Caveman beating on sticks was very influential for noise rock

The song that immediately comes to mind for me is “The House of the Rising Sun” the oldest possible origin of the song is from a 16th century broadside ballad by the name of “The Unfortunate Rake”

Two songs that come in mind is Xicochi Conetzintle Xochipitzahuac. It's an old cradle song from before the conquest of Mexico that has been "beowulfed" with some Christian ideas. I usually hear it around Christmas and usually sing it to my daughter when I try to get her to sleep. Another song that I always hear is Bolom Chon. It's another old song that existed before the conquest though its obvious the instruments used has been modify. Jorge Gutierrez has the song always in his works.

I think you're missing lots of pre-gregorian chants that are basically still the same since 400-500 A.D. Original music for Te Deum, Veni Creator, Alleluja are late-Roman early-Medieval and are still the same today.

Another thing about those old hymns is tuning, a lot of cultures not touched by pythagoras have very different tuning systems. Probably done by ear "whatever sounds right". I wouldn't be surprised if most of them where tuned by the song in between songs and the tuning was part of the performers "mark". Like guitar tone is used today.

This music brings horror to Hong Kong students. It is used in listening exams for high school public exams. It is used to fill in between recordings and the rest of the exam after the recording ends. My hands still have phantom pain when I hear this song. That mad dash to finish the writing portion of the exam is hand cramp inducing

If you like 'Sumer is icumen in' then check out 'Miri it is while Sumer ilast', another medieval English folk song. They deal with similar subjects, a longing for summer and a fear of winter, and always make me think of how scary a simple changing of the seasons used to be for the majority of people. Summer meant warm weather, longer days, and access to food. Winter, on the other hand, heralded in freezing temperatures and food shortages. I wish I could say these issues had been left in the past, but unfortunately many people still struggle for food and warmth during the winter months.

Hey, as a Gregorian chant nerd, I actually do know Dies Irae all the way through! It’s startlingly profound, highly suggest reading through it and listening. Aside from that, the Te Deum I think is probably one of the oldest songs I know. I think it was written in the 4th century AD.

"Sumer is icumen in" is actually decently well known in the UK. I remember being taught it at school in the '90s and seeing it get referenced in The Beano (a kid's comic). It's probably not as well known as Greensleeves but it's definitely more well known than most traditional folk songs imo. Obviously I realise this is made for an international audience but thought I'd point that out!

Awesome video! But in those old lyrics "ye" isn't really pronounced with a "y" - it's the way they wrote "the" back in the day. So it really should be "the Lady Green Sleves". The reason why is because English used to have a different letter similar to þ to write "th" but in the early days of printing they didn't have this letter exactly and used "y" instead.

In Galicia "Santa Maria, Strela do Dia"(1270 approx) is still pretty well know as it's written in our dying language (technically in galician-portuguese) and it's still taught in schools (also it's a good song). It's probably also know in Portugal and maybe even Brazil and other ex Portuguese colonies. It's the oldest song that came to mind as I sometimes find myself singing it.

In french culture, I would say "sur le pont d'Avignon" a very famous nursery rhyme, every child learns it at preschool. It's quite known abroad too, at least the melody. The actual form of the song is from the XIXth century, but it would come from XVth century (wikipedia). More anecdotal, I know a lovely voice song from the XVIth century, "Belle qui tiens ma vie" typical of what we call l'Amour Courtois (courtly love). It was popularized in 2000s by a major french tv show called Kaamelott.

the earliest one i thought of was “Drømde mik en drøm i nat” which is less recognisable but it’s probably 200 years older than greensleeves. it was used as danish radio’s signoff sound, i think? idk i’ve just heard the tune before and now i know it lol

I grew up in Southern Japan and the culture there has more in common with the Ryukyu culture (present day Okinawa and Taiwan) than with Japanese culture. I grew up singing lots of Ryukyu folk songs. Some were probably relatively modern, but some were likely from 1000 to 2000 BCE judging by the usage of words that were more common in that bygone era than they are now.

I want to flip this. A thousand+ years from now, will any of today’s artists be relevant? Can even The Beatles withstand the test of time? Or Elvis? You may think so, but unfortunately, people’s memories when it comes to popular music are quite short. You only remember some of them when you hear them on an oldies station or something. Especially one-hit-wonder songs, which are not tied to any really popular artist. A quick example of this is to see how many hits from the 20s or 30s you can think of. Songs pass through the societal consciousness so quickly. Yes, they can all be written down and recorded now, compared to just being passed on by memory and word of mouth, but sitting in some unused music book on a dusty shelf is just another way of forgetting.

