Darling Eliza
- Composer: Ada Palmer
- Format: Duet
- Two female voices (from Firebrand)
- LISTEN TO SAMPLE
- Purchase: Bandcamp – CDBaby – iTunes
- One female, one male voice (from Eclectic I)
- LISTEN TO SAMPLE
- Purchase: Bandcamp – CDBaby – iTunes
- Two female voices (from Firebrand)
This is a romantic duet based on the old folksong “There’s a hole in the bucket.” Sometimes people laugh when they hear the first two lines, but that fades quickly.
Composer’s Comment: My father enjoys my music and I often sing to him on car trips, but this one I had to stop singing that way because it kept making him tear up and be unable to see the road.
Lyrics:
Henry (Eliza)
There’s a hole in the bucket,
Dear Liza, dear Liza,
There’s a hole in the bucket,
Dear Liza, a hole,
And the water’s escaping and
Staining the floorboards
Like shadows in autumn
That dance in the corn
I’ll always remember our (I’ll always remember our)
Summers by firelight (Summers by firelight)
Perfect together (When we were perfect together)
And never alone (And never alone)
Will you marry me, Liza, (“Will you marry me, Liza,”)
I asked you (You asked me that midnight)
And brought you some roses (And brought me some roses)
As bright as the day (As bright as the day)
And you grasped me so fiercely you (I grasped you so fiercely I)
Scattered the roses (Scattered all the roses,)
With petals and firelight (With petals flying in the firelight)
We danced until dawn. (We danced until dawn.)
I bought you some roses, (Bought some roses)
Dear Liza, this morning, (For Liza)
As fragile as sunlight (Fragile as sunlight)
When evening fades (When evening fades)
But the wind is still raging (But the wind is still raging)
And pounding the windows, (And hammering upon the windows)
And petals like sunlight (And petals fragile as the firelight)
Will die in the storm. (Will die in the storm)
Wait for me, Liza, (I’m waiting,)
alone on your hillside (Alone on the hillside,)
I’ll carry your roses out (I’m waiting)
after the storm. (Out in the storm.)
I’ll bring you your roses (Bring me my roses, my)
My Liza, your golden roses (Beautiful Henry)
Just like I did in (Just like you did in)
The years when you lived. (The years when I lived.)
But the water’s escaping (But the water’s escaping)
And leaving the roses, (And leaving the roses,)
They’re thirsty, and fading (They’re thirsty, and fading)
Ahead of the storm. (Ahead of the storm.)
There’s a hole in the bucket, (There’s a hole in the bucket,)
And darling Eliza (And darling Eliza)
Is waiting for Henry (Is waiting for Henry)
And waiting alone. (Waiting alone.)