Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)

Subject: Apple Wassail
From:
Date: 08 Aug 97 - 07:13 AM

Forwarded from Choraltalk discussion list:

Does anyone have the lyrics for the two-part women's piece "Apple Wassail"?

Here are some of the lyrics:

"Oh lily, white lily...there was an old man who had an old cow...apple wassail, jolly wassail..."

Subject: Lyr Add: APPLE-TREE WASSAIL (from Watersons)
From:
Date: 09 Aug 97 - 02:45 PM

APPLE-TREE WASSAIL
collected from The Watersons

Lily white lily white lily white pin
Please to come down and let us come in.
Lily white lily white lily white smock
Please to come down and pull back the lock.

For it's our wassail, jolly wassail; joy come to our jolly wassail.

How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.

Master and mistress, oh are you within?
Please to come down and let us come in.

For it's our wassail, jolly wassail; joy come to our jolly wassail.

How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.

There was an old farmer that had but one cow
And how to milk her, he didn't know how.
He put his old cow all in his old barn
And a little more liquor won't do us no harm.

Harm, me boys, harm; Harm, me boys, harm;
A little more liquor won't do us no harm.

Lily white lily white lily white pin
Please to come down and let us come in.
Lily white lily white lily white smock
Please to come down and pull back the lock.

For it's our wassail, jolly wassail; joy come to our jolly wassail.

How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.

For it's our wassail, jolly wassail; joy come to our jolly wassail.

Subject: For Watersons Apple Tree Wassail Abc ok!
From:
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 10:29 AM

notation- abc ok for watersons apple tree wassail

Many thanks in advance!

Conrad [e-mail]

Subject: Lyr Add: APPLE-TREE WASSAIL (Watersons?)
From:
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 10:55 AM

It was written here that the Watersons did this one but I don't find it in their discography. I am looking for the tune for this one.
Many thanks
Conrad

APPLE-TREE WASSAIL

Lily-white, lily-white, lily-white pin,
Please to come down and let us come in.
Lily-white, lily-white, lily-white smock,
Please to come down and pull back the lock.

For it's our wassail, jolly wassail;
Joy come to our jolly wassail.

How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.
Master and mistress, oh, are you within?
Please to come down and let us come in.

For it's our wassail, jolly wassail;
Joy come to our jolly wassail.

How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.

There was an old farmer that had but one cow,
And how to milk her, he didn't know how.
He put his old cow all in his old barn,
And a little more liquor won't do us no harm.

Harm, me boys, harm; Harm, me boys, harm;
A little more liquor won't do us no harm.

Lily-white, lily-white, lily-white pin,
Please to come down and let us come in.
Lily-white, lily-white, lily-white smock,
Please to come down and pull back the lock.

For it's our wassail, jolly wassail;
Joy come to our jolly wassail.

How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.

For it's our wassail, jolly wassail;
Joy come to our jolly wassail.

-The Watersons?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: For Watersons Apple Tree Wassail Ab
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 05:51 PM

It's on their 'For Pence and Spicy Ale' album which is available on CD.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: For Watersons Apple Tree Wassail Ab
From: Barbara
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 06:03 PM

That's the Somerset Wassail on For Pence and Spicy Ale: click for Somerset Wassail and the tune is at the bottom in a clickable link.
Or did you mean the one actually called the Apple Tree Wassail?
These and many more can be found by putting "wassail" in the blue search box upper right, and clicking "Go".
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Tune Req: For Watersons Apple Tree Wassail Ab
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 06:20 PM

Babara, the lyrics posted by Conrad above are on 'For Pence and Spicy Ale' and the Watersons call it 'Apple Tree Wassail'. I have the CD here and I just played the track to check the lyrics. There is no song by the title of 'Somerset Wassail' on 'For Pence and Spicy Ale'.

Cheers, Stewie.

Subject: Tune Add: SOMERSET WASSAIL
From:
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 08:11 PM

Yes it is the somerset tune
that goes with it-
its not the best abc but
here is the Somerset in abc...
(the new oxford carol book has several parts..)
but the main part to listen for is the
its our wassail
its your wassail...

T:Wassail, O Wassail all over the town! #158
T:(The Somerset Wassail)
M:2/2
L:1/8
S:New Oxford Book of Carrols #158
K:C
||:F2|(F2d2)c2_B2|(A4G2) F2|(F2G2)A2_B2|c6:| c2(d2_B2)_e2d2|c4A2A2|(_B2A
2) G2|A2|_B4(A2_B2)|
|(c2|f2)|d2_B2|c4(_B2A2)|(G2F2)A2G2|F6
CC|F4G4|C6CC|(F4G2)A2|_B4A2_B2|
(c2f2)d2_B2|c4 (_B2A2) G2F2 A2G2F6


or is it?
I have been bathing my ears in wassail song types
for the last few hours- you should not do this while
sober. I am sure that with a few wassails I shall
be able to untangle the ears!
Thanks for the help!
Conrad

Subject: Tune Add: APPLE TREE WASSAIL
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 08:58 PM

The Somerset Tune is definitely not the one for the Watersons' version. Try this:

T:APPLE TREE WASSAIL
M:3/4
L:1/8
C:Trad
S:Watersons "For Pence and Spicy Ale"
K:D
|FED DAG|FEDE3|FED DAG|FGED3|
FED DAG|FEDE3|FED DAG|FGED3|
FED A2F|FED E3 FED DAG FGED3||

---

To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.net

Subject: RE: Tune Req: For Watersons Apple Tree Wassail Ab
From: Barbara
Date: 14 Dec 99 - 01:06 AM

Sorry gang, I've learned and sung so many wassails over the years I get them mixed up. The verses are often interchangeable, as you can see if you look at @wassail in DT, and the tunes similar.

Does that tune match any of the DT wassails, Jeri?
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Tune Req: For Watersons Apple Tree Wassail Ab
From: Jeri
Date: 14 Dec 99 - 01:13 AM

The tune for the song Conrad is looking for - the version of Apple Tree Wassail that the Watersons do - isn't in the DT. I went through the tunes to the other ones, and none of them match.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 09:04 PM

I think it's worth posting a copy of this post here. "Apple Tree Wassail Song" is the song for January 5 in Jon Boden's A Folk Song a Day project.

Thread #29378   Message #371612
Posted By: *#1 PEASANT*
09-Jan-01 - 03:05 PM
Thread Name: The beauty of apple trees...
Subject: RE: The beauty of apple trees...


'Tis the season to wassail the apples to make sure they produce well.
January 17 Old Christmas a primary day for this
To read more go to:
Click for Apple Wassail



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Traditions of Apple Wassail

"In Southern England a...set of customs...was grouped under the name of wassailing. They consisted, in essence, of wishing health to crops and animals much as people passing the wassail bowl wished it to each other. Most are well recorded in the early modern period, and they may quite easily have descended directly from pagan practices, although it is also possible that they developed outwards from the domestic wassail. The most widespread, famous, and enduring concerned fruit trees. It is first mentioned at Fordwich, Kent, in 1585, by which time it was already in part the preserve of groups of young men who went between orchards performing the rite for a reward. Robert Herrick, almost certainly writing about Devon and in the 1630s, spoke of 'wassailing' the fruit-bearing trees in order to assure good yields, and in the 1660s and 1670s a Sussex clergyman gave money to boys who came to 'howl' his orchard (being the enduring local term). John Aubrey, describing West Country customs in the same period, said that on Twelfth Eve men 'go with their wassail-bowl into the orchard and go about the trees to bless them, and put a piece of toast upon the roots, in order to it.'"
-From The Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton

Devonshire, England, - Twelfth Night (January 7)
The farmers get their weapons and go to their apple orchard. Selecting the oldest tree, they form a circle and chant:
The men drink cider, make merry, and fire their weapons (charged only with powder) at the tree. They return to the home and are denied entrance no matter what the weather by the women indoors. When one of the men guesses the name of the roast that is being prepared for them, all are let in. The one who guessed the roast is named "King for the Evening" and presides over the party until the wee hours.
- Source= 1851 London Newspaper


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Much information concerning English Apple Wassailing is found in Wild Apples by Henry D. Thoreau (Atlantic Monthly November 1862


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For an extensive Apple Wassailing Page click it here


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The Rhymes of Apple Wassail

Wassail the trees, that they may bear
You many a plum, and many a pear:
For more or less fruits they will bring,
As you do give them wassailing.-
-Robert Herrick (1591-1674) "Ceremonies of Christmas Eve"

The Apple Rhymes

Here's to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou mayst bud
And whence thou mayst blow!
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
Hats full! Caps full!
Bushel--bushel--sacks full,
And my pockets full too! Huzza!
- South Hams of Devon, 1871

Huzza, Huzza, in our good town
The bread shall be white, and the liquor be brown
So here my old fellow I drink to thee
And the very health of each other tree.
Well may ye blow, well may ye bear
Blossom and fruit both apple and pear.
So that every bough and every twig
May bend with a burden both fair and big
May ye bear us and yield us fruit such a store
That the bags and chambers and house run o'er.
- Cornworthy, Devon, 1805

Stand fast root, bear well top
Pray the God send us a howling good crop.
Every twig, apples big.
Every bough, apples now.
-19th century Sussex, Surrey

Apple-tree, apple-tree,
Bear good fruit,
Or down with your top
And up with your root.
-19th century S. Hams.


