Key: Em*
Form: Air
ABC*:
X:168 T:B168- Greensleeves S:(1st/6) Q:1/4=120 L:1/4 M:6/4 K:Gm G|B2cd3/2e/2d|c2AF3/2G/2A|B2GG3/2^F/2G|A2^FD2G|\ B2cd3/2e/2d|c2AF3/2G/2A|B3/2A/2G^F3/2=E/2F|G3D3|\ (f3f2)=e/2d/2|c2AF3/2G/2A|B2GG3/2^F/2G|A2^FD3|\ (f3f2)=e/2d/2|c2AF3/2G/2A|B2G^F3/2=E/2F|(G3G2)|]
MP3*: (Played by a Vermont group calling themselves 29 Strings.)
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Sheet Music*: Click image to enlarge. To download, right-click in enlarged image and "Save as...".
A minor version
E minor version
Sheet Music in PDF:
Greensleeves, Am
Greensleeves, Em
YouTube*:
Source: Trad.*
Other Tunes in Set:
Region:
*Notes:
The MP3 audio clip above is played in Am. The sheet music is in both Am and Em while the ABC and the YouTube video are in Gm. Being originally a song, the tune is played and sung in whatever key suits the singers’ vocal ranges.
According to a post on Wikipedia, Greensleeves is “a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name “A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves” was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationer’s Company in September 1580.” It has 18 verses, each one more tedious than the last, like this one:
If you intend thus to disdain,
It does the more enrapture me,
And even so, I still remain
A lover in captivity.