User:Grover cleveland/A Merry Christmas/draft

We Wish You a Merry Christmas
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Genre	Christmas
Language	English

Instrumental version of Kevin MacLeod

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a popular English Christmas carol from the West Country of England.

Words

The following are taken from Warrell's 1935 arrangement as revised in Carols for Choirs. Variants are discussed below:

We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.
Good tidings we bring
To you and your kin;
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.

Now bring us some figgy pudding,
Now bring us some figgy pudding,
Now bring us some figgy pudding,
And bring some out here.
Good tidings we bring
To you and your kin;
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.

For we all like figgy pudding,
We all like figgy pudding,
For we all like figgy pudding,
So bring some out here.
Good tidings we bring
To you and your kin;
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.

And we won't go till we've got some,
We won't go till we've got some,
And we won't go till we've got some,
So bring some out here.
Good tidings we bring
To you and your kin;
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.

Variants

In his original 1935 publication, Warrell had "I wish you a merry Christmas" in verse 1 and the refrain, and "Good tidings I bring" in the refrain.^[1]
Verse 2 may become "Go bake us a Christmas pudding".^[2]
Verse 2 may become "Oh, bring us some figgy pudding".^[3]
Verse 3 may become "We won't go until we get some".^[4]

History

The Bristol-based composer, conductor and organist Arthur Warrell^[5] is responsible for the popularity of the carol. Warrell arranged the tune for his own University of Bristol Madrigal Singers, and performed it with them in concert on December 6th, 1935.^[6] That same year, his elaborate four-part arrangement was published by Oxford University Press, under the title "A Merry Christmas: West Country traditional song".^[1]

Warrell's arrangement is notable for using "I" instead of "we" in the words; the first line is "I wish you a Merry Christmas". It was subsequently republished in the collection Carols for Choirs (1961), and remains widely performed.^[7]

The earlier history of the carol is unclear. It is absent from the collections of West-countrymen Davies Gilbert (1822 and 1823)^[8] and William Sandys (1833),^[9] as well as from the great anthologies of Sylvester (1861)^[10] and Husk (1864).^[11] It is also missing from The Oxford Book of Carols (1928). In the comprehensive New Oxford Book of Carols (1992), editors Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott describe it as "English traditional" and "[t]he remnant of an envoie much used by wassailers and other luck visitors"; no source or date is given.^[12]

Origin

The greeting "a merry Christmas and a happy New Year" is recorded from the early eighteenth century.^[13] The English custom of performing inside or outside homes in return for food and drink is illustrated in the short story The Christmas Mummers (1858) by Charlotte Yonge, in which a group of boys run to a farmer's door and sing:

I wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year,
A pantryful of good roast-beef,
And barrels full of beer.^[14]

After they are allowed in and perform a Mummers play, the boys are served beer by the farmer's maid.^[15]

Another example is recorded in 1883, from the villages of Burford, Church Stretton and Worthen in the English county of Shropshire:

I wish you a merry Christmas, a happy New Year,
A pocket full of money, and a cellar full of beer;
A good fat pig to last you all the year.
Please to give me a New Year's gift.^[16]

The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition wherein wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve, such as "figgy pudding" that was very much like modern-day Christmas puddings.^[17]^[18]^[19] A variety of nineteenth-century sources state that, in the West Country of England, "figgy pudding" referred to a raisin or plum pudding, not necessarily one containing figs.^[20]^[21]^[22]

(Some versions use "glad tidings" instead of "good tidings"^[23])

REFRAIN Good tidings we bring for you and your kin, Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Oh bring us some figgy pudding (x3) and bring it right here.

REFRAIN

And we won't go until we've got some (x3) so bring some out here.

REFRAIN It's a season for music (x3) and a time of good Cheer.

REFRAIN </poem>

Version 4

We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year.

REFRAIN
Good tidings to you, where ever you are
Good Tidings at Christmas and a Happy New Year

(The first line of the refrain can also be rendered as "Good tidings we bring, to you of good cheer")

Now bring us some figgy pudding
Now bring us some figgy pudding
Now bring us some figgy pudding
and bring it right here

REFRAIN

now bring some tea and breakfast
now bring some tea and breakfast
now bring some tea and breakfast
and bring it right here

REFRAIN

Christmas time is coming,
Christmas time is coming
Christmas time is coming
It soon will be here