Bud well, bear well
God send you fare well;
Every sprig and every spray
A bushel of apples next New Year Day.
-19th century Worcestershire
Source: The Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton

Short Verses

Blowe, blowe, bear well,
Spring well in April,
Every sprig and every spray
Bear a bushel of apples against
Next New Year's Day
-Painswick in Gloucestershire

Health to thee, good apple tree,
Well to bear pocket fulls, hat fulls,
Peck fulls, bushel bag fulls
-Devon

Hats full! Caps full!
Bushel - bushel - sacks full
And my pockets full too! Huzza!
-1791 The Gentleman's Magazine South Devon

Stand fast root, bear well top
Pray God send us a good howling crop
Every twig, apples big
Every bough, apples enow.
Hats full, caps full, full quarter sacks full
Holla boys holla!
-Sussex, "howling" verse


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Songs

The Apple Tree Wassail

Old apple tree, we'll wassail thee,
And hoping thou wilt bear.
The Lord does know where we shall be
To be merry anither year.
To blow well and to bear well,
And so merry let us be;
Let ev'ry man drink up his cup
And health to the apple tree.

APPLE-TREE WASSAIL II

Lily white lily white lily white pin
Please to come down and let us come in.
Lily-white lily-white lily-white smock
Please to come down and pull back the lock.

FOR IT'S our wassail, jolly wassail;
Joy come to our jolly wassail.
How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.
Master and mistress, oh are you within?
Please to come down and let us come in.

FOR IT'S our wassail, jolly wassail;
Joy come to our jolly wassail.
How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.

There was an old farmer that had but one cow
And how to milk her, he didn't know how.
He put his old cow all in his old barn
And a little more liquor won't do us know harm.
Harm, me boys, harm; Harm, me boys, harm;
A little more liquor won't do us know harm.

Lily-white lily-white lily-white pin
Please to come down and let us come in.
Lily-white lily-white lily-white smock
Please to come down and pull back the lock.

FOR IT'S our wassail, jolly wassail;
Joy come to our jolly wassail.
How well they may bloom, how well they may bear,
That we may have apples and cider next year.
FOR IT'S our wassail, jolly wassail;
Joy come to our jolly wassail. -The Watersons?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 12:27 AM

The new Wassail epicenter address is:

http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/wassail.html

wassail epicenter

am working on the largest wassail reference known to man....maybe a month or so...
Till then our do the wassail guide is ever popular and just recently gone second edition!

Conrad

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)
From: open mike
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 02:56 AM

hooray for the Wassail epicenter!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 05:10 AM

A fine version of this appeared on Topic's Folk Songs Of Britain, Volume 9, Songs of Ceremony ~~ originally issued 1961, 12T197; no doubt reissued as CD &c. Under title Somerset Wassail, side 2 track 5; recorded by Peter Kennedy from Harry & Walter Sealy, Ash Priors, Taunton, Somerset. Excellent note and full text in the insert booklet; too long to reproduce here, & probably © ~ but well worth looking up.

As well as "Old cow kept warm in barn" first stanza, there is a second "Old fox in green copse" one, before the "Lily-white-lily ~~ please to come down" verses kick in.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 05:40 AM

... and the Sealy's version also has a spoken coda ~~

"Hatfuls, capfuls, three-bushel bagfuls, little heap in under the stairs. Hip-hip Hurray".

~M~

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 08:43 AM

The Herrick rhyme.....

After a while of wassailing there can be lots more parts and body cavities where the apples can be noted.....much fun. Just put out a new edition of "Do the Wassail" is on amazon but too expensive there due to their fees....best is mail order direct. I take pay pal

Dont make hardly anything on it but what little I do manage to make supports the wassail epicenter a free service to the world.

Conrad

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)
From: GUEST,slag310
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 08:02 PM

I have a new page open, in time for
Apple Wassailing. It gives the customs,
and songs with the lyrics and links to
where you can hear the music. It is at
pierce.yolasite.com/applewassail or
http://pierce.yolasite.com/applewassail
if either one of those works.

I'm going to try to make a blue clicky, but
it usually doesn't work for me.

Apple Tree Wassails


Some of this I got off DT, so it won't be
new, but I as surprised at how much good
stuff was on YouTube.

I also want to thank a number of people on
this site, or related to this site. Thanks to
the people who posted those abc letter things
for the music. They aren't mentioned on my
page, because I was sure how to refer to them
that, but I was able to see them by posting them
on Jon Freeman's site folkinfo.org, which he is
trying to get back up. I saw that he had the abc
converter up so I used it. I'm all excited about
that, frankly.

Also thanks to Conrad Bladey, I used his site.
and thanks to everybody on mudcat and DT.

So I hope you may find some new old songs on the
pyc/applewassail page, which I hope you will like.

slag310

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apple-Tree Wassail (from Watersons)
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 16 - 01:48 PM

Updated apple wassail page
http://piereligion.org/applewassail.html