Sounding Childhood Main Menu Part 1: Children's Hymns Part 2: Songs for School and Play Part 3: Animal Welfare (Bands of Mercy) Songs Part 4: Christmas Carols Part 5: Folk Songs Part 6: Patriotic Songs Part 7: Early 20th-Century Hymns About the Author Works Cited

"Now is the Month of Maying"

43370
"Now is the Month of Maying" (late 1500s) is one of the oldest songs on this website. It is technically not a folksongs, as we know the authors.  The words were written by Michael Drayton (1563-1631) and the tune is by Thomas Morley (c. 1557-1602).  It extols the coming of May to the cold climate of England, "when merry lads are playing...with his bonny lass."  It is a madrigal, a song sung by a choir in polyphony (many lines of melody), although we sang it in unison, and enjoyed the delightful "fa la la's."  It would no doubt have been a part of a May Day celebration, a celebration as old as Roman times to welcome the beginning of spring on May 1st, perhaps used during a May Pole dance.  So we did use a May Pole when we sang this song.

Our Community Choristers' Winter/Valentine's choir (2026) brought it back to "Now is the month of Valentine's"..."upon the SNOWY pass" (not greeny grass!) so as to be able to sing it at a Madrigal dinner, picture above.

Score: from an old 20th century collection
Choirs: 2025 Spring Choir of the Community Choristers, video below, with the May Pole dance of six dancers in the front.
2026 Winter/Valentine's Choir, seen above.

This page has paths:

  1. Part 5: Folk Songs Alisa Clapp-Itnyre

Contents of this path:

  1. Madrigal dinner 2026
  2. Now is the month of Maying