The Moss – English Lyrics

• By: Cosmo Sheldrake
• Album: Eye To The Ear

Lyrics & Translation

Embark on a journey through the enchanting world of Cosmo Sheldrake's "The Moss." This unique song blends folklore, nature, and whimsical storytelling, offering a delightful way to explore creative lyricism and imaginative musical arrangements. You'll discover how everyday observations can inspire fantastical tales, learning the beauty of open-minded curiosity through its captivating melodies and playful narrative.

[English]

Legend has it that the moss grows on

The north side of the trees

Well, legend has it when the rain comes down

All the worms come up to breathe

Well, legend has it when the sunbeams come

All the plants, they eat them with their leaves

Well, legend has it that the world spins 'round

On an axis of 23 degrees

But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?

Or the cow that hopped the planets while straddling a spoon

Or she, who leapt up mountains, while whistling up a tune

And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom

Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few

From that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe

Or the girl that sang by day and by night she ate tear soup

Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewers' droop

Come listen, all ye fair maids, to how the moral goes

Nobody knew and nobody knows

How the Pobble was robbed of his twice five toes

Or how the Dong came to own a luminous nose

Or how the Jumblies went to sea in a sieve that they rowed

And came to shore by the Chankly Bore where the Bong-trees grow

Where the Jabberwocky's small green tentacles do flow

And the Quangle Wangle plays in the rain and the snow

But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?

Or the cow that hopped the planets while straddling a spoon

Or she, who leapt up mountains, while whistling up a tune

And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom

Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few

From that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe

Or the girl that sang by day and by night she ate tear soup

Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewers' droop

...

Legend has it that the moss grows on

The north side of the trees

Well, legend has it when the rain comes down

All the worms come up to breathe

Well, legend has it when the sunbeams come

All the plants, they eat them with their leaves

Well, legend has it that the world spins 'round

On an axis of 23 degrees

But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?

Or the cow that hopped the planets while straddling a spoon

Or she, who leapt up mountains, while whistling up a tune

And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom

Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few

From that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe

Or the girl that sang by day and by night she ate tear soup

Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewers' droop

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
legend /ˈlɛdʒənd/ B2	noun - a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated
moss /mɒs/ A2	noun - a small green, fluffy plant that grows on surfaces
rain /reɪn/ A1	noun - water falling from the sky in drops
worms /wɜːrmz/ A2	noun - elongated, soft-bodied invertebrate animals that often live in soil
sunbeams /ˈsʌnˌbiːmz/ B2	noun - rays of sunlight
plants /plænts/ A1	noun - living organisms that typically have leaves and stems
world /wɜːrld/ A2	noun - the Earth and all its inhabitants
axes /ˈæk.siːz/ B2	noun - plural of axis; a straight line about which a body or rotate
degrees /dɪˈgriːz/ B1	noun - units of measurement for angles or temperature
story /ˈstɔː.ri/ A2	noun - a narrative of real or imaginary events
moon /muːn/ A1	noun - the natural satellite that orbits the Earth
cow /kaʊ/ A1	noun - a large farm animal kept for milk or meat
planet /ˈplænɪt/ B1	noun - a celestial body orbiting a star
mountains /ˈmaʊntɪnz/ A2	noun - high landforms rising prominently above surrounding terrain

Key Grammar Structures

• Legend has it that the moss grows on

  ➔ Present simple with 'has it that' for storytelling or idiomatic expressions

  ➔ The phrase 'Legend has it that' introduces a traditional or mythical story, using the present simple to convey timelessness.

• Well, legend has it when the rain comes down

  ➔ Conditional clause with 'when' to indicate timing of events

  ➔ The word 'when' introduces a subordinate clause that specifies the timing of the rain coming down, functioning as a temporal conjunction.

• All the worms come up to breathe

  ➔ Present simple tense for habitual actions or general truths

  ➔ The present simple 'come up' indicates a habitual or natural behavior of worms surfacing to breathe.

• Or the girl that sang by day and by night she ate tear soup

  ➔ Compound sentence with coordinated clauses using 'and'

  ➔ The coordinating conjunction 'and' links two actions performed by the girl, describing her activities during the day and night.

• And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom

  ➔ Present participial phrase 'while riding' indicating simultaneous action

  ➔ 'while riding on a broom' is a present participial phrase that describes the ongoing action occurring at the same time as swapping her songs.

• Because the world spins 'round on an axis of 23 degrees

  ➔ Simple present tense with third person singular 'spins' for a general truth

  ➔ The verb 'spins' is in the present tense third person singular, expressing a universal or scientific fact about the Earth's rotation.

• Or the cow that hopped the planets while straddling a spoon

  ➔ Relative clause with 'that' to specify which cow; present participle 'straddling' to describe simultaneous action

  ➔ The relative clause 'that hopped the planets' specifies which cow; 'straddling a spoon' is a present participle phrase indicating the cow's simultaneous action.