Annotation:Three Merry Men
X:1 T:Three Merry Men M:C| L:1/8 S:Chappell – Popular Music of the Olden Times (1859) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Bb d4 c2d2 B4 F4 | B4 A2B2 D4 E4 | F4 B3A B2c2 d4 | c8 || c4 c2A2 F4 F4 | f4 f2e2 d4 B4 | c4 c4 c2d2 e4 | d8 ||
THREE MERRY MEN. English, Ballad Air (cut time). B Flat Major (Chappell): A Major (Kines). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The air appears in John Playford's MS Commonplace Book, while the words can be found in Peele's The Old Wives' Tale (1595). Shakespeare has Sir Toby mention the ballad, among others, in Twelfth Night (act II, scene 3). Only four lines seem to have been given by Chappell, Long and Gibbon:
Three merry men and three merry men and three merry men are we.
I in the wood and thou on the ground and Jack sleeps in the tree.
Hold thy peace, and I prithee hold thy peace.
Thou Knave, hold thy peace thou knave, thou knave.
