Campbell , "The Sands o' Dee", published 1876 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Frederick Clay (1838 - 1889), "The Sands o' Dee", published <<1929 [ high voice or low voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Irvin Cooper , "The Sands of Dee", published 1953 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Charlotte Helen Dolby (1821 - 1885), "The Sands o' Dee" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by William J. Fenney (1891 - ?), "The Sands o' Dee", published 1914 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Albert Edwin Harriss (1862 - 1929), "The Sands of Dee", published 1906 [ SATB chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Liptrot Hatton (1809 - 1886), "The Sands of Dee", published 1910 [sung text not yet checked]
by Julia Howe, née Ward (1819 - 1910), "Mary, go and call the cattle home", <<1910 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Pike Hullah (1812 - 1884), "The Sands of Dee" [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by George Herbert Jones , "The Sands of Dee", published 1929 [ SS chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Oliver Arthur King (1855 - 1923), "The Sands o' Dee", op. 90, published 1894 [ chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
by George Alexander MacFarren (1813 - 1887), "Alton Locke's song", published c1866 [ SATB chorus and piano ad libitum ] [sung text not yet checked]
by George Alexander MacFarren (1813 - 1887), "The Sands of Dee", published 1866 [ SATB chorus and piano ad libitum ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Alice Forrester MacKay (d. 1940), "The Sands of Dee" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Samuel J. Newns (1886 - 1965), "The Sands of Dee ", published 1944 [ SSA chorus ], from Six Part Songs for SSC, no. 6, Lovedale Press [sung text not yet checked]
by Thomas Baron Pitfield (1903 - 1999), "The Sands of Dee", 1953 [ low voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "The Sands of Dee", op. 11 (c1900), published 1917, rev. c1917 [ voice and piano ], London : Elkin [sung text not yet checked]
by Lucien H. Southard (1827 - 1881), "The Sands o' Dee", published 1872 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Freda Mary Swain (1902 - 1985), "The Sands of Dee", 1946 [ unaccompanied voice ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Natalia Konchalovskaya (1903 - 1988) ; composed by Mark Vladimirovich Mil'man.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-10
Line count: 24
Word count: 150