Calico Pie [LEAR poem set to music]
Channel: tobydarling
Date: 2014-12-31

Here is another of Edward Lear's poems which I have set to music. It was originally published in Edward Lear’s 1871 book:

Nonsense Songs (Stories, Botany, and Alphabets With One Hundred and Fifty Illustrations)

The illustrations are by Lear himself.



Calico Pie (Edward Lear)

Am G 
Calico Pie, 
Am F
    The little Birds fly
C Dm F
Down to the calico tree,
C G
    Their wings were blue,
Dm F
    And they sang 'Tilly-loo!'
C Dm Em
    Till away they flew,--
Am G C Em
        And they never came back to me!
Dm G
            They never came back!
Dm G
            They never came back!
C Dm Em Dm
        They never came back to me!
C G Dm

    Calico Jam,
    The little Fish swam,
Over the syllabub sea,
        He took off his hat,
    To the Sole and the Sprat,
    And the Willeby-Wat,--
But he never came back to me!
    He never came back!
    He never came back! 
He never came back to me!

    Calico Ban,
    The little Mice ran,
To be ready in time for tea,
    Flippity flup,
    They drank it all up,
    And danced in the cup,--
But they never came back to me!
    They never came back!
    They never came back!
They never came back to me!

    Calico Drum,
    The Grasshoppers come,
The Butterfly, Beetle, and Bee,
    Over the ground,
    Around and around,
    With a hop and a bound,--
But they never came back to me!
    They never came back!
    They never came back!
They never came back to me!