Shakespeare and Folk songs

[elderpiano]

I love this happy foot tapping, carefree song, by William Shakespeare.
Sung by Ben Kingsley.


Original Song.


When that I was and a little tiny boy,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.



But when I came to man’s estate,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

’Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,

For the rain it raineth every day.



But when I came, alas! to wive,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

By swaggering could I never thrive,

For the rain it raineth every day.



But when I came unto my beds,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

With toss-pots still had drunken heads,

For the rain it raineth every day.



A great while ago the world begun,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

But that’s all one, our play is done,

And we’ll strive to please you every day.

 

[John Watt]

elderpiano! Wow! For all of my life I have never heard that William Shakespeare wrote songs.

uh... uh... too bad he's just a right-handed Englishman.

"Uh-ha, uh-ha, whee-hee!" That's Shakespeare?

 

[elderpiano]

Yes, Shakespeare who wrote the Sonnets and great soliloquy, To Be or Not to be in Hamlet, also wrote simple songs and dances, for his plays as was customary in Tudor times.


The gleeful whee-hee you refer to above, has been added for a bit of extra effect by the singer , Ben Kingsley.