Like so many others, I sang this song by Ralph Vaughan Williams, originally for solo voice and piano, as an undergraduate voice student. Years later, I had the idea to make an a cappella arrangement of it. It turned out great. The vocal arrangement captures the drama of the Robert Louis Stevenson poem.

Just as a roving traveler sees new places every day, this song changes keys every few measures. Vaughan Williams used a single key signature for each verse and handled the rest with accidentals. To make things more agreeable to the singers, I have including a key signature for each key change.

The voicing is TTTBBB. It can be sung by as few as six singers.

Important legal note: This arrangement of “The Vagabond” is not licensed from the Vaughan Williams estate. The original song was published in 1904; therefore, it is in public domain in the United States, and so it doesn’t matter that this arrangement is unlicensed. However, “The Vagabond” may not be in public domain in other countries where copyright laws differ. In these countries, it may be unlawful for you to purchase this unlicensed arrangement. We make no claim as to the legality of purchasing, downloading, or printing this work if you are not in the United States. Note that this arrangement itself is not in public domain; as the arranger, Sam Kauffman owns the copyright of this arrangement.