Shepherd's Hey

Shepherd’s Hey is based on a traditional English Morris dance – a dance of pastoral origins with prominent hand clapping. Like many of Grainger's settings of English folk dances, this one is usually considered light-hearted and joyful, but Grainger stated that he felt pent-up energy or even anger during the composition process. Perhaps these feelings compelled him to mark in the original score that "This setting is not suitable to dance Morris Dance to."