A lively song about a sad case
I first heard this song last Sunday on BBC Radio 3. It was played on lute by Paula Chateauneuf with great brio, and it struck me as an ideal piece for the ukulele.
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| Bethlehem Hospital in London, the first English mental hospital, popularly known as "Bedlam" |
Checking on the remarkable Sarge Gerbode'e website I found that he had transcribed three simple (phew!) arrangements for lute, which you can find here reduced to fit the uke.
Version 1 is the simplest: basically chord strum plus single note melody. Version 2 is in the chord-melody style. Version 3 is more complex, with some use of divisions and counterpoint. You may want to play the three in sequence.
I always find it helps to play intabulations of a song if one knows the melody, so I have prefaced the tabs with the melody and the first verse of the song.
The first appearance of the song seems to have been 1620, which is contemporary with the MSS from which these pieces are taken.
There seem to be many versions of the words, and the tune was also used for other songs. The version here is taken from http://www.thehypertexts.com/Tom%20O'%20Bedlam's%20Song.htm.
You can download the arrangements for free here:
