1947
The Lordly Hudson
Composed by 
Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem Text by Paul Goodman
"The Lordly Hudson" sets the text of Paul Goodman. The song was composed by Ned Rorem in 1947, and an orchestral version was composed in 2007.
Listen
The Lordly Hudson
Hayoung Jung, mezzo-soprano; John Morefield, piano2:20
Text
The Lordly Hudson
by Paul Goodman
“Driver, what stream is it?”
I asked, well knowing
it was our lordly Hudson
hardly flowing.
“It is our lordly Hudson
hardly flowing,” he said,
“under the green-grown cliffs.”
Be still, heart!
No one needs
your passionate suffrage
to select this glory–
this is our lordly Hudson
hardly flowing
under the green-grown cliffs.
“Driver has this a peer
in Europe or the East?”
“No, no!” He said.
Home! Home!
Be quiet, heart!
This is our lordly Hudson
and has no peer
in Europe or the East;
this is our lordly Hudson
hardly flowing
under the green-grown cliffs
and has no peer
in Europe or the East;
be quiet, heart!
Home! Home!
Video
Sheet Music
50 Collected Songs
Ned Rorem
Clouds
Love
Alleluia
The End
Chromatic Fantasy
For Susan
Orchids
Psalm 150
The Nightingale
Absalom
A Birthday
A Child Asleep in Its Own Life
Conversation
A Journey
The Land of Fear
Little Elegy
The Lordly Hudson
Nantucket
O Do Not Love Too Long
On a Little Bird
Poem for F.
The Serpent
Shelley's Vision
The Sick Wife
Spring (Hopkins)
Spring (Koch)
The Waking
What if some little pain...
While Sodom was occupied
A Glimpse
He Thinks Upon His Death
Philomel
Rain in Spring
You, the young Rainbow
Early in the Morning
Are you the new person?
Catullus: on the Burial of His Brother
Ferry me across the water
I strolled across an open field
I will always love you
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
Look down, fair moon
Love in a Life
On a Singing Girl
Sometimes with one I love
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Such beauty as hurts to behold
That shadow, my likeness
To a Young Girl
Visits to St. Elizabeths
Love
Alleluia
The End
Chromatic Fantasy
For Susan
Orchids
Psalm 150
The Nightingale
Absalom
A Birthday
A Child Asleep in Its Own Life
Conversation
A Journey
The Land of Fear
Little Elegy
The Lordly Hudson
Nantucket
O Do Not Love Too Long
On a Little Bird
Poem for F.
The Serpent
Shelley's Vision
The Sick Wife
Spring (Hopkins)
Spring (Koch)
The Waking
What if some little pain...
While Sodom was occupied
A Glimpse
He Thinks Upon His Death
Philomel
Rain in Spring
You, the young Rainbow
Early in the Morning
Are you the new person?
Catullus: on the Burial of His Brother
Ferry me across the water
I strolled across an open field
I will always love you
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
Look down, fair moon
Love in a Life
On a Singing Girl
Sometimes with one I love
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Such beauty as hurts to behold
That shadow, my likeness
To a Young Girl
Visits to St. Elizabeths
High & Medium/Low