Britten Thematic Catalogue

Beta Version

BTC21 FUZZY-WUZZY

For voice and piano
Composition date: ca. 1922
Revised: rev. 1923-1924
Genre: Solo vocal
Text: Rudyard Kipling (1869-1936)

The most complete source for this song (Fair copy) uses only the first and fourth verses and the chorus to verse 4 from Kipling's poem. Furthermore, Britten has altered the words in the last line of the chorus to read 'you great big boundin' beggar' which differs from Kipling's line 'you big black boundin' beggar'. However, Kipling's original is used in the third source for this song (Fair copy). Britten has also replaced the word 'damn' in the fifth source with 'hmmm'.

Notes

Britten revised this song along with Beware! (Nov 1922) and O that I'd ne'er been married (1922) in 1967-68. The latter two songs were eventually published in 1985, but 'Fuzzy-wuzzy' remained unpublished, presumably because of its politically incorrect connotations.

All content copyright (C) Britten-Pears Foundation 2012 unless stated. Please note all BTC numbers are provisional at this stage.