Rats Away!
Benjamin Britten * Track #2 On Our Hunting Fathers
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Rats Away! by Benjamin Britten
Release Date
Performed by
Benjamin BrittenAbout
This manic selection is a setting of an ancient prayer to keep away rats whose text was modernized by Auden. The orchestra plays as the singer punctuates the prayer with shrieks of “Rats!”, as if the vermin were threatening to overwhelm them where they stand.
Rats Away! Lyrics
I command that all the rats that are hereabout
That none dwell in this place, within or without;
Through the virtue of Jesus that Mary bore
Whom all creatures must ever adore;
And through the virtue of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John
All four Archangels, that are as one;
Through the virtue of Saint Gertrude, that maid clean
God grant in grace
That no rats dwell in the place
That these names were uttered in;
And through the virtue of Saint Kasi
That holy man who prayed to God Almighty
Of the scathes they did
His meadows amid
By day and night
God bid them flee and go out of every man's sight
Dominus, Deus, Sabbaoth, Emmanuel, great name of God
Deliver this place from rats and from all other shame
God save this place from all other wicked wights
Both by days and by nights
Et in nomini Patris et Filii et Sancti Spiriti, Amen
Rats Away! Q&A
Who wrote Rats Away!'s ?
Rats Away! was written by Anonymous & Benjamin Britten & W. H. Auden.
When did Benjamin Britten release Rats Away!?
Benjamin Britten released Rats Away! on Fri Sep 25 1936.