Toyland

From the operetta “Babes in Toyland”, 1903.
Words by Glen MacDonough.
Music by Victor Herbert.

This song is often heard during the Christmas season.

The sheet music:

Toyland – Sheet MusicDownload

Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:

Toyland – MIDIDownload

Lyrics

  1. When you’ve grown up my dears
    And are as old as I
    You’ll often ponder on the years
    That roll so swiftly by
    My dears, that roll so swiftly by
    And of the many lands
    You will have journeyed through
    You’ll oft recall the best of all
    The land your childhood knew
    Your childhood knew

Chorus
Toyland! Toyland! little girl and boyland
While you dwell within it
You are ever happy then
Childhood’s Joyland, mystic merry Toyland
Once you pass its borders you can ne’er return again

  1. When you’ve grown up my dears
    There comes a dreary day
    When ‘mid the locks of black appears
    The first pale gleam of gray
    My dears, the first pale gleam of gray
    Then of the past you’ll dream
    As gray-haired grown-ups do
    And seek once more its phantom shore
    The land your childhood knew
    Your childhood knew

Sung here by Vancha March: