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. The lesser known willow song, but probably the only one with a real folk tradition behind it. This is probably the tune to which Desdemona’s song (lyrics) was sung in W. Shakespeare’s Othello.
  • All a green willow. Clearly a variant of the above, but different enough to be a separate tune.
  • An old lover’s complaint (lyrics). Another version of the tune arranged as a part song, but only two parts survive; this is the most complete version I can provide.
• All in a garden green (lyrics). Contrary to a common claim, the given ballad lyrics actually do fit the melody quite well.
• Bandalashot galliard. Neither the meaning nor the language of the title is known.
• Blow the candle out (lyrics). Version from Suffolk.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• The God of love (lyrics). With words by W. Elderton to the tune of Turkeyloney, an English variant of the Italian Gentil madonna. The name has nothing to do with Turkey or turkeys: it is derived from tordiglione, a type of Italian galliard.
• 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.
• King Solomon (lyrics). To an English version of the tune Guerre, guerre gai.
• Light o’ love (lyrics). With words from a poem by L. Gybson.
  • Fair maid, are you walking?. A variant of the above.
• Long have mine eyes (lyrics). With words by T. Campion to the tune of O mistress mine, usually wrongly associated with W. Shakespeare’s song from Twelfth night.
• 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).
• Monsieur’s almain. An arrangement of an old dance tune for a mixed consort.
• Oh! oh! oh! for a husband (lyrics).
• 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.
• 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).
• 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).
• 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.

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.
• 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.
• The old cloak (lyrics).
• 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.

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