Anglo-Celtic traditional music

American music

• Address to the ladies (lyrics).
• Brave Paulding and the spy (lyrics). Also known as The ballad of Major André or similar.
• The dying Californian. A melody from Northern Virginia. For lyrics and other settings, see an entry in Vocal classical music.
• Napoleon Bonaparte (lyrics).
• Revolutionary tea (lyrics). With words by S. Smith.

Canadian music

• Bay of Biscay, oh (lyrics). From Nova Scotia.

English music

• Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough and William of Cloudeslee (lyrics). A long ballad of 170 verses about the second most famous band of English outlaws.
• All of green willow (additional note). The lesser known willow song, but probably the only one with a real folk tradition behind it.
  • All a green willow. Clearly a variant of the above, but different enough to be a separate tune.
• All in a garden green (1) (lyrics). Contrary to a common claim, the given ballad lyrics actually do fit the melody quite well.
• All in a garden green (2). Another tune of the same name.
• Blow the candle out (lyrics). Version from Suffolk.
• The carman’s whistle (lyrics). With the earliest known variant of the words.
• Children in the wood (lyrics). A version of it has survived in the theatrical tradition as a setting of I loathe that I did love, sung by a gravedigger in W. Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
• Come o’er the bourne, Bessy (lyrics).
• Country garden. A morris dance tune of which only fragments of the words are known. There is also a 3/4 time version adapted as a country dance.
• Drowsy sleeper (lyrics). The tune is also known as Silver dagger or Katy dear.
• The false bride (lyrics). Version from Somerset. See also the Irish version.
• Fortune, my foe (lyrics). Melody of Irish origin, also known as The hanging tune.
• The George Alow (lyrics). The lyrics given here, from J. Fletcher and W. Shakespeare’s Two Noble Kinsmen, fit the tune better than the broadside versions.
• Go from my window (lyrics). There is also a Norfolk version (lyrics) dating from c.1780.
• Good morrow, valentine.
• Greensleeves (lyrics). A duple time version based on two lute arrangements. Musical descendants include:
  • Bacca pipes jig. A morris dance tune.
  • I have a mare, they call her Brock (lyrics). This otherwise unknown song was included in W. Cobbold’s New fashions. The lyrics belong to the I cannot come every day to woo ballad family.
• The Gypsies’ round (lyrics). Set to the words from the play The Spanish Gypsy by T. Middleton and others.
• The honour of a London prentice (lyrics). To the tune of All you that love good fellows, also known as Nancy or Sir Edward Noel’s delight.
• I am a young and harmless maid (lyrics).
• The Jew’s dance. A bergamask whose connection with Jews is unclear.
• Light o’ love (lyrics). With words from a poem by L. Gybson.
  • Fair maid, are you walking?. A variant of the above.
• Lord Lovel (lyrics).
• The merry milkmaids (lyrics). With words from the ballad The milkmaid’s life by M. Parker. The author clearly had a fetish for milkmaids.
  • And will he not come again? (lyrics). A minor-key version of the first part of the above tune has survived in theatrical tradition as the setting of this Ophelia’s song in W. Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
• The miller, weaver and little tailor (lyrics).
• Oh! oh! oh! for a husband (lyrics).
• O mistress mine (alternate arrangement). This tune is usually, but wrongly, associated with W. Shakespeare’s song from Twelfth Night.
• The pretty ploughboy (lyrics). Version from North Yorkshire. There are also other versions collected in the other parts of England (and a Scottish version too):
  • The lark in the morn (Cornish version) (lyrics). This version is very similar to the one above.
  • The lark in the morn (Somerset version) (lyrics).
  • The lark in the morning (Essex version). As the informant remembered only fragments of the words, no lyrics are included with this version.
• Row well, ye mariners. This tune may have originated in A Masque of 8 Mariners, performed for Mary Tudor and Philip Habsburg in 1554.
• Sellenger’s round. A dance tune of presumed French or Irish origin.
• Sick, sick. A little-known tune from the Osborn lute book. Not to be confused with two other tunes of the same name.
• The silver pin (lyrics). Version from Hampshire.
• The soldier’s dance. Also known as The soldier’s life for the first line of its lost original text, Who list to lead a soldier’s life. Musical descendants include:
  • Lord Thomas and fair Ellinor (lyrics). The lyrics of this one are a little too violent for my taste.
  • Tomorrow is St Valentine’s Day (lyrics). Ophelia’s song in W. Shakespeare’s Hamlet, preserved in the theatrical tradition.
• The trapanned maiden (lyrics).
• Turkeyloney. An English variant of the Italian tune Gentil madonna. The name has nothing to do with Turkey or turkeys: it is derived from tordiglione, a type of Italian galliard.
• Walsingham (lyrics). With words by W. Raleigh. The title, of course, refers to the shrine of the Holy Lady of Walsingham. Musical descendants include:
  • Gernutus, the Jew of Venice (lyrics). The words are an example of traditional Elizabethan antisemitism; although perhaps we should blame Italian writers for this one.
  • How should I your true love know (lyrics, 3/4 time version). Tune preserved in theatrical tradition as the setting of Ophelia’s song in W. Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
• Western wind (lyrics). An early tune preserved in a mass by J. Taverner.
• When Daphne from fair Phoebus did fly (lyrics).
• Whoop! do me no harm, good man.
• The willow song (lyrics). The best and most famous.
• A wooing song of a yeoman of Kent’s son (lyrics). A song on the theme of I cannot come every day to woo. The lyrics are in in Kentish dialect.
• The woods so wild (lyrics).

Irish music

• Aisling an ógfhear. The Londonderry air is a common-time version of this tune.
  • The last rose of summer (lyrics). Another song based on the above, this time in the original metre.
• I once loved a lass (lyrics). See also the English version.
• The minstrel boy (lyrics). With words by T. Moore to the tune of The mereen.
• The Moorlough Shore (lyrics). The lyrics here are a compilation from various sources.

Scottish music

• The Barnyards o’ Delgaty (lyrics). A bothy song.
• Bessy Bell and Mary Gray (lyrics). Bessy and Mary were, of course, just flatmates. The tune is probably a descendant of Whoop! do me no harm, good man.
• Bonny Barbara Allan (lyrics). The earliest known version of the tune.
  • Barbara Allen (lyrics). The most famous version. Note that although the ballad was originally entitled Barbara Allen’s cruelty, she does not actually do anything cruel here.
• Broom of the Cowdenknows (lyrics). A also known as Bonny May.
• John, come kiss me now (lyrics).
• Lizie Wan (lyrics). Also known as Fair Lizie. Another violent ballad, this time with an incest theme. Be warned.
• My mistress is pretty. Yet another variant of La mantovana.
• Peggie Bell. Also known as Ca’ me, ca’ thee.
• The ploughboy (lyrics). See also the English versions.
• Quoth John to Joan (lyrics). Melody probably derived from R. Nicholson’s song, with words by T. d’Urfey, likewise belonging to the I cannot come every day to woo family.
• Tak’ your auld cloak about ye (lyrics).

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