The music is transcribed and transposed from the lute song in British Library Additional MS 4900, which was copied in the late 15^th and early 16^th centuries.  The first verse is from Add. MS 4900; other verses are from BL Additional MS 18752, which contains several songs from the 14^th and 15^th centuries.  The tenor and bass lines are derived from the original lute intabulation.

“Fortune ys fickle” is a lute song from the Dallis Manuscript (Trinity College Dublin MS. 410/1) of 1583.  The alto, tenor and bass lines are derived from the harmonies of the original lute part. The phrase “no howdle tho yow hipper” is apparently a wrestling metaphor, as “to hip” is an old term for a wrestling move.

A song based on the melody and words from Piae Cantiones, 1582.

A song by Ben Jonson (1573?-1637) from Gypsies Metamorphosed, 1621.  This version is a part song based on the original melody.