1. The Lover and his Lass
Language:
English
Authorship
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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):
It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino
That o'er the green [corn-field]1 did pass.
In [the]2 spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a 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]3 would lie,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring. ]4
[This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that [a life]5 was but a flower
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.]6
[And therefore take the present time]7
[With]8 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 a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
View text without footnotes
1 Morley: "cornfields"
2 omitted by Barton, Bush, and Morley, passim.
3 Delius, Dring: "folk"
4 not set by Morley. In Dring and Parry, only first and third lines survive.
5 sometimes "life"?
6 not set by Bush. In Dring and Parry, only first and third lines survive.
7 Barton, Morley : "Then, pretty lovers, take the time"
8 Bush: "And with"
2. Where the bee sucks
Language:
English
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Where the bee sucks there [suck]1 I:
In a cow-slip's [bell]2 I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On a bat's back [I do]3 fly
after [summer]4 merrily,
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
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1 Arne: "lurk"
2 Arne: "bed"
3 Arne: "do I"
4 Arne: "sunset"
3. When daisies pied
Language:
English
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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):
When daisies pied and violets blue
[And lady-smocks all silver white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,]1
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
[When]2 turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer [smocks]3,
The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.
View text without footnotes
1 Stravinsky: reversed.
2 Arne: "And"
3 Arne: "frocks"
4. When Icicles hang by the wall
Language:
English
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When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipt and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tuwhoo! Tuwhit! Tuwhoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tuwhoo! Tuwhit! Tuwhoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
Input by Clive Robinson
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