Queen Jane is a character of myth and history, as is a song
written about her. A folk song relates the details of the death of
Queen Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII, whom the King married after
the beheading of Ann Boleyn for adultery. Queen Jane was a popular Queen who
died after giving birth to the King's only male heir. It is a traditional
English ballad, recorded by such luminaries as Joan Baez on one of her
earliest albums. But the song has been recorded by many others,
including Tracy Chapman and Bob Dylan.
Even the Rolling Stones performed the song. And why
did the record it? A
website gives us these details:
"Brian Jones, who was The Stones guitarist until his death in 1969, played the dulcimer, an instrument you play on your lap by plucking or strumming the strings. Jones could learn just about any instrument very quickly. He had just recently learned how to play it when they recorded this.Keith Richards: "Brian was getting into dulcimer then because he dug Richard Farina. We were also listening to a lot of Appalachian music then too. To me, Lady Jane is very Elizabethan. There are a few places in England where people still speak that way, Chaucer English."Mick Jagger: "Lady Jane is a complete sort of very weird song. I don't really know what that's all about myself. All the names are historical but it was really unconscious that they should fit together from the same period."
"Brian Jones, who was The Stones guitarist until his death in 1969, played the dulcimer, an instrument you play on your lap by plucking or strumming the strings. Jones could learn just about any instrument very quickly. He had just recently learned how to play it when they recorded this.Keith Richards: "Brian was getting into dulcimer then because he dug Richard Farina. We were also listening to a lot of Appalachian music then too. To me, Lady Jane is very Elizabethan. There are a few places in England where people still speak that way, Chaucer English."Mick Jagger: "Lady Jane is a complete sort of very weird song. I don't really know what that's all about myself. All the names are historical but it was really unconscious that they should fit together from the same period."
Bob Dylan's song about Queen Jane is called, "Queen
Jane Approximately" in which the singer admonishes her and tells her she will meet
a sad end. Others, like Joan Baez, remain true to the folk version of the
song, relating the story of the Queen's demise and how women died in labor in
those early days and how that included members of the royal family.
The song is done here in its traditional form:
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