But there is one song. The one song that tops all the others. The that brings a tear to my eye and a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.
Hints:
“My” song is an American rendition of Greensleeves, which is
an old English folk song of complicated, and not entirely identifiable origins.
Greensleeves was a familiar song (tune) in Shakespeare’s day, because he
referenced it in his play, 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' in 1595. Falstaff: “Let
the sky rain potatoes! Let it thunder to the tune of ‘Greensleeves’!”
There is a legend that the original song was written by
Henry VIII for his future wife, Anne Boleyn, but that is apparently a myth as
there is evidence the song was around before Henry’s time.
By 1690, or so, the original song was becoming associated
with Christmas and New Year’s. Then by the 19th century, any
Christmas songbook worth its salt included some version of the original folk
song (lyrics and tune) as a carol. Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, and a host of
other crooners have recorded their renditions of Greensleeves.
Here is a clip from The Rifleman with Johnny Crawford singing Greensleeves.
As a Christmas song, we know it as What Child is This? which
has also been recorded by too many artists to list here.
My favorite song is A Home in the Meadow. The lyrics were written by Sammy
Cahn and the song was performed by Debbie Reynolds in the 1962 western movie
(and book by same title written by Louis L’Amour), How the West was Won.
For your viewing and listening pleasure, here is the YouTube
clip from the movie. If you've not read the book How the West was Won AND watched the 1962 movie of the same name, you should remedy those most egregious oversights as soon as you can. You can thank me later. *wink*
Until next time,
Kaye Spencer
Writing through history one romance upon a time
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