| Author | Topic: Add: The Grampound Wassail | |
| Ed | Posted - 03 Jan 03 - 08:44 pm | |
Grampound Wassail, The Chorus: Wassail, wassail, wassail, wassail And joy come to our jolly wassail Now here at this house we first will be seen To drink the king's health such a custom has been Now unto the master we'll drink his good health We hope he may prosper in virtue and wealth With our wassail, etc. In a friendly manner this house we salute, For it is an old custom, you need not dispute; Ask not the reason from where it did spring, For you know very well it?s an old ancient thing. Now here at your door we orderly stand With our jolly wassail and our hats in our hand We do wish you good health unto master and dame, To children and servants we do wish the same It has been the custom, as I've been told By ancient housekeepers in days of old, When young men and maidens together draw near They fill up our bowls with cider or beer Come fill up our wassail bowl full to the brim, See, harnessed and garnished so neat and so trim Sometimes with laurel and sometimes with bays According to custom to keep the old ways (Pause for drink) Methinks I do smile to see the bowl full, Which just now was empty and now filled do grow By the hands of good people, long may they remain And love to continue the same to maintain Now neighbours and strangers we always do find And hope we shall be courteous, obliging and kind; And hope your civility to us will be proved As a piece of small silver in token of love (Pause for collection) We wish you great plenty and long time to live Because you were so willing and freely to give To our jolly wassail most cheerful and bold, Long may you be happy, long may you live bold We hope your new apple trees prosper and bear, That we shall have cider again next year; For where you've a hogshead we hope you'll have ten, That you will have cider when we come again We hope all your barley will prosper and grow, That you may have barley and beer to bestow; For where you've a bushel we hope you'll have ten, That you will have beer when we come again Now for this good liquor to us you do bring, We'll lift up our voices and merrily sing, That all good householders may continue still And provide some good liquor our bowl for to fill Now for this good liquor, your cider or beer, Now for the great kindness that we have had here, We'll return our thanks, and shall still bear in mind How you have been bountiful, loving and kind Now for the great kindness that we have received We return you our thanks and shall take our leave; From this present time we shall bid you adieu Until the next year when the time do ensue Now jolly old Christmas is passing away; According to custom this is the last day That we shall enjoy along with you to bide So farewell old Christmas, this merry old tide Source: Palmer, R (1979) Everymans's Book of English Country Songs. London, Dent Notes: Sung by Michael Nancarow, Grampound, Cornwall; collected by Mr J.J. Mountford of Truro (Baring-Gould, Ministrelsie, no XX, p. 45). Palmer notes: 'Wassail' derives from the Anglo-Saxon wes hal, meaning 'be whole' (cf. 'hale and hearty' in modern English) or 'be of good health. The wassailers with their drinking bowl and their joyful songs toured the households and farms at Christmastide, bringing good luck for the coming year. They still linger in a few places, especially in the West Country. This song comes from the village of Grampound in Cornwall, where it is still sung, as can be seen from Paul Jennings The Living Village, Hodder, 1968, p. 80 Database entry is here | ||
| Guest Account |
Posted - 17 Apr 06 - 09:58 pm | |
From: Conrad Bladey Found in: the Baring Gould Collection with this note: Sent by Jno Barrett, 30, Lemon St, Truro. "At last I am able to send you the Cornish Wassail song, which I promised you a twelvemonth agone. Mr JJ Mountford, the organist of St John's church has got the two versions of the music, one from the old man from whom I got the words, but I do not know from whence he obtained the other. Michael Nancarrow from whom air and words were taken is a native of Grampound and is now 73 years old. He has been singing the song for fifty years, and learnt it from Wm Griffin and Rd Darker, old men who have been dead near twenty years. The words I send have been known in this neighbourhood as the 'Grampound 'song, being distinct from the 'Tregoney' and other versions. The first three verses are usually sung outside the house and, before the fourth verse is sung, some liquor is supplied. The singers carry a bowl into which all liquor given is poured, and when they leave the home they usually carry some away in case they should meet anyone on their way to the next house. Should they do so the ninth verse is sung; verses 10 and 11 are only sung on Twelfth Day | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 18 Apr 06 - 02:47 am | |
I assume that Conrad copied the text on his website, including the above, from Martin Graebe's Sabine Baring-Gould and the folk songs of South-West England. An acknowledgement of the source would be polite. Martin's transcription from the MSS can be seen at http://www.btinternet.com/~greenjack/Cornwass.PDF The Palmer reference seems to be wrong, incidentally. His source for the tune wasn't Baring-Gould's English Minstrelsie, but A Garland of English Country Song (1894). The song number and page number are correct for that book. Only one verse is printed, though. Perhaps Palmer consulted the MSS for the rest; he doesn't say. | ||