For Dutch people it simply is the national anthem of the Netherlands "Wilhelmus van Nassaue". The text dates from somewhere between 1568 and 1572. The melody was added a little later, but came from a French song that is at least as old as 1568, but maybe older.

I'll never forget the kid in my music class ask "how do we know what Greensleeves sounded like" while looking at the sheet music...then it dawned on him.

In a similar vein to greensleeves there is another late medieval song called “Tempus Adest Floridum” which was written in the 1300s and is basis for to melody to the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas”

“La Folia”. A tune that originated somewhere in the Iberian peninsula in the High Middle Ages (13th to 14th) and spread throughout throughout Europe later on. Used a lot in variations by Renaissance and Baroque composers.

I'll say that if you know a poem written before 1500, you probably know a really old song! Most poetic traditions have their roots in music, and a lot of poetry was designed explicitly to be sung. The bible falls into the same category, especially things like the psalms and song of songs.

Rick Beato featured Earl of Essex Galliard by John Downey on his channel recently. Downey died in 1626. Beato bought a record of it when young, however I don't think it is that popular today.

Peter Pringle's rendition of Hurrian Hymn to Nykkal is a banger.

it’s so cool to learn about something, like music, that connects all people across time

The musical Six starts with the greensleeves melody and I was always really confused why they were playing "what child is this". Now it makes a lot more sense

Just started watching if the Seikilos epitaph isn’t here I’m going to RIOT Update: I finished and there was no mention of the Seikilos epitaph. I am genuinely surprised. This is the oldest piece of music to be preserved in its entirety in a legible form of musical notation, complete with original lyrics and we know exactly the instrumentation that was to be used (sometime between the 1st-2nd century A.D.). It’s so well preserved that we don’t have to “reconstruct” it, we know exactly what it is supposed to sound like, just like we do with medieval music that was actually preserved in manuscript form. moreover, it’s extremely commonly used in documentaries on the ancient world and in historical games including Civilization and Assassins creed Odyssey, so if you’ve ever watched one of those or played a game set in Ancient Greece or Rome, you’ve probably heard it at least once.

"To Anacreon in Heaven" (1780) gets a lot of play melody wise...

I would say Auld Lang Syne is the oldest song most Brits know and are regularly exposed to as its sung every new year

To me, Greensleeves is the song that the Mr Whippy ice cream van plays, eerily echoing through the streets, sometimes loud and right outside the door, sometimes quiet and who knows where, as he slowly drives around Perth, Western Australia. I was terrified of it as a child, and I still am.

Technically the "Jizz" song "Mad About Me" (The Star Wars Cantina Song) comes from about 2000 BCE canonically.

“A significant amount of all the music ever made has been completely lost to time.” Wow. That’s actually so depressing if you think about it. So many songs people worked very hard to master and play will likely never be heard again.

What about the Seikilos Epitaph? If I recall correctly it's one of the oldest known complete melodies with accompanying lyrics in Greek. The message of the lyrics is also pretty cool.

The oldest songs that are still performed regularly that I can think of are Christmas carols, such as the Coventry Carol and Gaudete, both also from the 16th Century. My school choir also used to sing 'Adam Lay Ybounden', which could be from as early as 1400.

Black Betty. From what I've read, it's at least 400 years old. Now time to watch the video.

The oldest song I know is Be Thou My Vision. The tune is from the 8th century and became a popular hymn again in the 1920's. My wife and I had it in our playlist when we were a gospel folk act and I always loved playing it.

The oldest song I know of would be "El cant de la Sibila" It is sung at Midnight Mass at Christmas on the island of Mallorca. The current form dates from the fifteenth century, but the song is named in manuscripts from France in the 800s. In the late middle ages it was sung throughout Europe but was prohibited by the Council of Trent in 1563. I'm not sure why it survived on the island, but I listen to it every year, and I know a lot of its verses.

The words to “Deck the Halls” aren't that old, but the tune also goes back to the 16th century.

Welcome back! This makes me feel like my "older" music, really isn't that old

As far as charting pop songs, "Danny Boy" is a contender. Jim Reeves mentioned in a concert 60 years ago that it was "400 years old". Many artists have covered it over the years. (the gist of the song is a father talking to his son)

arguably the most iconic film usage of Dies Irae is from the score of The Shining. it’s the main theme! just the melody!

