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Paul Bowles: A List of Song Cycles Plus an Alphabetical List of All Song Titles

An index of a composer’s song titles is essential to my ability to track songs I hear and recordings I have in my collection. Several sources told me that Paul Bowles wrote 100 songs. No comprehensive list was available so I set out to create one. Here are the results. Irene Herrmann of the website PaulBowles.org led me to Jeffrey Miller's book Paul Bowles: A Descriptive Bibliography, Black Sparrow Press, 1968. Special thanks goes to Sarah Davis, Diehn Composers Room Supervisor, Old Dominion University and John Bewley, Associate Librarian/Archivist, Music Library, State University of New York at Buffalo.

Hopefully this is no longer a project in progress but please send me additions or corrections if you have information that I did not find in my research.

Song Cycles for Voice and piano

American Folk Songs (New York Public Library: original manuscript with typescript lyrics) (1939)

1. Caroline (Creole Song)
2. Laws a Massey! (Negro reel)
3. The Mary Golden Tree
4. The Rose of Alabama

Blue Mountain Ballads (Tennessee Williams)

1. Heavenly Grass
2. Lonesome Man
3. Cabin
4. Sugar in the Cane

Par le Détroit (January, 1933) (Laghouat, Algeria) (Cantata for soprano, 4 male voices, harmonium)
Cuatro Canciones de Garcia Lorca

1.Cancionilla
2. Media luna
3. Balada amarilla
4. Muriò al Amanecer

Danger de Mort (Georges Linze) (1933) (Bowles’ titles are Roman numerals only; first lines translated by Karen Hoy from text provided by John Bewley)

I Un tour de la terre (A tour of the earth)
II Chaque mort (Each death)
III Peu à peu (Little by little)
IV Que croulent autour de nous (That tottering around us)
V La terre a beau passer (The earth has passing beauty)
VI Il est temps d’écouter crépiter (It is time to listen to the crackle)

Five Songs About Spring (from Love Like Wildfire, not staged) (1941)

1. Violet
2. Evening
3. Springfield
4. Moonbeam
5. Owl

Gothic Suite (Williams)

1. Testa dell'Efebo
2. San Sebastiano di Sodoma
3. The Goths
4. Faint as Leaf Shadow
5. Death is High

Green Songs (Richard Thoma) (1935)

1. Grass
2. Moon
3. Farewell
4. Silence

Memnon (Jean Cocteau) (1935)

I. Les Statues
II. Memnon
III. Racette
IV. La Grèce [Athena?]
V. Le Sourire

Scènes d'Anabase (St. Jean Perse) (Tenor, oboe, piano) (published 1935) (first lines are used as titles)

I. Il n'a quit un poulain sous les feuilles de bronze
II. A l'orient du ciel si pale
III. À la moisson des orges l'homme
IV. Solitude
V. Ainsi parfois nos seuils

Scenes from the Door (Stein) (1933)

1. Red Faces
2. The Ford

Secret Words: A Suite of Six Songs

1. Once a Lady Was Here (Paul Frederic Bowles)
2. In the Woods (PB)
3. April Fool Baby (Gertrude Stein)
4. Farther from the Heart (Jane Auer Bowles)
5. My Sister's Hand in Mine (JAB)
6. Secret Words (PB)

Six Chansons (1930-32)

1. It Was a Long Trip Back
2. Here I Am
3. Will You Allow Me to Lie in the Grass?
4. In the Platinum Forest (PB)
5. Things Shall Go On
6. Today, More than Ever

Three Pastoral Songs

1. Down in Yonder Meadow
2. The Feathers of the Willow
3. The Piper (Seumas O'Sullivan)

Three Songs from the Sierras

1. Que te felta
2. Ya llegò (Now titled Mes de Mayo)
3. El Carbonero

12 American Folk Songs (New York Public Library: original manuscript with typescript lyrics) (1939)

1. The Old Gray Goose
2. The Boatmen’s Dance
3. Old Colony Times
4. Springfield Mountain
5. My Old Aunt Sally
6. Hunters of Kentucky
7. Jordan Is a Hard Road to Travel
8. Jim Along Josey
9. I Went to See My Love
10. Long Tail Blue
11. Clear the Kitchen
12. What a Beauty I Did Grow

Three Songs (from Love's Old Sweet Song, William Saroyan, 1940)

1. A Little Closer Please
2. Of All the Things I Love
3. The Years

Two Songs from Shakespeare (The Tempest) (1950)

