The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #76336 Message #1394397
Posted By: GUEST,Bob Coltman
31-Jan-05 - 12:21 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Looking for Elizabethan Era songs - help
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for Elizabethan Era songs - h
It may sound excessively obvious, but Shakespeare's a goldmine of songs that started out as folk. Examples: Tomorrow Is Saint Valentine's Day All a Green Willow Shall Be My Garland I Was a Lover and His Lass Western Wind How Should I Your True Love Know Jog On the Footpath Way John Dory
also Cherry Ripe (not the later art song) Jolly Good Ale and Old Roister Doister A, Robyn Martin Said To His Man (the right era, I think) Greensleeves The Three Ravens King Henry the Fifth's Conquest of France Fara Diddle Dyno and, of course, To Celia (=Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes)
Most of these have no surviving tunes, but tunes have been put to them over the yeas. The Shakespearean ones usually appear in fragments, but the whole song is often known. Your local library, or Web libraries, should have a fair section under Renaissance Songs or some such search term.
You may also want to check current CDs under Elizabethan or Shakespearean songs...there are lots more. Good hunting! Bob