"Here We Come A-wassailing" (or "Here We Come A-Caroling"), also known as "Here We Come A-Christmasing", "Wassail Song" and by many other names, is a traditional English Christmas carol and New Year song, [1] typically sung whilst wassailing, or singing carols, wishing good health and exchanging gifts door to door. [2] It is listed as number 209 in the Roud Folk Song Index. "Gower Wassail" and "Gloucestershire Wassail" are similar wassailing songs.
The song dates from at least the mid 19th century, [3] but is probably much older. [4] [1] The a- in "a-wassailing" is an archaic intensifying prefix; compare "A-Hunting We Will Go" and lyrics to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (e.g., "Six geese a-laying").
According to Reader's Digest , "the Christmas spirit often made the rich a little more generous than usual, and bands of beggars and orphans used to dance their way through the snowy streets of England, offering to sing good cheer and to tell good fortune if the householder would give them a drink from his wassail bowl or a penny or a pork pie or, let them stand for a few minutes beside the warmth of his hearth. The wassail bowl itself was a hearty combination of hot ale or beer, apples, spices and mead, just alcoholic enough to warm tingling toes and fingers of the singers." [5]
In 1949, the Welsh folk singer Phil Tanner sang a minor-key variant called "Wassail Song" and generally known as "Gower Wassail", [6] which was popularised by various folk revival groups.
A variant is "Here We Come A-Christmasing". It replaces the word wassail with Christmas.
There are also other variants (often, but not always, sung by Americans), wherein the first verse is sung "Here we come a-caroling" and it is titled so. Often in this version, the third verse (directly after the first refrain [see lyrics]) is removed, along with the refrain that follows it, but this depends on which version is being used. This version also often has the second line of the chorus "And a merry Christmas too" or "And to you glad tidings too", instead of "And to you your wassail too". There were other different satirical variants used on the 1987 Christmas special A Claymation Christmas Celebration . Another variant is entitled "We've Been a While-A-Wandering" and "Yorkshire Wassail Song".
Hundreds of versions of wassailing songs have been collected, including dozens of variants collected by Cecil Sharp from the 1900s to the 1920s, mostly in the south of England. [7] Many of the traditional versions that have been collected and recorded are not of the "Here We Come A-wassailing" variant; the following examples are similar to the now famous version:
The song appears to have travelled to the United States with English settlers, where it has been found several times in the Appalachian region, [13] and recorded twice:
As with most carols, there are several related versions of the words. One version is presented below, based on the text given in The New Oxford Book of Carols . The verses are sung in 6/8 time, while the chorus switches to common time.
1. Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
here we come a-wand'ring
so fair to be seen.
Refrain:
Love and joy come to you,
and to you your wassail too;
and God bless you and send you a happy New Year,
and God send you a happy New Year.
2. Our wassail cup is made
of the rosemary tree,
and so is your beer
of the best barley.
Refrain
3. We are not daily beggars
that beg from door to door;
but we are neighbours' children,
whom you have seen before.
Refrain
4. Call up the butler of this house,
put on his golden ring.
Let him bring us up a glass of beer,
and better we shall sing.
Refrain
5. We have got a little purse
of stretching leather skin;
we want a little of your money
to line it well within.
Refrain
6. Bring us out a table
and spread it with a cloth;
bring us out a mouldy cheese,
and some of your Christmas loaf.
Refrain
7. God bless the master of this house
likewise the mistress too,
and all the little children
that round the table go.
Refrain
8. Good master and good mistress,
while you're sitting by the fire,
pray think of us poor children
who are wandering in the mire.
Refrain
"Lily of the West" is a traditional British and Irish folk song, best known today as an American folk song, listed as number 957 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The American version is about a man who travels to Louisville and falls in love with a woman named Mary, Flora or Molly, the eponymous Lily of the West. He catches Mary being unfaithful to him, and, in a fit of rage, stabs the man she is with, and is subsequently imprisoned. In spite of this, he finds himself still in love with her. In the original version, the Lily testifies in his defense and he is freed, though they do not resume their relationship.
"Christmas Is Coming" is a traditional nursery rhyme and Christmas song frequently sung as a round. It is listed as number 12817 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
"The Cherry-Tree Carol" is a ballad with the rare distinction of being both a Christmas carol and one of the Child Ballads. The song itself is very old, reportedly sung in some form at the Feast of Corpus Christi in the early 15th century.
