The Hamlet Project

Did Yorick make up songs or did he sing popular tunes of the day?
Songs do have a way of living beyond their creators. Not all of them, of course. The song I made up to help that toddler put on her shoes is entirely lost both to me and the toddler. But a song that has settled into itself and been sung by more than one person might well live on long after its maker. It is one of the great advantages of musical notation and musical recording – not to mention just living memory. Songs will stick in the minds of those who have lost all else. If you want to reach someone who seems unreachable in the fog of a diseased or damaged brain, songs are likely to be the way in.
So maybe Yorick’s songs lived on in Hamlet. At least for a while.