"Why does it have to be one or the other? The "and words or tint" works both as the completion of the sound and stone line and the beginning of a new sentence "And words and tint I did not stint". It's not possible to convey that on a written page, because you need to opt one way or the other with the punctuation. But you can sing it that way and it works."

You can, and it does - after a fashion, but it doesn't work as well as the original poem works as a written/spoken piece.

The original poem has its own integrity and mood (which as has been suggested above probably wasn't the mood that's engendered by the melody of The Dawning of The Day), which carries and clarifies all the imagery and 'in-jokes' when delivered well.

The crafts of writing poety and songs are very different.

The poet is free to stress his lines as he choses. Speech produces a melody of its own, and a poem (or well written script) implies its own tune - ask any good actor.

A lyricist is bound by the constrictions of an actual tune, and his skill lies in finding words that work with a real melody, not just with it's rhythm and shape, but with it's mood also. (Or to write a tune which does the same with the words - or best still both together at the same time).

For example, no (good) songwriter would ever have written the words "For I loved too much, and by such and such" to the penultimate line of The Dawning of the Day, because the rising notes at the end put a special emphasis on the 'such and such' which would have been a passive passage in the original poem. As it is now it just sounds a little silly. If I was writing a song and wanted to convey that thought with that tune I'd have put the 'I loved too much' at the end of the line - because that's where the emotional break occurs (and I'd have found something else to say in the half line before it).

You also need to match the syllable count and the ticks of the rhythm nicely.

'Is happiness thrown away" is awkward to this tune. If you're not careful you sing 'is ha penis thown away,' because there are two ticks on the 'ha' and the 'pe' goes up so the syllable is emphasied.

There are lots of other examples in Raglan Road where the words have to be bodged to fit the tune. It takes a lot of skill to sing this song well.

Perhaps it would have been better if Kelly had completely rewritten the words (with Kavanagh's permission, of course), keeping the sentiment and imagery intact, but making a new song, which worked in its own right.

But - hey, people love the song, which proves that it's not as hard to write lyrics as it is to write a tune.

Perhaps.

Tom