Introduction - Greg Brown

Piping down the valleys wild

Piping songs of pleasant glee

On a cloud I saw a child

And he laughing said to me

'Pipe a song about a Lamb'

So I piped with merry cheer

'Piper, pipe that song again'

So I piped: he wept to hear

'Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe

Sing thy songs of happy cheer'

So I sung the same again

While he wept with joy to hear

'Piper, sit thee down and write

In a book, that all may read'

So he vanished from my sight

And I plucked a hollow reed

And I made a rural pen

And I stained the water clear

And I wrote my happy songs

Every child may joy to hear