1. Full Fathom Five
2. Come unto these Yellow Sands

Alphabetical song listing

À la moisson des orges l'homme (Scènes d'Anabase, St. Jean Perse) (tenor, oboe, piano) (1935)
A Little Closer Please (Love's Old Sweet Song) (William Saroyan) (1940)
Ainsi parfois nos seuils (Scènes d'Anabase, St. Jean Perse) (tenor, oboe, piano) (1935)
A l'orient du ciel si pâle (Scènes d'Anabase, St. Jean Perse) (tenor, oboe, piano) (1935)
An American Hero (Andrew Law & Nathaniel Niles) (Aug 1939)
April Fool Baby (Secret Words: A Suite of Six Songs) (Stein)
Baby, Baby (or Sleeping Song) (PB)(1946)
Balada Amarilla (Cuatro Canciones de Garcia Lorca)
Cabin (Blue Mountain Ballads) (Williams)
Cancionilla (Cuatro Canciones de Garcia Lorca)
Caroline (Creole Song) American Folk Songs (1939)
Chaque mort (Each death) Danger de Mort (Linze) (1933)
Clear the Kitchen (12 American Folk Songs)
Come unto these Yellow Sands (Two Songs from Shakespeare: The Tempest) (1950)
David (Frances Frost)
Death Is High (Gothic Suite) (Williams)
Down in Yonder Meadow (Three Pastoral Songs)
El Carbonero (Three Songs from the Sierras)
Evening (From Love Like Wildfire, not staged) (1941)
Faint as Leaf Shadow (Gothic Suite) (Williams)
Farewell (Green Songs) (Richard Thoma) (1935)
Heavenly Grass (Blue Mountain Ballads) (Williams)
Her Head upon the Pillow (Williams)
Here I Am (Six Chansons) (1930-21)
Hunters of Kentucky (12 American Folk Songs)
Il est temps d’écouter crépiter (Danger de Mort) (Linze) (1933)
Il n'a quit un poulain sous les feuilles de bronze (Scènes d'Anabase, St. Jean Perse) (tenor, oboe, piano) (1935)
In the Platinum Forest (Six Chansons) (1930-32) (PB)
In the Woods (in Secret Words: A Suite of Six Songs) (PB)
It Was a Long Trip Back (Six Chansons) (1930-21)
I Went to See My Love (12 American Folk Songs)
Jim Along Josey (12 American Folk Songs)
Jordan is a Hard Road to Trave (12 American Folk Songs)
La Grèce (Athena?) (Memnon) (Jean Cocteau) (1935)
Le Sourire (Memnon) (Jean Cocteau) (1935)
Les Statues (Memnon) (Jean Cocteau) (1935)
La terre a beau passer (The earth has passing beauty) (Danger de Mort) (Linze) (1933)
Laws a Massey! (Negro reel) (American Folk Songs) (1939)
Letter to Freddy (Stein)
Lonesome Man (Blue Mountain Ballads) (Williams)
Long Tail Blue (12 American Folk Songs) Lullaby
Memnon (Memnon) (Jean Cocteau) (1935)
Media Luna (Cuatro Canciones de Garcia Lorca)
Mes de Mayo (formerly La Llegó) (Three Songs from the Sierras) (1944)
Moon (Green Songs) (Richard Thoma) (1935)
Moonbeam (From Love Like Wildfire, not staged) (1941)
Murio al Amancer (Cuatro Canciones de Garcia Lorca)
My Love was Light (1984)
My Old Aunt Sally (12 American Folk Songs)
My Sister's Hand in Mine (Secret Words) (Bluebell Mountain) (JAB)
Night without Sleep (Charles Henri Ford)
Of All the things I Love (Saroyan (Love's Old Sweet Song) (William Saroyan) ( 1940)
Old Colony Times (12 American Folk Songs)
On a Quiet Conscience (Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland)
Once a Lady Was Here (Secret Words) (PB)
Owl (From Love Like Wildfire, not staged) (1941)
Par le Détroit (Cantata for soprano, 4 male voices, harmonium)
Peu à peu (Little by little) (Danger de Mort) ( Linze) (1933)
Que croulent autour de nous (That tottering around us) ( Danger de Mort) ( Linze) (1933)
Que te Felta (Three Songs from the Sierras)
Racette (Memnon) (Jean Cocteau) (1935)
Rain Rots the Wood (published 1935)
Red Faces (Scenes from the Door) (Stein) (1934)
Sailors Song (recorded 1946)
San Sebastiano di Sodoma (Gothic Suite) (Williams)
Secret Words (Secret Words) (PB)
Silence Green Songs (Richard Thoma) (1935)
Sleeping Song (now Baby, Baby) (PB)(1946)
Solitude (Scènes d'Anabase, St. Jean Perse) (tenor, oboe, piano) (1935)
Song of an Old Woman (JAB)
Song for My Sister (Ford)
Spring (From Love Like Wildfire, not staged) (1941)
Springfield Mountain (12 American Folk Songs)
Sugar in the Cane (Blue Mountain Ballads) (Williams)
Testa dell'Efebo (Gothic Suite) (Williams)
The Boatman's Dance (12 American Folk Songs)
The Feathers of the Willow (Three Pastoral Songs)
The Ford (Scenes from the Door) (Stein) (1934)
The Frozen Horse (1945)
The Goths (Gothic Suite) (Williams)
The Heart Grows Old (David)
The Old Gray Goose (12 American Folk Songs)
The Mary Golden Tree (American Folk Songs) (1939)
The Piper (Seumas O'Sullivan) (Three Pastoral Songs) (1944)
The Rose of Alabama (American Folk Songs) (1939)
The Years (Saroyan) Please (Love's Old Sweet Song) (William Saroyan) (1940)
There My Lost Hands (1934)
They Cannot Stop Death (Joe Massey)
Things Shall Go On (Six Chansons) (1930-32)
This Place of Fire (D.H. Lawrence) (1945)
Three (Williams)
Today, More than Ever (Six Chansons) (1930-32)
Today's a Holiday
Tornado Blues
Two Skies (1942)
Un tour de la terre (A tour of the earth)( Danger de Mort) ( Linze) (1933)
Violet (From Love Like Wildfire, not staged) (1941)
Voici la Feuille (PB)
Will You Allow Me to Lie in the Grass (Six Chansons) (1930-32)
What a Beauty I Did Grow (12 American Folk Songs)
When Rain of Love Began (1946)

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