Annotation:Happy is the Country Life

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HAPPY IS THE COUNTRY LIFE. English, Air and Country Dance Tune (3/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The tune and words, "set by Mr. James Hart," appear in the fourth volume of Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719, p. 288, as "A Song"), originally edited by London publisher Henry Playford. The first stanza goes:

Happy is the Country Life,
Blest with Content, good Health and Ease
Free from Factions, Noise and Strife,
We only Plot our selves to please:
Peace of Mind the Days delight,
And Love our welcome Dreams at Night.


Source for notated version:

Printed sources: D'Urfey (Pills to Purge Melancholy, vol. 4), 1719; p. 288.

Recorded sources:



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