The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #105245   Message #2163732
Posted By: GUEST,melinda
04-Oct-07 - 12:42 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: It Was a Lover and His Lass (Shakespeare)
Subject: Lyr Add: IT WAS A LOVER AND HIS LASS (Shakepeare)
Here's the original Shakespeare poem. Is this the one you're looking for?

There is music for the Morley tune at:
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/It_was_a_lover_and_his_lass_%28Thomas_Morley%29 (I can't get the link thing to work right). This is a SATB choral version, but you can sing the top line as a solo, especially if you can figure out an accompaniment from the other parts.


IT was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green corn-field did pass,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that life was but a flower
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

And, therefore, take the present time
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crownéd with the prime
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.