The Animals
for baritone and piano
4. Charley Horse
I am the dead leg, the granddaddy,
I am the corked thigh. Does it hurt?
Oh horse that excels in warfare, I am not thee.
Oh peaceful beasts of burden, I am not thee, not thee.
I trot inside your quadriceps. I snort. You moan.
I canter up and down. Oh, I prance when you wince.
I am an animal, too, because I am you.
Do you have feelings for me?
You must have feelings for me.
Because I am you. I am you, too.
I am the horse of the deep purple,
I am the horse sense of your flesh.
Can you feel my unshod hooves?
I can feel your hand calming me.
Oh, hear me whinny and neigh.
Shall I live inside you all day?
Am I not real if I feel what you feel?
You have your plow horses, your thoroughbreds.
Why, then, are there sawhorses?
Why are there gift horses,
if not to enlarge the bestiary?
Confess that you gave birth to me.
I am a tiny piece of your bad luck.
I am alive within you. Call me Chuck.
Written during the summer of 2009, The Animals is a cycle of nine songs written and dedicated to Stephen Swanson, who premiered them in
October of that year. Poet Marvin Bell created the texts specifically for this cycle. The work not only takes inspiration from the Ravel
and Poulenc animal songs, but is also rooted in the American tradition: Gershwin's Tin Pan Alley, and more recently the songs of
William Bolcom.