Not, as another reviewer rightly points out, much use as a work of reference, this short book is nonetheless a pleasure to have: a lucky dip of Shakespearian lyricism. To enjoy most of the songs, it isn't necessary to know how they fit into a particular play; not even, really, to know to which play or scene or character they 'belong'. The language is generally direct, the meaning plain and, freed from their dramatic context, the songs are yours to do with what you will. The book fits neatly into the pocket of my funeral coat and is a reliable antidote to the embarrassment of listening to the vicar struggling with the thankless task of eulogizing a deceased she had never heard of until 3 days ago and about whom she knows nothing except that the family is sure he would have wanted a "proper" funeral because even if he wasn't exactly a Christian he was definitely C[hurch] of E[ngland], he really loved Christmas carols and Rule Britannia and hymns like that... On such occasions, the 'Complete Songs' gives you a wide choice of sentiments with which to pay proper respect to the (possibly) dear departed, from the elegiac "Fear no more the heat o' the sun" or "Full fathom five" to (where appropriate) the robust "Fie on sinful fantasy" (very apt for lecherous old friends heading for cremation ) or "Come, thou monarch of the vine"/"And let me the canakin clink" (=he liked his drink, he did).
Such variety of moods, such glorious words: there are here heartrending songs, vulgar songs, joyous songs; never be without them to hand! ( )

A dubiously useful reference text. You would have to be doing some very specific work to need the text of the songs before finding them within the full plays. The footnotes are limited and used purely to define archaic words, not to illuminate meaning. The songs are presented without context and no information is given about the plays other than title, the character singing and act and scene numbers of the songs.