Bourrée

The bourrée (Occitan: borrèia;[1] also in England, borry or bore) is a dance of French origin and the words and music that accompany it.

Marguerite de Navarre, who was the wife of the King of Navarre and sister to the King of France, introduced the dance to the French court in 1565 and it was popular until the reign of Louis XIII (1601–1643) and opened many balls,[7][8] but the bourrée took some time to appear in the early ballet dance notation of the French baroque theatre.

[11] In his Der Vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739), Johann Mattheson wrote of the bourrée, "its distinguishing feature resides in contentment and a pleasant demeanor, at the same time it is somewhat carefree and relaxed, a little indolent and easygoing, though not disagreeable".

The Victorian English composer, Sir Hubert Parry included a bourrée in his Lady Radnor Suite (1894).

Paul McCartney also stated that the Beatles had known the tune for a long time and that it had inspired his song Blackbird.

[13] Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin often played the opening section of Bourrée in E minor as part of the solo of a live performance of Heartbreaker, and he has also described the acoustic guitar and recorder intro to Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven as "a poor man's bourrée".

Rock guitarist Blues Saraceno plays a jazz version in the beginning and end of the track "Bouree" on his third album, Hairpick.