Chords for Greensleeves: Myths and History

Well, Greensleeves is such an interesting song, but not for the reasons that people usually think.
There are all sorts of myths about this, and let's just explode some of those myths first.
Henry VIII wrote it for Anne Boleyn.
Not true.
Even though in the TV series The Tudors it actually shows you Henry composing Greensleeves.
But of course this is not a docudrama, this is just a drama.
[F] The first time Greensleeves actually appears is 1580, and Henry VIII was long dead by then.
The meaning of green means that the woman Greensleeves was a prostitute is another myth.
Tudor prostitutes did not wear green.
In fact there were lots and lots of paintings of very, very high-born women wearing green clothes, including with Greensleeves.
There were symbolic colours in the Tudor period, but green meant all sorts of things, including chastity.
And another myth is that it's an Irish song.
There was an Irish scholar called William Henry Grattan Flood, who wrote a history of Irish music in 1905.
[Em] And he fabricated pretty much everything in the book, and he tried to claim that everything on earth was Irish, including Greensleeves.
One of the very first times it's documented in a manuscript is in a lute manuscript, which is actually now in Dublin.
But it's not an Irish manuscript any more than me standing in a garage makes me a car. _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ [A] _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ [B] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ [D] _ [G] _ [F#m] _ _ [D] _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [A] _ [G] _ [F#m] _ _ [D] _ [Em] _
_ _ [B] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[G] Alas, my love, [D] you do me [Em] wrong To cast me off [B] _ discourteously
[Em] And I [G] have [D] loved you so [E] long _ Delighting in your company
[G] _ _ _ Greensleeves [D] was all my joy [Em] _ Greensleeves [B] was my [G] delight
_ _ [D] Greensleeves was my heart of [Em] golden [B] blue But [Em] lady _ _ Greensleeves
_ [B] _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ [G] I have been [D] ready at your hand [Em] To grant whatever [B] you would crave
[G] I have both [D] wagered life and [E] land Your [B] love and good [Em] will for to [G] have
_ _ [F#m] Greensleeves was [D] all my [Em] joy _ _ Greensleeves was [B] my delight
[G] _ _ Greensleeves [F#m] was my [Bm] heart of [Em] golden blue [B] But [Em] lady _ _ _ Greensleeves
[B] _ _ [E] _ _
_ [Em] Thou [Bm] couldst [G] in desire [D] no earthly [Em] thing Still I [B] hadst it _ readily
[G] Thine music still to [D]
play and [Em] sing [B] Still thou [Em] wouldst not love [G] me
_ _ [F#m] Greensleeves was [D] all my [Em] joy _ _ Greensleeves was [B]
my [G] delight
_ Greensleeves [Bm] was my heart of [Em] golden blue [B] But [E] lady _ _ [Em] Greensleeves
_ [G#m] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ [D] [G] Greensleeves now [D] farewell adieu [Em] God I [B] pray to prosper [G] thee
For I am [D] still thy lover true [Em] Come [B] once [E] again and love [G] me
_ _ [F#m] Greensleeves was [D] all my [Em] joy _ Greensleeves was [B]
my [D] delight
[G] _ Greensleeves was [D] my heart of [Em] golden blue [B] But [Em] lady _ _ Greensleeves
_ [B] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I did this [N] for her I did that for her I did the other for her
And still she won't love me
Now here's the bit of the Greensleeves history that people don't usually get
The actual truth is that Greensleeves went under lots of different names
Or the melody did
Because Broadside Ballads which was sold in the street
sung by a ballad monger who would sing it at high volume so people would buy the ballad
What they often did was take a tune that was popular and put lots of other words to it
And that's exactly what happened to _ Greensleeves
So other titles for the tune Greensleeves on Broadside's were
The Lord of Lorne, The Bonnie Blacksmith, Which Nobody Can Deny
And In Rome There Is A Most Fearful Route
Not only that it actually became a tune to a dance called _ Greensleeves and Yellow Lace
It actually went into the Morris tradition
And in Dolphin Home which is in Wyersdale near [Em] Lancaster
There was another traditional dance which is to [E] the tune Greensleeves
Which is called [G] Greensleeves or Kick My [G#] Arse
Because the dance [G] includes a repeated motif where the three [G#] dancers stand [F] in a [A#] line with their backs to [Em] each other
Kicking each other's arse
[A] It's a fantastic dance _