The oldest song that I know of is, 'Greensleeves' no one knows how wrote it, but it goes back to at least Henry the eighth. The oldest lyrics that I know of is from the song, 'Turn, Turn ,Ture' by the byrds. It's from the book of Ecclesiastes (The Bible).

One aspect you did not mention is the origins of modern sheet music: the Cantigas of Santa Maria. Hailing from Castille what is now Spain, they were written circa 1221-1284. The king of the area at the time, Alfonso X, was a big patron of music, and found that there was no standard for writing music down so that it may be enjoyed for many years to come. Alfonso commissioned some clerics to devise a system of making music notations so that any musician could read it and be able to play the song. Until I saw this video, the oldest song I knew of was Cantiga 1. This is probably the first song we can say that it is reasonable to play it exactly as it was created in the 13th century.

One song that comes to mind for me is the Agincourt Carol, which Wikipedia tells me was likely written in the early 1400s. Greensleeves is probably second place, though! Great video.

I'm not familiar with english tradition, but there are medieval songs from Germany elder than Greensleeves and still part of the Canon. The (today sadly out-of-fashion, but still known) Folksong "Innsbruck ich muß Dich lassen" was composed ca. 1485. At the same time, the manuscript "Glogauer Liederbuch" samples not only some songs with text and melody, but even whole sets of voices. The still popular child song "Die Vogelhochzeit" is said to be documented in there, although I have not verified that. The eldest song, though, still to be heard, was resurrected thanks to the enormous popularity of Rennaissance Fairs. It is the "Palaestinalied" or Palestine Chant, composed by the most famous german minstrel, Walther von der Vogelweide, around 1200. This particular chant has been preserved including the melody, which led to its' popularity with Ren Fair music troupes. You will hear bagpipes playing this song on every single german Ren Fair at least once. More of Walthers song texts are known from the most popular source for german minstrel poetry, the Codex Manesse. This is a catalogue of german minstrels and their work from around 1300-1340. It is a gem not only because of the value as a historical source , but also because of its' beautiful illustrations portraying the composers. Google it, there is an online scan copy out there.

I seem to remember reading that the Great Big Sea song "Come and I Will Sing You" is a particularly ancient song. It's commonly more recognizable cousin would be "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but at the time, I read that just about every culture had their own counting song, all similar to "The Twelve Days of Christmas." I would love to know if this is true or not.

"Good King Wenceslas" tune most likely was written in the 1200's. The lyrics were written much later in the 1800's. "O Come Emmanuel" might have been written in the 1400's

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! - worthy of an honourable mention even if it's only the lyrics that are ancient.

the oldest song I know how to play is "In the pines/Black girl" which dates back to the civil war era. the oldest one I know is probably "Scarborough Fair"

Turn Turn Turn there is a reason. The lyrics are based verses found in Ecclesiastes in the old testament. This book is believed to between 2200 and 2400+ years old.

I'm Irish and we have stuff from the 6th century, the Dinnseanchas from 544. Sean Nós vocal style of singing goes back to principles laid down in pre modern times, unfortunately though, line many other colonised peoples, we carried our culture orally and the disruption brought by invasion and cultural genocide lost us many of the specifics. That said, if one has a time machine or some such to retrieve music from pre-Norman invasion times it would I believe likely have elements distinctly recognisable as Irish and Celtic, the rolling / oscillating thing that a lot of our trad music does.

I'm not anymore, but I was raised Catholic, and "Whose Child is This" was a common hymn at my church. Nowadays, when I hear it, I get a deep feeling of nostalgia, so it's somewhat poetic to have it pop up in a video titled "The Oldest Song You Know" like that

The christmas melodies are probably some of the oldest. And they certainly are beautiful.

The Beatles song ‘Golden slumbers’, although credited to Paul McCartney dates back to the Tudor period, so at least 1599 when it was mentioned in the diary of Thomas Dekker

A song I grew up listening to is "Krishna Ni Begane Baaro". It is a hymn composed in the 15th century by a sage called Vyasatirtha in the Kannada language of south India.

The oldest song I could confidently recognize/sing is "Bring Back My Bonnie to Me" about honoring Bonnie Prince Charlie's claim to Great Britain's throne

If you’re Catholic you know lots of songs older than Greensleves. The Agnus Dei, Dies Ire, Alleluia, etc are all older than that.

