| Author | Topic: Add: Come all you worthy Gentlemen | |
| dmcg | Posted - 31 Dec 02 - 11:33 am | |
Come all you worthy Gentlemen Come all you worthy gentlemen, That may be standing by, Christ our Blessed Saviour Was born on Christmas Day. The Blessed Virgin Mary Unto the Lord did pray. O we wish you the comfort and tidings of joy! Christ our Blessed Saviour Now in the manger lay - He's lying in the manger, While the oxen feed on hay. The Blessed Virgin Mary Unto the Lord did pray. O we wish you the comfort and tidings of joy! God bless the ruler of this house, And long on may he reign, Many happy Christmases He live to see again! God bless out generation, Who live both far and near, And we wish them a happy, a happy New Year. Source: Cyril Winn, A Selection of some less known Folk-Songs, Vol 2, Novello. Database entry is here. | ||
| Jon Freeman | Posted - 31 Dec 02 - 12:46 pm | |
Thanks Dave. Must compare it to "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen". Jon | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 31 Dec 02 - 01:19 pm | |
Its closer to 'Here we come a-wassalling' melodically. | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 31 Dec 02 - 04:04 pm | |
Roud 394: as is God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen. This example was noted by Cecil Sharp from Mr. Rapsey at Bridgwater, Somerset, 2nd January 1906. It was published in Sharp's Folk Songs from Somerset (no.5, Novello 1909) and English Folk Carols (Novello 1911), and appears as originally collected in Maud Karpeles, Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs (OUP 1974) as No. 352, God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen, example E. As originally published (and quoted above) the text has undergone some alteration, though the music is essentially unchanged apart from the introduction of three additional "A"s in order to accommodate the lengthened final line. Mr. Rapsey actually sang: Come all you worthy gentlemen that may be standing by. Christ our blessed Saviour was born on Christmas Day. The blessed Virgin Mary unto the Lord did pray. O we wish her the tidings of joy. The blessed Virgin Mary unto the Lord did say: Christ our Blessed Saviour now in the manger lay. He's laying in the manger with the oxen fed on hay And we wish him tidings of joy. God bless the ruler of this house and long on may he reign, Many happy Christmasses may he live to see again. God bless our generation who live both far and near And we wish them a happy new year. Edited By Malcolm Douglas - 12/31/2002 4:05:50 PM | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 01 Jan 03 - 01:32 am | |
The Rapsey/Sharp version is in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928, No. 8) as "Somerset Carol", with this note: "Mr Rapsey was taught the carol by his mother, and as a child used to sing it with other children in the streets of Bridgwater at Christmas time." Also in The New Oxford Book of Carols (1992, No. 152) as "Come All You Worthy Gentlemen." Vaughan Williams adopted this carol in his Fantasia on Christmas Carols. | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 01 Jan 03 - 10:51 am | |
Its been pointed out that the corrent English for verse two should be "He's laying in a manger", not "lying". I have checked the book I am using, which does say "lying". I notice Malcolm's words above use "laying". It might be interesting to try to track down a few other prints of the song to find out if this error is pre- or post- collection. | ||
| Mary in Kentucky | Posted - 01 Jan 03 - 02:03 pm | |
"Lying in the manger" is correct English. (I think, but I'm getting confused here.) The song in this thread above uses "lying." In the database the song is also documented as using the word "lying." But in the Notes section of the database (from Malcolm's post above, an older version of the song uses the word "laying.") | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 01 Jan 03 - 06:09 pm | |
The changes made to the text I quoted are editorial rather than traditional. Maud Karpeles was working directly from Sharp's MSS, so the Collection text can reasonably be taken as authentic. Sharp's handwriting is often hard to decipher, however; even for someone who knew him as well as she did, so the possibility of mistranscription can't be discounted. It may also be that Mr Rapsey's accent or enunciation made it difficult to tell whether he was singing "laying" or "lying". As Mary points out, though, "lying" (intransitive) is the grammatically correct form here, so I'd guess that Mr Rapsey's dialectal "laying" was simply changed for publication. Editorial modifications of this kind have, until really quite recently, been the rule rather than the exception. | ||