It was a lover and his lass,
  With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino
That o'er the green [corn-field]1 did pass.
  In [the]2 spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,
  [With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,]3
These pretty country [folks]4 would lie,
  [In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,]5
[When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.]3

This carol they began that hour,
  [With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,]3
How that a life was but a flower
  [In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,]5
[When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.]3

[And therefore take the present time]6
  [With]7 a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crownéd with the prime
  In [the]2 spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

B. King sets lines 4-6
G. Bush sets stanzas 1-2, 4
H. Clough-Leighter sets stanzas 1, 3
A. Foote sets stanzas 1, 4
T. Morley sets stanzas 1, 3-4
F. Delius sets stanzas 1-2, 4
E. Coates sets stanzas 1, 2, 4

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Morley: "cornfields"
² omitted by Barton, Bush, and Morley
³ omitted by Dring; omitted by Parry
⁴ Delius, Dring: "folk"
⁵ Barton, Bush, Morley: "In spring time, the only pretty ring time,"; omitted by Dring; omitted by Parry
⁶ Barton, Morley : "Then, pretty lovers, take the time"
⁷ Bush: "And with"

Text Authorship:

• by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in As You Like It, Act V, Scene 3 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Godfrey Edward Pellew Arkwright (1864 - 1944), "It was a lover", published [1902?] [ high medium voice and piano ], from Nine Songs from Shakespeare, London, Joseph Williams [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph W. Baber (b. 1937), "It was a lover and his lass ", op. 9 no. ? (1953-6) [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Shakespearean Madrigals, Set 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph W. Baber (b. 1937), "It was a lover and his lass", op. 19 no. ? (1954-64), published 1976 [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespearean Songs, Lexington : Kelley ; note: not musically related to the madrigal in op. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gerard Barton (1861 - ?), "It was a lover and his lass", published 1803 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "It was a lover", c1901 [ voice and piano ], from Two Songs of the Spring-Time, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dudley Buck (1839 - 1909), "Spring Song", op. 76 (Five Songs) no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alan Bullard (b. 1947), "Pretty ring time" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Winifred May Bury (1897 - 1977), "It was a lover and his lass ", 1927 [ boys' chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "It was a lover and his lass", 1956, stanzas 1-2,4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Mary Grant Carmichael (1851 - 1935), "It was a lover and his lass", published 1886 [ vocal duet ], London: Boosey & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "It was a lover and his lass", 1924, published 1925, from Three Old English Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Henry Clough-Leighter (1874 - 1956), "It was a lover and his lass", published 1906, stanzas 1,3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Eric Coates (1886 - 1957), "It was a lover and his lass", published 1909, stanzas 1,2,4 [ voice and piano ], from Four Old English Songs, no. 4, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Frederick Delius (1862 - 1934), "It was a lover and his lass", 1916, published 1919, stanzas 1-2,4 [ voice and piano ], from Four Old English Lyrics, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Madeleine Dring (1923 - 1977), "It was a lover and his lass" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Donald Edeson , "It was a lover and his lass" [ TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Richard Bruce Faith (b. 1926), "It was a lover and his lass" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "It was a lover and his lass", op. 18 no. 5 (1940), from Let Us Garlands Bring, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "It was a lover and his lass", op. 10 (Three songs) no. 1, published 1885, stanzas 1,4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "It was a lover and his lass", op. 66 no. 1, published 1964 [ women's chorus, piano duet, and optional percussion ], from A Shakespeare Sequence, no. 1, London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "It was a lover and his lass", op. 150 no. 7 (1980) [ high voice, oboe, and piano ], from Hebdomade, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998), "It was a lover and his lass", 1977 [ duet for soprano and baritone with piano ], from Four Shakespeare Duets, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "It was a lover and his lass " [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sven Eric Emanuel Johanson (1919 - 1997), "Lovers love the spring", 1974, copyright © 1978 [ mixed chorus and piano ], from Fancies, no. 6, Stockholm : C. Gehrmans Musikförlag ; New York : Walton Music Corp. [sung text not yet checked]
• by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "It was a lover and his lass" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Betty Jackson King (1928 - 1994), "In the springtime", lines 4-6 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 - 1957), "When birds do sing", op. 31 no. 4, from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "The Lover and his Lass", R. 76 no. 1 (1940), published 1940 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "The Lover and his Lass", R. 102 [ 2-part chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Thomas Morley (1557 - 1602), "It was a lover and his lass", stanzas 1,3-4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Norman Houston O'Neill (1875 - 1934), "It was a lover", published 1922 [ voice and orchestra ], from Shakespeare Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "A spring song", op. 21 no. 2, published 1873 [ chorus ], from A Garland of Shakesperian and Other Old-Fashioned Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "It was a lover and his lass", op. 23 no. 3 (1921), published 1921 [ voice and piano (or vocal duet with piano, 1919) ], from Five Shakespeare Songs (Second Set), no. 3, London : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "It Was A Lover", op. 89 (1945) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "It was a lover", op. 204 (1948) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "It Was A Lover", op. 370 (1952) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "It Was A Lover And His Lass", op. 518 (1958) [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "It Was A Lover", op. 523 (1958) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "It was a lover", op. 13 (Three songs) no. 3 (1925), published 1925 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "Pretty ring time", 1925, published 1925 [ voice and piano or orchestra ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Edvard Lembcke (1815 - 1897) ; composed by Peter Arnold Heise.
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• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Camille de Sainte-Croix (1859 - 1915) ; composed by Paul Vidal.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Johann Herbeck, Friedrich Silcher.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 - 1845) , "Lied" ; composed by Ludwig Berger, Jan Karol Gall, Arnold Mendelssohn.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ida Goldschmidt, née Livingston (1863 - 1933) ; composed by Roger Quilter.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
• FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot)
• GER German (Deutsch) (Johann Heinrich Voss) , "Ein Bursch' und Mägdlein, flink und schön", first published 1819

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 189