Greensleeves and Yellow Lace - Fiddle! | Katy Adelson

Here is a really common song that’s often played around the holiday season called, “Greensleeves.“ The main melody is a very old English (at least I think it’s English?) song that I believe is from the 1500s. The melody is sometimes played more like a faster jig instead of an air, and sometimes referred to as, “Greensleeves and Pudding Pies,“ “Greensleeves and Yellow Lace,“ The Bunch of Roses,“ or “Christmas Comes But Once A Year.“ (This melody has a lot of different names!!) To me, the versions of “Greensleeves and Yellow Lace“ that I’ve heard sound very Scottish, so I tried to keep that vibe by adding more of an emphasis on the beat rather than on the off-beat. It became associated as a Christmas carol with references to Christmas popping up in lyrics around the 1600s. The lyrics to “What Child Is This?“ were written in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix, and are some of the most popular lyrics to sing to this me
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