Arias:
A Wand'ring Minstrel I, Nanki Poo's aria from The Mikado
A wand'ring minstrel I--a thing of shreds and patches,
of ballads, songs, and snatches, and dreamy lullaby!
My catalogue is long, through every passion ranging,
and to your humours changing I tune my supple song!
Are you in sentimental mood?
I'll sigh with you,---Oh, sorrow, sorrow!
On maiden's coldness do you brood?
I'll do so, too---Oh, sorrow, sorrow!
I'll charm your willing ears with songs of lover's fears,
While sympathetic tears my cheeks bedew---Oh, sorrow, sorrow!
But if patriotic sentiment is wanted,
I've patriotic ballads cut and dried;
For where'er our country's banners may be planted,
all other local banners are defied!
Our warriors, in serried ranks assembled,
never quail--or they conceal it if they do--
and I shouldn't be surprised if nations trembled
before the mighty troops of Titipu!
chor: We shouldn't be surprised if nations trembled in alarm
before the mighty troops of Titipu!
And if you call for a song of the sea,
we'll heave the capstan round,
with a yeo heave ho, for the wind is free,
her anchor's a-trip, and her helm's a-lee,
hurrah for the homeward bound!
chor: Yeo-ho----heave-ho, hurrah for the homeward bound!
To lay aloft in a howling breeze
may tickle a landsman's taste,
but the happiest hour a sailor sees
is when he's down at an inland town
with his Nancy on his knees--yeo ho!
and his arm around her waist!
chor: Then man the capstan--off we go, as the fiddler swings us round,
With a yeo heave ho, and a rumbelow, hurrah for the homeward bound!
A wand'ring minstrel I--a thing of shreds and patches,
of ballads, songs, and snatches, and dreamy lullaby!
Lullaby!
