Butterfly (2) (The) Click on the tune title to see or modify Butterfly (2) (The)'s annotations. If the link is red you can create them using the form provided.Browse Properties <br/>Special:Browse/:Butterfly (2) (The) Query the Archive
Theme code Index	3344 5311
Also known as	I'd Be a Butterfly (1)
Composer/Core Source
Region	England
Genre/Style	English
Meter/Rhythm	Country Dance
Key/Tonic of	A
Accidental	3 sharps
Mode	Ionian (Major)
Time signature	2/2
History
Structure	ABA'
Editor/Compiler	Biography:Cecil Sharp
Book/Manuscript title	Book:Country Dance Tunes
Tune and/or Page number	p. 2
Year of publication/Date of MS	1909
Artist
Title of recording
Record label/Catalogue nr.
Year recorded
Media
Score ()

Tune annotations

X:1
T:The Butterfly [2]
M:2/2
L:1/8
K:A
c4d2d2|e2c2A4|a4g2f2|f2e2e4|c4d2d2|
e4 (3fga|c4d2B2|A4A4||B3BB2B2|c2B2B4|
B4BB2B2|c2B2B4|B3BB2B2|c3cc2c2|
d3dd2d2|e8||c4d4|e2c2A4|a4g2f2|
f2e2e4|c4d2d2|e4 (3fga|c4d2B2|A4A4||

Tune annotations

BUTTERFLY [2], THE. English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABA'. The tune is apparently a folk-process derivation of "I'd Be a Butterfly (1)," words and melody by English dramatist and song writer Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797-1829). It was written in 1825 when "on his honeymoon at Lord Ashdown's, Mr. Bayly, flying from some fair sirens, retreated to a bower, and there wrote his world-famous 'I'd be a Butterfly' " (Andrew Lang, 1844-1912).

I’d be a butterfly born in a bower,
Where roses and lilies and violets meet.
Roving for ever from flower to flower,
And kissing all buds that are pretty and sweet.

Printed source: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Karpeles & Schofield (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; p. 2. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 76. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909; p. 2.