“Saltarello”, from Tuscany in the early 1400’s, is definitely an ear worm. Dead Can Dance does a great cover.

I'm a massive early music fan, so this was a great video introducing folks to my jam! Somer is icumin in, apart from being a bop and a half, is actually more widespread and well-known in europe, and that---with early, now traditional protestant hymns---are probably very much earlier than you'd think or believe, and much older than Greensleeves or even Somer is. Music has roots that run much deeper and older than we might ever be able to describe or place accurately....... and I kinda like it that way. Like your wife, I knew greensleeves as a hymn for christmas, and I think that speaks to the flexibility of music, and there is probably some ancient pattern that some singer is recreating even today.

The oldest song I actually know is the Epitaph of Seikilos, written ca 2nd century CE. It’s the oldest written song that has survived in its entirety (which is less impressive when you consider how short it is.) That’s kind of cheating, though, since I first learned of it in a music history class. The only place I’ve heard it, other than searching for it specifically, was in a Veritasium video about music. In a section talking about the ancient Greeks, the Epitaph of Seikilos is used as background music but not actually mentioned.

In the US, I would think more people would know this as the tune to the Xmas song "What Child Is This".

The funny thing is that I know Greensleeves as a default song on Casio and Yamaha pianos. The real question is how did an English folk song become a default setting for Japanese piano manufacturers to include on their pianos.

I know the rhythm of greensleeves from classic jazz giants Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane. But I didn't know that it was a medieval folk song. Amazing video!

Lots of new information for me here. Great video. Keep it up.

I literally sing "Sumer is icumen in" on a regular basis, especially in the spring. But I recognize I am atypical in this regard.

Well, in Poland, everyone knows Bogurodzica, which is at least 700 years old (or maybe even a thousand!)

epitaph of seikilos hype :) *edit, great video! From what i know, and this is an excert from wikipedia: "Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving complete musical composition, including musical notation" i know it from a music streamer "CylindricalCake" on twitch, who playes folk songs and a version of this gem. The melody is used in the greek music theme in Civilization V OST for example

I believe Scarborough Fair is one of the most well known pieces of old folk music. Quoting from Wikipedia, "The lyrics of "Scarborough Fair" appear to have something in common with a Scottish ballad titled "The Elfin Knight", collected by Francis James Child, which has been traced as far back as 1670." Even if not that old, it's at least from the 19th century, and it's recognizable even outside English speaking countries because of Simon and Garfunkel and most recently Aurora.

The oldest song I know is called Sumer is Icumen In.. it’s an old english ballad about the return of spring. From my memory it comes from about the 12th century. The other one I know is called Miri it is which comes from about the same era, but is about dreading the return of winter instead of celebrating the return of spring.

I think that you should look into native american songs, songs like Huron Carol is a song with lyrics that has remained relatively unchanged, what is interesting is that the distance between two offshoots of the european called "hurons" can be found in Canada with the Huron-Wendat and as far as oklahoma with the Wyandot with clear similarities, also what is amazing is that both french Canadians and New-Englanders still sing it and all versions are quite close to eachother.

The old Irish folk song lord Randall the only reason I know about that song is because of Bob Dylan reworking it into A hard rain is gonna fall

While researching for this video did you come across Richard Thompsons 2005 show "1000 years of popular music"? He gathered together a collection of influential songs from the last 1000 years (or there abouts) and performed them in chronological order, starting with Sumer Is Icumen In. It's both interesting and very entertaining! It's on KZfaq and I highly recommend it if you like this kind of thing.

“The pop culture of the (1580s) time” is not a phrase I expected to hear

I wonder how old ‘El Condor Pasa’ really is. It was copyrighted in 1913, but from my knowledge, most believe it is simply a traditional tune that someone eventually wrote it down.

When I was a kid, Greensleeves was the tune my ice cream man used to blare from his little truck

Ancient Greece nerd here. I was watching a clip from some old documentary on Greek art or something once, and realized “wait, that’s the Seikilos epitaph they’re playing as background music!”

that feeling of recognition is like nothing else. like seriously it was so cool knowing that tune once it played.

