Carl Ruggles' only song for voice and piano was written in 1919 for the 4th birthday of Micah, his first -born son. Ruggle's word groupings: Painted ships, and trains of choo choo cars, and a wondrous balloon that floats, and floats, and floats way up to the stars are the clue to the scherzo. Ruggles made numerous references to TOYS as his seminal piece that gave him insights into a style that was subsequently fully realized in the works that followed. The music in this edition has been transposed down a whole step from the original edition, as recommended by Ruggles, in order to make tnis song more accesible to the singer. For college, conservatory, professional.Medium-difficult.