Friday, May 02, 2008

Song of the Week (Special Edition): Padstow May Day Song

In relation to the Padstow "'Obby 'Oss" May Day song I blogged yesterday, here are the basic guitar chords as I've figured them out, based on the Lance Frodsham and Steeleye Span versions:


Click on the image to enlarge it

If you are better-versed in musical theory than I, or you are trying to play the song and the chords just don't match up, leave a message in the comments or send me email to let me know. To my ear, this song doesn't sound right transposed into any other key. There's something special about the B7 chord.

2 comments:

Ian Heams said...

Thanks for the chords to padstow. In fact double thanks. I live in Barnet UK and have just taken up the ukulele, so I am not particularly skilled at it and need plenty of practice. I am more interested in lyrics than melodies and the words of Padstow interested me. There are quite a number of pages on the internet devoted to telling the story of the strange Padstow ceremony but yours are the only chords I could find, and what do you know, I can play all of them so it looks as if I can add this one to my songbook

It doesn't look as if you revise your blog very regularly but I am going to bookmark it and check back occasionally. If you want, please feel free to contact me:
ian@ianheams.com, or check out my websites; www.twentyfour.org

Saints and Spinners said...

Hello Ian/GalaxySurfer: Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! I hope the chords will be helpful, though I should tell you that I've heard a slightly alternate melody around the phrase "summer is a come unto day." I'll send you an email soon. It's true that my blog updates have been rather sporadic as of late.