Annotation:Queen of the May (4) (The)
X:1 T:Queen of the May [4], The M:C L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Lively" B:Oswald – Caledonian Pocket Companion Book 10 (1760, p. ) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G B3c d3e|(d<B)(c<A) {A}B4|c3e df {a}gf/e/|d2 Tc>B {B}A4| d2d2(d^c)(BA)|(BG)(AF) {F}G4|(3ed^c (3BAG FdBg|(fe)(d^c) d4:| |:(dB)T(AG) (FA)(GB)|(Ac)(Bd) {B}A4|g3B (ce)(d=f)|(eg)(=fe) {e}d4| (3edc g2 (3dcB g2|^fedc {c}B4|c3e dg {f}(ed/c/)|B2 T(A>>G/A/4) G4:|]
QUEEN OF THE MAY [4], THE. English, Scottish; Air (whole time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The pastoral song was published in Clio and Euterpe, or British Harmony, vol. 2 (1759), The Canary Bird (1760) and numerous other latter 18th century songsters, and on songsheets. The words begin:
Ev'ry nymph and shepherd bring
Tributes to the queen of May;
Rifle for her brows the spring;
Make her as the season gay,
Make her as the season gay.
Teach ger then, from ev'ry flow'r,
How to use the fleeting hour;
Teach her then, from ev'ry flow'r
How to use the fleeting hour.
James Oswald's setting was entered in the mid-19th century music manuscript of William Winter (1774-1861), a shoemaker and violin player who lived in West Bagborough in Somerset, southwest England.