Four Last Songs (Vaughan Williams) - III. Tired

III. Tired

Textually, as well as musically, “Tired” and “Hands, Eyes, and Heart” are the most closely related of the set. Both texts describe a state of self-abandonment in favor of a life devoted to another. “Tired” can be divided into an ABA format consisting of a refrain in B♭ minor with a verse section in the dominant minor, F minor. In the A section of “Tired” the singer implores her lover to “Sleep, and I’ll be still as another sleeper, holding you in my arms.” The singer is content to simply be lying near her beloved “at last.” In the F-minor section, emotion builds as the speaker describes how the “sheltering midnight” is the only place where they can be alone together where “no passion or despair or hope” can separate the two from each other. At the return of the A section, we return to B♭ minor, and the speaker states the things that she will remember about her beloved “as the fire fell to ashes, and the minutes passed.” It is important to note that while the song is entitled “Tired,” there is little sleeping going on within the piece as the bass line moves up a fourth and down a fourth, churning the song onward, and the lyrics show little intention of the speaker ever going to sleep.