"I Saw Three Ships (Come Sailing In)" is an English Christmas carol, listed as number 700 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The earliest printed version of "I Saw Three Ships" is from the 17th century, possibly Derbyshire, and was also published by William Sandys in 1833. The song was probably traditionally known as "As I Sat On a Sunny Bank", and was particularly popular in Cornwall.
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is an English Christmas carol, listed as numbers 230 and 9681 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The famous version of the carol is from the English West Country.
"The Two Sisters" is a traditional murder ballad, dating at least as far back as the mid 17th century. The song recounts the tale of a girl drowned by her jealous sister. At least 21 English variants exist under several names, including "Minnorie" or "Binnorie", "The Cruel Sister", "The Wind and Rain", "Dreadful Wind and Rain", "The Bonny Swans" and the "Bonnie Bows of London". The ballad was collected by renowned folklorist Francis J. Child as Child Ballad 10 and is also listed in the Roud Folk Song Index. Whilst the song is thought to originate somewhere around England or Scotland, extremely similar songs have been found throughout Europe, particularly in Scandinavia.
"The Maid Freed from the Gallows" is one of many titles of a centuries-old folk song about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner. Other variants and/or titles include "The Gallows Pole", "The Gallis Pole", "Hangman", "The Prickle-Holly Bush", "The Golden Ball", and "Hold Up Your Hand, Old Joshua She Cried." In the collection of ballads compiled by Francis James Child in the late 19th century, it is indexed as Child Ballad number 95; 11 variants, some fragmentary, are indexed as 95A to 95K. The Roud Folk Song Index identifies it as number 144.
The Farmer's Curst Wife is a traditional English language folk song listed as Child ballad number 278 and number 160 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
"The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter" is an English ballad, collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 110 and listed as number 67 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
"Edward" is a traditional murder ballad existing in several variants, categorised by Francis James Child as Child Ballad number 13 and listed as number 200 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The ballad, which is at least 250 years old, has been documented and recorded numerous times across the English speaking world into the twentieth century.
"The Twa Brothers" is a traditional ballad existing in many variants.
"Blacksmith", also known as "A Blacksmith Courted Me", is a traditional English folk song listed as number 816 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
"Down in Yon Forest", also known as "All Bells in Paradise" and "Castleton Carol," is a traditional English Christmas carol dating to the Renaissance era, ultimately deriving from the anonymous Middle English poem known today as the Corpus Christi Carol. The song was originally associated with Good Friday or the Corpus Christi Feast rather than Christmas, but some more recent variants have additional verses which reference Christmas. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as number 1523.
"The Trees They Grow So High" is a Scottish folk song. The song is known by many titles, including "The Trees They Do Grow High", "Daily Growing", "Long A-Growing" and "Lady Mary Ann".
The song "All Around my Hat" is of nineteenth-century English origin. In an early version, dating from the 1820s, a Cockney costermonger vowed to be true to his fiancée, who had been sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia for theft and to mourn his loss of her by wearing green willow sprigs in his hatband for "a twelve-month and a day", the willow being a traditional symbol of mourning. The song was made famous by Steeleye Span, whose rendition may have been based on a more traditional version sung by John Langstaff, in 1975.
"Jack Monroe", also known as "Jack Munro", "Jack-A-Roe", "Jackaro", "Jacky Robinson", "Jackie Frazier" and "Jack the Sailor", is a traditional ballad which describes the journey of a woman who disguises herself as the eponymous character to board a sailing ship and save her lover, a soldier.
"The Cutty Wren" and its variants such as "The Hunting of the Wren" are traditional English folk songs. The origins and meaning of the song are disputed. It is number 236 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
"The Derby Ram" or "As I was Going to Derby" is a traditional tall tale English folk song that tells the story of a ram of gargantuan proportions and the difficulties involved in butchering, tanning, and otherwise processing its carcass.
The Gloucestershire Wassail, also known as "Wassail! Wassail! All Over the Town", "The Wassailing Bowl" and "Wassail Song" is an English Christmas carol from the county of Gloucestershire in England, dating back to at least the 18th century, but may be older.
Cob coaling, cob-a-coaling or cob calling was a traditional Bonfire Night custom practiced in the Yorkshire-Lancashire border region, which involved groups of people going door-to-door in groups and singing a song in return for Bonfire Night supplies. In more recent times, singers collected firewood and money for fireworks, but "coaling" refers to the coal that would previously have been collected. The Cob Coaling Song is listed as number 9234 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
