To all the good children, a happy new year:
We wish you a blessing, we wish you good cheer.
Be prudent and careful, and keep yourselves clear;
Be faithful and cheerful thruout the whole year.

abc | midi | pdf

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Source: Patterson, D W, 1979, The Shaker Spiritual, Princeton University Press, New Jersey

Notes:
Patterson wrote:

The tune for this dialogue hymn is a good variant of "The Cuckoo", a song widely popular in England and America. Even with this advantage, the Shaker piece had limited appeal. Russel Haskell learned it from Prudence Houston of South Union in July 1827, and seems the only scribe to have written it down.

Analogue: "The Cuckoo" in Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, ii, 177.

Roud:
Laws:
Child:

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Related Songs:  The Cuckoo (melodic)