Four and twenty Yankees, feeling very dry, Went across the border to get a drink of rye. When the rye was opened, theYanks began to sing, 'God bless America, but God save the King!'

-Anonymous
c.1919  Ditty current in Canada, referring to  Americans crossing the border to drink during Prohibition. The Duke of  Windsor, later Edward VIII, heard it during his tour of Canada (1919) and repeatedit to his father, George V, onhis return, as he recalledin A King's Story (1951).

Can't act.Can't sing. Slightly bald.Can dance a little.

-Anonymous
c.1930  Studio executive's assessment of Fred  Astaire on his first screen test.

No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.

-Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)
Quoted in Time, 29 Dec1961.

Sing on, with hymns uproarious, Ye humble and aloof, Look up! and oh, how glorious He has restored the roof!

-Betjeman, SirJohn
Mount Zion,'Hymn'.

O come let us sing unto the L: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Psalms

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDPsalms 95:1^2.

Jubilate Deo, omnis terra; servite Domino in laetitia. Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; serve the Lord with gladness. See Book of Common Prayer143:66.

-Bible (Vulgate)
Psalm 99:2 (Psalm100:2  Authorized Version).

   'Tis a suresign that work goes on merrily, whenfolkssing at it.

-Bickerstaffe, Isaac
  The Maid of the Mill, act1, sc.1.

Sing unto the Lord a new song: sing praises lustily unto him with a good courage.

-Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 33:3.

Ocome, let ussing untothe Lord; let usheartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and shew ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God; and a great King above all gods. In his hand are all the corners of the earth; and the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is the Lord our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

-Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 95:1^7.

The way your smile just beams The way you sing off key The way you haunt my dreams No, no! They can't take that away from me!

-Gershwin, Ira originally Israel Gershowitz
  'They Can't  Take That  Away from Me', song from the film musical Shall We Dance? (music by George Gershwin).

   Sing 'Booh to youö Pooh, pooh to you'ö And that's what I shall say!

-Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck)
  Jane and Bunthorne's duet, Patience, act 2.

Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing My God and King.

-Herbert, George
'Antiphon', collected in The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (published posthumously,1633).

Yo he conocido cantores que era un gusto el escuchar; mas no quieren opinar y se divierten cantando; pero yo canto opinando, que es mi modo de cantar. I have known singers it was a pleasure to listen to; theyamuse themselves singing and don't care to give opinions; but I sing giving opinions and that's my kind of song.

-Herna¤ n dez,Jose¤
  La vuelta de Mart|¤  n Fierro, pt.1 (translated as Mart|¤  n Fierro, 1923).

I write of Hell; I sing (and ever shall) Of Heaven, and hope to have it after all.

-Herrick, Robert
  Hesperides,'The  Argument of His Book'.

I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers: Of April, May, of June, and July-flowers. I sing of May-poles, Hock-carts, wassails, wakes, Of bride-grooms, brides, and of their bridal-cakes.

-Herrick, Robert
  Hesperides,'The  Argument of His Book'.

America the beautiful, Let me sing of thee; Burger King and Dairy Queen From sea to shining sea.

-Huxtable, Ada Louise ne¤  e Landman
  'Goodbye History, Hello Hamburger', in the NewYork Times, 21 Mar.

Through breaks of the cedar and sycamore bowers Struggles the light that is love to the flowers; And, softer than slumber and sweeter than singing, The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing. The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of daytime! They sing in September their songs of the May-time.

-Kendall, Henry Clarence
  Leaves from  Australian Forests,'Bell-Birds'.

I want to retire at 50. I want to play cricket in the summer and geriatric football in the winter, and sing in the choir.

-Kinnock, Neil Gordon
  In The Times, 28  Jul.

Pussy said to the Owl,'You elegant Fowl! How charmingly sweet you sing! O let us be married! too long we have tarried: But what shall we do for a ring?' They sailed away for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows, And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood With a ring at the end of his nose.

-Lear, Edward
Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and  Alphabets,'The Owl and the Pussy-Cat'.

Ki qu'en plurt ne ki qu'en chant, le dreit estuet aler avant. Whether it makes one cry or sing, justice must be carried out.

-Maria¤ t egui,Jose¤   Carlos
c.1170  Lanval, l.437^8.