88 Bold Nelson's Praise

Back to Cecil J. Sharp (1916) ''One Hundred English Folk Songs''

Tune Analysis: Plagal. Heptatonic. E Dorian. Notated in key of E Aeolian but both of the Cs are sharpened. In the abc code below the key has been changed to E Dorian to indicate more clearly the modal nature of the tune.

Sheet Music (1916) Media:88BolNel_1916_Sheet_Music.pdf

Cecil Sharp's Note 88 (1916)

MIDI Sequence Media:88BolNel.mid

PDF Media:88BolNel.pdf

Music XML File:88BolNel.xml

ABC Code:
X:88
T:88 Bold Nelson's Praise
P:Collected by Cecil J. Sharp
C:From 'One Hundred English Folk Songs' (1916)
Z:Transcribed by Lewis Jones
%%scale 0.83
%%pagewidth 21.00cm
%%leftmargin 1.00cm
%%rightmargin 1.00cm
Q:1/4=120
L:1/4
M:4/4
I:linebreak $
K:Edor
V:
V:1
B | G F E B | G/G/ F E2 | d B A/A/ d | B A G3/2 B/ |$ A G F E | D E B, (B/A/) | G F/ E/ F B, | %8
w: Bold|Nel- son's praise I'm|go\- ing to sing,|(Not forg- gett\- ing our|glor- ious King), He|al- ways did good|tid- ings bring for *|he was a bold comm-|
E2 E B/ B/ |$ e B e3/2 B/ | e B B3/2 B/ | d c d B | A G F2 |$ E E/ F/ G A | B B e2 | d B c2 | %16
w: and- er. There was|Syd- ney Smith and|Dun can too, Lord|Howe and all the|glor- ious crew,|They were the men that|were true blue,|Full of care,|
B E A2 | G F E E |$ B B, B, (B/B/) | B (G/E/) F G | E2 E |] %21
w: Yet I swear|None with Nel- son|could comp- are, Not *|ev- en * Al- ex-|and- er.|
W:
W:
W:1 Bold Nelson's praise I'm going to sing, (not forgetting our glorious King),
W:He always did good tidings bring, for he was a bold commander.
W:There was Sydney Smith and Duncan too, Lord Howe and all the glorious crew;
W:They were the men who were true blue, full of care, yet I swear
W:None with Nelson could compare, not even Alexander.
W:
W:2 Bold Buonaparte he threaten'd war, a man who fear'd not wound nor scar,
W:But still he lost at Trafalgar where Britain was victorious.
W:Lord Nelson's actions made him quake, and all French pow'rs he made to shake;
W:He said his king he'd ne'er forsake. these last words thus he spake:
W:Stand true, my lads, like hearts of oak, and the battle shall be glorious.
W:
W:3 Lord Nelson bold, though threatened wide, and many a time he had been tried,
W:He fought like a hero till he died amid the battle gory.
W:But the day was won, their line was broke, while all around was lost in smoke,
W:And Nelson he got his death stroke, that's the man for England!
W:He faced his foe with his sword in hand and he lived and he died in his glory.
W:
W:NOTE
W:
W:This is the only version of this song that I know. The singer mixed his words in all
W:the verses except the first one, necessitating a certain amount of rearrangement.
W:The air is in the Dorian mode, and is a variant of "Princess Royal," a well-known
W:Morris-Jig tune. Shield adapted the air to the words of "The Saucy Arethusa," one
W:of the songs in the ballad-opera 'The Lock and Key' (1796). The composition of the
W:air has sometimes been attributed to Carolan. The tune is also printed in Walsh's
W:'Compleat Dancing Master' (circa 1730), under the title "Princess Royal: the new way."
W: