Music Monday: Now Is The Month of Maying 1595
Stepping backwards a bit, I stumbled across something prior to 1600…
Thomas Morley was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Living in London at the same time as Shakespeare, Morley was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England. [He] was active in church music as a singer, composer and organist at St Paul’s Cathedral [and] was involved in music publishing. [He] lived for a time in the same parish as Shakespeare and, a connection between the two has been long speculated but, never proven. In addition to his madrigals, [he] wrote instrumental music, including keyboard music […].
Now Is The Month of Maying is one of the most famous of the English ballets […]. It is based on the canzonet So Ben Mi Chi Ha Bon Tempo used by Orazio Vecchi […]. It was printed in […] Morley’s First Book of Ballets to Five Voyces [in] 1595. The song delights in bawdy double-entendre. It is, apparently, about spring dancing but, this is a metaphor for making love/sex. For example, a barley-break would have suggested outdoor sexual activity (rather like […] a roll in the hay). The use of such imagery and puns increased during the Renaissance.
It was also heard in 1964 on The Andy Griffith Show episode The Song Festers.
Lyrics:
Now is the month of maying,
When merry lads are playing,
Fa la la la la la la la la,
Fa la la, etc…
Each with his bonny lass
Upon the greeny grass.
Fa la la, etc…
The Spring, clad all in gladness,
Doth laugh at Winter’s sadness,
Fa la la, etc…
And to the bagpipe’s sound
The nymphs tread out their ground.
Fa la la, etc…
Fie then! Why sit we musing,
Youth’s sweet delight refusing?
Fa la la, etc…
Say, dainty nymphs, and speak,
Shall we play barley break?
Fa la la, etc…
Additional Reading & Sources:
Thomas Morley (Britannica)
Thomas Morley (Elizabethan-Era Site)
The Song Festers (IMDB)
Now Is The Month of Maying (Wikipedia)
Thomas Morley (Wikipedia)
Barney’s Voice Lessons
June 2, 2020 at 10:59 PM
That is where Barney got that from! Now I’ll never watch it again the same. The six guys do it a little bit better lol.
June 3, 2020 at 1:00 AM
I remembered the episode but, didn’t remember that song…or the one with the group, either.
June 4, 2020 at 5:29 AM
Is Barney famous?
June 4, 2020 at 1:31 PM
Very much so. Played by beloved comedic actor Don Knotts. Ever seen The Andy Griffith Show?
November 19, 2020 at 3:20 AM
We never had The Andy Griffith Show in the UK but Don Knotts was fab whenever he turned up in films and TV shows. Interesting story! 🙂
November 19, 2020 at 3:50 AM
Don Knotts was a scream. Glad you enjoyed.