Interesting video! I'm Hungarian, and while the lyrics of our folk songs are only a few hundred years old, some of the melodies are estimated to be from one thousand or more years ago! Back then, Hungarians didn't have a writing system, and they were nomads so they didn't even leave any artifacts behind but the melody was able to survive through oral tradition. Virtually everyone knows them here because they are taught in school, a famous really old one is "megrakják a tüzet"

Greensleeves is undoubtedly the oldest song I know how to play. Considering I was first introduced to it as the tune that played from ice-cream trucks when I was a child, it was quite a surprise when I eventually discovered what the lyrics were about!

The song that came to mind was yankee doodle. It's probably not as old as greensleeves, but I rememeber hearing that the melody, with all sort of different lyrics, was pretty popular for a very long time in England and is quite old

I've always disliked winter and look forward to the coming of spring every year, so I've found myself actually spontaneously singing Sumer Is Icumen In while walking outside during the weeks of early spring. That song at least lives on through me lol

I'm impressed i actually guessed Greensleeves before seeing the thumbnail.

The oldest song that I regularly encounter is "Adam lay ybounden." Pretty much every church will have that as the choir anthem after the first lesson at their Advent carol service. The oldest non-choral music that millions of people regularly encounter are some of the oldest patterns of change-ringing, such as Grandsire. We know the pattern has to be exactly the same today as in the 16th century because of the mathematical requirements of the pattern. St. Bartholomew the Great Church in London has bells cast ca. 1510. So you can hear the same music on the same musical instrument as people in 1510.

This isn't to answer the question in the video, but more of a small exploration that I personally found really interesting. I played music in high school and liked to be a part of any band I could join, and so I had joined our Victorian Dinner Ensemble, in which the music department would serve food, have a live show/play, and play live music (all by audition only, it was actually expensive for our guests so it was important that the experience be good, around $50 per ticket). As a member of the band, we would get a binder of music to play, around 15 or so pieces. One that always stuck out was called I Wonder As I Wander. I loved that piece, but could not find any recordings anywhere I looked, it was a piece just missing everywhere except the music in my hand. Fast forward a few years, and my great Uncle dies, whom I had never met. Apparently he had left his belongings to be distributed by his nephew, my grandpa. Being the only person that enjoyed records and had a record player, his record collection was given to me, containing 3 boxes of records (around 90) all from the early 50s and 60s, some dating far earlier (one record was by the Ink Spots in the 20s, not sure when it was actually pressed though since the tech wasn't available then). I found a single record of christmas hymns (Christmas Hymns and Carols: Volume 1 by the Robert Shaw Coral, copywrite 1954), most of which were the standards we all know, except one, which was I Wonder As I Wander. I finally had a recording of I Wonder As I Wander, something that I had been looking for years due to its haunting and entrancing sound, something I could not stop thinking about since I first really heard it. On the back of the record there was a small piece written about the song, something I could go off of and try to find out more about the song, I was more than intrigued at this point as it's been several years of nothing. It said there: One of the most strikingly beautiful of all American folk melodies. John Jacob Niles discovered it in the singing of Annie Morgan, one of a band of traveling evangelists, on the Sunday afternoon of July 10, 1933, in Muphy, North Carolina. "I engaged her at 25 bvents per performance to repeat the song till I was sure of the words and the tune," Says Mr Niles. "They left at sundown. I have never been able to find any trace of them since. And I find that such a song just appears from a wandering folk group, that seemingly vanishes into thin air, leaving only the song behind, gives an already haunting piece such a unique and incredible backstory. It's a ghost of a tale, incredible.

For me, this question gets entangled with “What’s the song I’ve known for the longest?” It’s definitely the songs I was taught in Pre-K and at services at the school’s attached synagogue: “David MeleCH Yisrael,” “Hatikvah,” the She’ma, Aleinu, Adon Olam, and so on. That CH is actually a noise not dissimilar from hawking up spit, made in the back of the mouth. “David meleCH Yisrael” apparently is a Sephardic tune (from Spain/Portugal), though I may be wrong. Some prayers are fully sung, some (especially Torah quotations) are chanted, and between synagogues it can depend. At that day school, I think the mourners Kaddish (Yitgadal v’yitkadash shme raba…) was chanted, and where I’m living now, our synagogue sings it. And now I’m remembering the rather satisfying chunking sound the flip-up seats made in my former synagogue with nostalgia. It fitted the rising part of the Song of the Sea, if that’s the one, very well.

