by Thomas Dekker (c1572 - 1632)
O, the month of May, the merry month of...
Language: English
O, the month of May, the merry month of May, So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green! O, and then did I unto my true love say, "Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my summer's Queen." Now the nightingale, the pretty nightingale, The sweetest singer in all the forest quire, Entreats thee, sweet Peggy, to hear thy true love's tale: Lo, yonder she sitteth, her breast against a briar. But O, I spy the cuckoo, the cuckoo, the cuckoo; See where she sitteth: come away, my joy: Come away, I prithee, I do not like the cuckoo; Should sing when my Peggy and I kiss and toy. O, the month of May, the merry month of May, So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green; And then did I unto my true love say, "Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my summer's Queen."
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesText Authorship:
- by Thomas Dekker (c1572 - 1632), "The first Three-Man's song", appears in The Shoemaker's Holiday [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "O, the Month of May", 1950 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "The merry month of May", 1921, published 1921 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "The merry month of May", R. 38 (1925), published 1925 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "O, the month of May", op. 24 no. 4 (1926), published 1927 [ voice and piano ], from Five English Love Lyrics, no. 4, London, Chappell [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "The merry month of May", published 1927 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 151