Annotation:We'll Wed and We'll Bed

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X:1 T:We'll Wed and We'll Bed M:12/8 L:1/8 R:Country Dance B: Young – Second Volume of the Dancing Master, 1st edition (1710) K:Cmin g|cdc cdc c3 zzc|ded ded d3 zzd|efe fgf g3 zza| gfg G2g fef F2f|ede E2e dcd D2d|c=Bc dcd ede fef| gcd =B2c c3-c2||d|B=AG D2d BAG D2d|B=AG A2GG3 zzg| edc g2g edc G2^f|gba ^f2g g3 zzf|gba ^f2g g3zz||

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WE'LL WED AND WE'LL BED. AKA and see "Dublin Bay (1)." English, Country Dance Tune (12/8). C Major (Playford): D Major (Howe). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The tune and dance instructions ("Longways for as many as will") were published in London by John Young in the Second Volume of the Dancing Master [1], 1st edition, 1710, and in Walsh & Hare's simialry-titled Second Book of the Compleat Country Dancing-Master (London, 1719). It was included in all editions of Young's volume, ending with the fourth and last of 1728. The song "We'll wed and we'll bed" by Thmomas D'Urfey (set to a tune occasionally attributed to the English composer Henry Purcell), appeared Act I of the stage production The Wonders in the Sun, or the Kingdom of the Birds (1706). It was also printed in D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy vol. 1 (London, 1719, pp. 100-101) as "A Dialogue between Mr. Pack and Mrs. Bradshaw, in the Opeara call'd, The Kingdom of the Birds."

She:
Ah! Love, if a God thou wilt be,
do justice in favour of me;
For yonder approaching I see,
A man with a beard, who as I have heard,
Has often undone poor maids that have none
With sighing, and toying,
And crying and lying,
And such kind of foolery.

He:
Fair maid by your leave,
my heart does receive,
Strange pleasures to meet you here;
Pray tremble not so,
nor offer to go –
I’ll do you no harm, I swear!
I’ll do you no harm, I swear!

She:
My mother is spinning at home,
My father works hard at his loom,
And here we are a-milking come.
Their dinner they want, then pray ye, Sir, don’t
Make more ado on’t, nor give us affront;
We’re none of the town
Will lie down for a crown.
Then away, Sir, and give us room!

He:
By Phoebus, by Jove,
By honour, by love,
I’ll do thee, dear sweet, no harm;
Thou'rt fresh as a rose,
I want one of those.
Ah! how such a wife would charm.
Ah! how such a wife would charm.

She:
And can you then like the old rule,
Be conjugal, honest and frugal,
And marry, and look like a fool?
For I must be plain, all tricks are in vain;
There’s nothing can gain, what you would obtain
But moving, and proving
By wedding, true loving -
My lesson I learnt at school.

He:
I’ll do’t by this hand,
I’ve houses and land,
Estate too in good freehold;
My dear, let us join.
It all shall be thine –
Besides a good purse of gold.
Besides a good purse of gold.

She:
You make me now blush, I vow;
Ah me!, shall I baulk my cow?
But since the late oath you have swore –
Your soul shall not be in danger for me;
I’d rather agree, of two to make three.
We’ll wed and we’ll bed,
There’s no more to be said
And I’ll ne’er go a-milking more.

He:
I’ll do’t by this hand,
I’ve houses, I’ve land,
Estate too in good freehold.
My dear, let us join.
It all shall be thine –
Besides a good purse of gold.
Besides a good purse of gold. [from The Vocal Miscellany, 1738, pp. 150-151]

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