The oldest song that I can recognize is probably an old Polish wedding song called ''Oj chmielu chmielu'' (''Oh hop hop'') or simply ''Chmiel'' (''Hop''). It is believed to predate the christianisation of Poland (966 C.E.) and is basically a song about beer (some people say Slavs were first to put hop in beer) and its effect on people. It's been popular among rural folk up until the 1950's, but since then it's pretty much forgotten. It's a cool song tho, it has a nearly pagan feel to it

The Jewish liturgical tunes used on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) , may have been used in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. If the tunes don't go back that far , other scholars places these liturgical tunes in the 9th century CE. Tunes for other prayers change , but these two holidays are treated so reverentially , that it would just feel wrong to ever change the tune for those prayers.

Really great. thank you for this video. One thought though - Hildegard of Bingen, 1100 AD, she composed. And I think there is manuscrips of her music. And It´s choir music so its a little more resistant to changes of time, so to speak.

Bro ur edits are always awesome

This is very informative and fun - thank you! The oldest song I know is the Song of Seikilos from ancient Greece. After that, I'm familiar with a number of Gregorian chants as well as the polyphony that followed (Hildegard von Bingen is a favorite, but by no means the only medieval composer we listen to in our home). But yeah, Greensleeves is one I've known all my life and most people I know are familiar with it too.

The oldest song I know is "Douce Dame Jolie" by Guillaume de Machaut, which was written in the late 14th century.

Kyrie Eleison (religious) and Sumer Is Icumen In (secular) Also love old, English folk songs like Twa Ravens, Unquiet Grave, Scarborough Fair...

I never get tired of listening to your videos. Question, do you have any Spotify playlists you'd ever be comfortable sharing? I have no doubt those anthologies would be worth diving in!!

As a classically trained vocalist, I am much more exposed to ancient music. It took me a while to realize that what is considered common repertoire centuries for us requires completely different instruments than those in the modern orchestra or wind band, so it’s much less common to see instrumental music from pre-1600. I also happen to be a fan of historical performance practice, so I’m actually now used to hearing instrumental music from as far as a century or two earlier as well, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, I can think of a couple songs off the top of my head that might be older, de to my vocal training. Pieces which I believe are considered staples of the choral canon. Josquin des Prez’s setting of Ave Maria for example. More commonly known now would be a later example, Miserere Mei by Allegri. However, that song has an incredibly interesting history that excludes it from your criteria; the famous extremely high note outside the key area of the piece (which has been made very internet famous by the meme of the boys choir using helium to reach it) is actually an erroneous part of the song, which was jumbled in transcription, such that it was adopted in the wrong key, and also is a patchwork of several sections smushed together. So not recognizable to the original audience. But none of these come close to the unilateral pervasiveness of Greensleeves! Another Avenue to research could be nursery songs! Think about how pervasive Brahm’s Lullaby is, from the 1800’s. Specifically I’d look into Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, as it was already a popular children’s song in the 1700’s when Mozart did his variations on it! Would be interesting to research how far we can trace that one back.

In Indian sub-continent we have folk songs but again we(atleast I) do not know when they originated. We can just guess. But yes the religious hymns like Ved, Upanishads, etc which were passed-on by oral traditions. As a matter of fact they were composed in a particular rhythm to make it easier to learn and recall as writing tech had not been discovered at the time they were composed. In Maharashtra Santavanis/Abhangs have had a continuous tradition from 12th/13th century. So they more or less have had same same rhythm since origins. (Newer variations can also be found but are easy to distinguish)

In my home country Denmark, a medieval song titled (in translation) "I Dreamt A Dream Tonight About Silk And Costly Garment" was used by the national broadcasting for several decades as a fill-in, when there was a short break. Although they don't use it in this way any longer, a very large portion of Danes will still recognize this song.

The Coventry Carol is another old song that is pretty commonly recognized, thanks to Christmas tradition. The first written record we have of the song is from 1534, but it could be a couple centuries older than that for all we know, since they were doing mystery plays in Coventry dating from at least the 1300s.

PS Shout-out to Arstidir for making a 13th century Icelandic hymn go viral

My first thought was Gaudete, made famous by Steeleye Span. But now I'll watch the video 🙂

The oldest song I can think of right now is the medieval ballad of Scarborough Fair, which also sounds beautiful on the oboe like Greensleeves!

Magnificent!!! Thank u so much!!!

"Oldest song" isn't the same as "oldest music". For many of us, oldest music is Gregorian plainchant. The oldest actual songs I'm familiar with are from the Carmina Burana, aka "Ich was ein ching so wolgetan".