Handsome Knights Come Courting
As performed by Joni Minstrel
On Joni Minstrel and the Revolution Against Monarchs
Lyrics and music by Lindsay Smith
(With help from Connie Smith, Fiona Leonard,
Alton Leonard and Charles Baugh)



Hey ho, rum diddly-o,
Handsome knights come courting.
Hey ho, rum diddly-o,
The lasses keep them sporting.

Sir Ganymeade went to the Ball to win his lady's favor.
Upon a white horse, proud and tall, he did the banquet enter,
But at the urging of his friends, he drank a quart of honey mead.
His lady was dismayed to find he could not keep his steed.

Sir Gallahad went to the joust to win his lady's favor.
A kerchief tied about his lance he as a signal gave her,
But much too hasty he had been, the kerchief was another's.
His lady was dismayed to find the kerchief was her mother's.

Sir Lancelot went on a quest to win his lady's favor.
He swore he would bring back a prize to prove that he was braver,
And so he brought a golden ring which from a dragon's nose he'd got.
His lady was dismayed to find it looks like gold and yet it's (s)not.

Sir Bedivere composed a song to win his lady's favor.
Of true love long and deep and strong for hours he sang to her.
His lady op'd the window wide to taste of what he'd spoken.
His lady was dismayed to find his instrument was broken.

Sir Robin bought a handsome gown to win his lady's favor.
A beaded purses and shoes to match also he chose for her.
This fine ensemble was a clue to what she surely should have known;
His lady was dismayed to find he'd also bought one for his own.

Background from Joni Minstrel: This is a true folk song in that it was a collaborative effort. It was actually my mother who wrote the chorus when she was visiting me at the Renaissance Festival one weekend. She sang it for me and had also come up with the concept of the first verse: the knight who goes to the ball to impress women and ends up drinking himself into a stupor instead. When I went to work on the song later, I couldn't remember the melody she'd used for the verse but the chorus was fresh in my mind, so I started over with the verses. One morning at the Peacock Tea Room at GARF, I had tea with Fiona, Alton and Charles of Wing, Woman and Song, and we all brainstormed verses together. You can thank Alton for the "snot" verse. I cleaned up the rhymes and the meter a bit and the result is the song you hear me perform now. One of my favorite things about working at GARF is the way we musicians work together. Someone will throw out an idea for a song and the rest of us will go around all day muttering under out breath, trying to think up verses. It's great fun.