This is my rendition of Feste's ending song from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." The melody is based on the traditional version rather than what was probably the actual tune from Shakespeare's time.
medieval harmony voice guitar mandolin renaissiance celtic percussion fugue minstrel bard choral classical boroque victorian elizabethan shakespeare
I am a pseudo-medieval musician, scribe and artificer. With layered levels of simple instruments, my sounds are often uniquely archaic. While some of my music is entirely original, most of my numbers are my personal arrangements of renaissance and medieval melodies from antiquity. There's much more information to be found about me on my web site at
Story behind the song
Of all of Shakespeare's plays, I have probably seen Twelfth Night the most, and I the most different venues. The song just sort of stuck in my head after the first 5 or six times that I heard it.
Lyrics
When that I was and a little tiny boy
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came, alas, to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still 'had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.
A great while ago the world began,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.
-- William Shakespeare