REFRAIN

References

^ ^a ^b Warrell, Arthur (arr.) (1935). A Merry Christmas. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019340530X.
^ https://archive.org/stream/canadiansingerbo05beat#page/92/mode/2up
^ https://archive.org/stream/pianoaccompanime00pitt#page/64/mode/2up
^ https://archive.org/stream/canadiansingerbo05beat#page/92/mode/2up
^ Arthur Sydney Warrell, born Farmborough, 1883, died Bristol, 1939. Served as organist and choirmaster and several Bristol churches. Subsequently taught music at Bristol University and founded the Bristol University Choir, Orchestra, and Madrigal Singers. See Humphreys, Maggie; Robert Evans (1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. London: Mansell. p. 351. ISBN 0-7201-2330-5.
^ "Music and Drama". Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror. 154 (25, 920). Bristol: 4. 1935-12-06.
^ In the Carols for Choirs reprint, but not in the 1935 original, the option of replacing "I wish you a Merry Christmas" by the more common "We wish you a Merry Christmas" is given
^ Gilbert, Davies (1822). Some ancient Christmas Carols, with the Tunes to which they were formerly sung in the West of England (PDF). London: J. Nichols and Son.
^ Sandys, William (1833). Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern. London: Richard Beckley.
^ Sylvester, Joshua (ed.) (1861). A Garland of Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern. London: John Camden Hotten. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
^ Husk, William Henry (ed.) Songs of the Nativity, London: John Camden Hotten, 1864.
^ Keyte, Hugh; Parrott, Andrew, eds. (1992). The New Oxford Book of Carols. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 529.
^ "a merry X'mas and a happy New Year", letter of Samuel Goodman dated December 20th 1710, in Letters to Fort St. George: vol. xii (1711). Madras: Government Press. 1931. p. 3.
^ Yonge, Charlotte (1858). The Christmas Mummers. London: Mozley. p. 87.
^ Yonge, Charlotte (1858). The Christmas Mummers. London: Mozley. p. 93.
^ Burne, Charlotte Sophia (ed.) (1883). Shropshire Folk-Lore. London: Trübner & Co. p. 317. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
^ Brech, Lewis (2010). "Storybook Advent Carols Collection Songbook". p. 48. Couples Company, Inc,
^ Lester, Meera (2007). "Why Does Santa Wear Red?: And 100 Other Christmas Curiousities Unwrapped" p.146. Adams Media,
^ "We Wish You a Merry Christmas! - Christmas Songs of England". Retrieved December 11, 2010
^ "A 'figgy pudding'; a pudding with raisins in it; a plum pudding", from "Devonshire and Cornwall Vocabulary", The Monthly Magazine vol. 29/6, no. 199, June 1, 1810. p. 435
^ "Plum-pudding and plum-cake are universally called figgy pudding and figgy cake in Devonshire", from Lady, A (1837). A dialogue in the Devonshire dialect, by a lady: to which is added a glossary, by J.F. Palmer. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman. p. 46.
^ "Figgy Pudding ... the ordinary name for plum-pudding. Also a baked batter pudding with raisins in it", Elworthy, Frederic Thomas (1875). The Dialect of West Somerset. London: Trübner & Co. p. 252.
^ e.g., http://michaelkravchuk.com/free-lead-sheet-merry-christmas/; accessed 2015-12-09

Category:Christmas carols Category:16th-century songs Category:16th century in England Category:Christmas in England Category:Christmas songs Category:English songs Category:British songs

[warrell-1] Warrell, Arthur (arr.) (1935). A Merry Christmas. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019340530X.

[2] ttps://archive.org/stream/canadiansingerbo05beat#page/92/mode/2up

[3] ttps://archive.org/stream/pianoaccompanime00pitt#page/64/mode/2up

[4] ttps://archive.org/stream/canadiansingerbo05beat#page/92/mode/2up

[5] Arthur Sydney Warrell, born Farmborough, 1883, died Bristol, 1939. Served as organist and choirmaster and several Bristol churches. Subsequently taught music at Bristol University and founded the Bristol University Choir, Orchestra, and Madrigal Singers. See Humphreys, Maggie; Robert Evans (1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. London: Mansell. p. 351. ISBN 0-7201-2330-5.

[6] "Music and Drama". Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror. 154 (25, 920). Bristol: 4. 1935-12-06.

[7] In the Carols for Choirs reprint, but not in the 1935 original, the option of replacing "I wish you a Merry Christmas" by the more common "We wish you a Merry Christmas" is given

[8] Gilbert, Davies (1822). Some ancient Christmas Carols, with the Tunes to which they were formerly sung in the West of England (PDF). London: J. Nichols and Son.

[9] Sandys, William (1833). Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern. London: Richard Beckley.

[sylvester-10] Sylvester, Joshua (ed.) (1861). A Garland of Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern. London: John Camden Hotten. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)

[11] Husk, William Henry (ed.) Songs of the Nativity, London: John Camden Hotten, 1864.

[12] Keyte, Hugh; Parrott, Andrew, eds. (1992). The New Oxford Book of Carols. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 529.

[13] "a merry X'mas and a happy New Year", letter of Samuel Goodman dated December 20th 1710, in Letters to Fort St. George: vol. xii (1711). Madras: Government Press. 1931. p. 3.

[14] Yonge, Charlotte (1858). The Christmas Mummers. London: Mozley. p. 87.

[15] Yonge, Charlotte (1858). The Christmas Mummers. London: Mozley. p. 93.

[16] Burne, Charlotte Sophia (ed.) (1883). Shropshire Folk-Lore. London: Trübner & Co. p. 317. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)

[Brech-17] Brech, Lewis (2010). "Storybook Advent Carols Collection Songbook". p. 48. Couples Company, Inc,

[meera-18] Lester, Meera (2007). "Why Does Santa Wear Red?: And 100 Other Christmas Curiousities Unwrapped" p.146. Adams Media,

[world-19] "We Wish You a Merry Christmas! - Christmas Songs of England". Retrieved December 11, 2010

[20] "A 'figgy pudding'; a pudding with raisins in it; a plum pudding", from "Devonshire and Cornwall Vocabulary", The Monthly Magazine vol. 29/6, no. 199, June 1, 1810. p. 435

[21] "Plum-pudding and plum-cake are universally called figgy pudding and figgy cake in Devonshire", from Lady, A (1837). A dialogue in the Devonshire dialect, by a lady: to which is added a glossary, by J.F. Palmer. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman. p. 46.

[22] "Figgy Pudding ... the ordinary name for plum-pudding. Also a baked batter pudding with raisins in it", Elworthy, Frederic Thomas (1875). The Dialect of West Somerset. London: Trübner & Co. p. 252.

[23] .g., http://michaelkravchuk.com/free-lead-sheet-merry-christmas/; accessed 2015-12-09

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