Greensleeves

What is the story behind the song Greensleeves?

“Greensleeves” is an English folk ballad from 1580. The original title was “A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves” which was eventually shortened to just “Greensleeves.” No one knows who the original composer of this song was, but a false origin story is commonly told that it was written by King Henry VIII. This is not possible due to its Italianate style not being present in England until after his death. Like a lot of folk music, it has stood the test of time. “Greensleeves” as a tune has gained even more popularity than the common Christmas carol “What Child Is This” and has been adapted to other songs. 

What is the original key of Greensleeves?

It’s difficult to know what the true original key for “Greensleeves” was, since it’s been passed down for hundreds of years. It is thought that the original key for this song was A Dorian (A minor but with an F-sharp instead of F-natural), but it’s often sung in E minor for vocal ease and to fit more modern harmonies.

What is the meter used in Greensleeves?

The meter used in “Greensleeves” is 6/8. 6/8 means that there are two dotted quarter notes beats in each measure, each divided into three eighth notes. This gives the song the rocking feel of compound meter, and it can be counted either as "ONE - and -a - TWO - and - a" or "ONE - two - three - FOUR - five - six."

What song has the same tune as Greensleeves?

The Greensleeves tune has been adapted to other lyrics in order to create new songs, especially notable are the hymns “What Child Is This” and “What Feast of Love.”

What makes Greensleeves so memorable?

“Greensleeves” is memorable due to its catchy tune and its simple chord progression. Also, its use of the Dorian mode is a pleasing departure from the more conventional minor scale.

Which chord progression is used in Greensleeves?

The chord progression used in “Greensleeves” is i-VII-VI-V, which in E minor is Em-D-C-B.

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman, and today we're going to be learning a very old
and famous folk tune from England "Greensleeves," hence the green sleeves.
Ha ha, very funny Mr. Hoffman.
Oh, thank you Scuba. I thought you might like that one.
It so happens that the melody "Greensleeves", which we are listening to right now, that's the same melody used in the well-known Christmas carol
"What Child Is This".
I love that Christmas song!
I do too. It's beautiful, isn't it?
Um, Mr. Hoffman? Who composed "Greensleeves"?
Well Scuba, the melody for "Greensleeves" was composed by someone so long ago, hundreds of years ago back in the 16th century we think.
But it was basically written so long ago that nobody knows or remembers who the composer was.
The best folk songs simply get passed from person to person, generation to generation.
The best music simply lives on because the melodies have something special that makes them stay with us.
I see. This melody really does have a special sound to it.
I'm glad you like it. Well, let's check out the sheet music to get started learning it.
Here's the sheet music for "Greensleeves". Let's analyze this score.
We're going to be playing gently flowing, and
if you notice we just have a treble staff here, which tells us will be in lead sheet style.
That means we've just got the melody notated with chord symbols up above.
Today we'll learn how to play the melody, and in a later lesson we'll add in an accompaniment using the chord symbols.
But, these chord symbols may come in handy to analyze what key we are in.
Do you see a key signature?
We've got our clef, we've got a time signature, in between there is normally where we'd place some flats or sharps
if we had a key signature with flats or sharps. Since we don't see any flats or sharps there,
that tells us we're in one of which two keys?
We're either in C major or A minor.
From our ladder of fourths or fifths, those are the two keys that have zero sharps or flats.
So how do we know which one?
Well take a look at the first note, or possibly the first chord and that's a clue.
What key do you predict that we are in?
If you said A minor, you're correct. The melody begins on an A,
our first chord is A minor, if you look at the last note end chord, we have an A and we have an A minor chord.
Clearly from our key signature, our starting and ending notes, we know we're in A minor.
Now, what is our time signature?
It's 6/8.
Let's see I'll go right here. 6/8, you'll recall from an earlier lesson, simply means that there are 6
eighth note beats per measure.
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