Annotation:Sir Guy
X:1 T:Sir Guy M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air S:Chappell – Popular Music of the Olden Time (1859) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F F Ac|f2c2 dB|c3F Ac|f2A2 BG|F3F Ac|f2c2 dB|c3F Ac|f2A2 BG|F3|| G AF|G2 AB/c/ BA|G3 GAF|G2c2 d=B|c3 c_BA|B2 AB/c/ BA|G3 CFG|A2c2 AG|F3||
SIR GUY. English, Air (3/4 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The song appears in the ballad opera Robin Hood (1730). Songs of Sir Guy are quite old and are mentioned in chronicles of the 16th and even 15th century. Chappel (1859) quotes William of Nassyngton who, writing around 1480, mentions stories of Sir Guy as usually sung by minstrels at feasts, and Puttenham, who wrote in 1589 that they were "commonly sung by harpers at Christmas dinners and bride ales for the recreation of the lower classes."
Was ever knight for lady’s sake
So toss’d in love as I, Sir Guy!
For Phillis fair, that lady bright
As ever man beheld with eye.
She gave me leave myself to try
The valiant knight with shield and spear;
Ere that her love she would grant me,
Which made me venture far and near.
See also “Was ever a man so tost in love.”