It Was a Lover and His Lass
This song is taken from Shakespeare's 'As You Like It.' The melody just seemed to fit.
medieval harmony voice guitar mandolin renaissiance celtic percussion fugue minstrel bard choral classical boroque victorian elizabethan shakespeare
I am a pseudo-medieval musician, scribe and artificer. With layered levels of simple instruments, my sounds are often uniquely archaic. While some of my music is entirely original, most of my numbers are my personal arrangements of renaissance and medieval melodies from antiquity. There's much more information to be found about me on my web site at
Story behind the song
I was working on a Shakespearian set, and this song seemed to be the way to start it. The traditional melody was too flowery for my taste, so I wrote another one.
Other versions of this song also seem to take a lot of liberties with the text - repeating parts in order to fit some predesigned meter to which this song does not naturally fit. I used the text pretty straight from the play. There is a brief diversion of the meter at the end of the fourth verse... That’s my brief tribute to the traditional melody.
Lyrics
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 a 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 crowned 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.
