Annotation:Three Merry Men of Kent
X:1 T:Three Merry Men of Kent L:1/8 M:C S:Chappell – Popular Music of the Olden Time Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gmin D2|G2B2A2d2|cBAB ^F2D2|G2 AB cBAB|G6:| A2|B2 Bc d2 de|dedc B2B2|B2 AB cdcB|A6 d2| C2B2A2c2|B2G2^F2D2|G2 AB cBAB|G4D4| F6D2|G2 AB cBAB|G6||
THREE MERRY MEN OF KENT. English, Air (4/4 time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Three Merry Men of Kent" is the indicated tune for a song in the ballad opera The Jovial Crew (1731), that begins:
He that will not merry, merry be,
With a generous bowl and toast;
May he in Bridewell be shut up,
And fast bound to a post.
Let him be merry, merry, merry there,
And we will be merry, merry, merry here;
For who can know where we may go,
To be merry another year, Brave boys,
To be merry another year.
However, the original words to "Merry Men of Kent" were thought to be lost by Chappell, but have since been traced to a ballad called "The Merry Fellows; or, He that will not Merry, Merry Be." The song was not common in tradition, but Roud gave one example collected from folksingers printed in Alfred-Williams' Folk-Songs of the Upper Thames (1923) under the title "Merry, Merry be." The text of that ballad is similar to a version of the old song printed in Dixon's Songs of the Peasantry of England (p. 239).
