Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day

Subject: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From:
Date: 27 Dec 96 - 10:28 PM

An elderly friend of mine recalls a folk tune with the lyric or title: "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day."

Can anyone help me find a recording of it? Or nudge me in the right direction?

Thanks! Joel A. Brondos [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From:
Date: 29 Dec 96 - 10:44 AM

Maddy Prior recorded it with the Carnival Band on CD- Carols and Capers Park Records 1991 - PRK CD9

contains most if not all of the verses

Pete Skinner (England) [e-mail]

Subject: Lyr Add: MY DANCING DAY
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 02 Jan 97 - 04:39 AM

MY DANCING DAY

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day,
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
And call my true love to my dance.

CHORUS: Sing O my love, O my love, my love, my love
This have I done for my true love.

Then was I born of virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance.
Thus was I knit to man's nature,
To call my true love to my dance. CHORUS

In manger laid and wrapped I was,
So very poor this was my chance,
Betwixt an ox and a silly poor ass,
To call my true love to my dance. CHORUS

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day,
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
And call my true love to my dance. CHORUS

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From:
Date: 20 Jan 97 - 11:20 PM

An Oxford University Press version has been recorded by the Arvada Center Chorale. It is on a CD entitled " Fanfares and Carols. It is available from the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, Arvad, CO 80003 - 303-431-3080. I bought it two years ago and have enjoyed it each year as a break from the usual Christmas fare. It was recorded live at Bethany Lutheran Curch in Englewood, CO. Aside from being more than a bit heavy on the natural reverb, it is quite enjoyable.

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From:
Date: 29 Jan 97 - 05:13 PM

there are nice instrumental versions on "Christmas" by The Players (Rykodisc) and one one of the New England Christmastide records, which I believe in on Northstar records, out of Providence RI. All three discs are wonderful records, but my favorite version is on "a Christmas present from the Albion Band" (I don't remember the record label), which is also a great record, mixing spoke word pieces with songs. That's where I discovered what a compelling melody Dancing Day has. There's also a great version of "The Somerset Wassial" on the record.

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From: GUEST,Rae
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 08:35 AM

Hi, Music Lovers:

For years I have sung this song, and the connection between it and Christmas has remained one of the music bafflements of my life, and remains so as I perform it with my Singer's Guild at two concerts next week.
First Verse: The song opens with the hope that the singer's "true love" will witness his/her dancing tomorrow, dancing which will occur as part of the "legend of my play." As an English major, I surmised that these lyrics stemmed from the pageant wagon tradition, where the play and players moved from village to village, while the audience (the villagers) stood still and waited for the next "scene" to pass through. It made sense that a player would want his/her true love to watch his/her performance.   In fact, the singer says "This have I done for my true love."
I have learned through research that the song originated in Cornwall, one of the oldest-occupied areas of England.
Second and subsequent verses: WHOA! "Then was I born of a virgin pure..." Suddenly the point of view shifts, and we have Jesus telling of his life, BUT still singing of "my true love." Uh....
Somehow it would appear that a verse of one song got pasted in front of some other lyrics, that people danced in a celebratory manner at Christian festivals in England because they had danced at winter solstice for centuries before Christianity.
Them's my thoughts and I'm sticking to them.

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From: Vixen
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 08:39 AM

Sticky Tune Alert

For those of you who haven't heard it, this is one of those tunes that will get in your head and replay endlessly!

Charlie Shaw's "compelling" is an understatement!

Fortunately, it's a lovely tune, so it's not like getting a stupid commercial jingle stuck in your head...

V

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 12:47 PM

Rae, you have to take verse one more poetically, or metaphorically if you like. The "I" is always Jesus; he's referring to his birth as his dancing day; he beseeches we mortals, his "true love", to dance with him. This metaphor is found elsewhere in poetry, from Sydney Carter's Lord of the Dance to other medieval and Elizabethan poets (can I think of a single one right now? Sorry- if one comes to me I'll post it. No doubt others more erudite than I will chime in here).

"This have I done for my true love"- the incarnation and sacrifice of the Christ, as believers see it.

This is one of my favorite carols. It's fun to see such an old thread revived!

Allison

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From: Mooh
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 01:05 PM

Doesn't it appear in the Cambridge Hymnal? I can't locate my copy at the moment. Love the tune.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From: Stewie
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 09:22 PM

There is a fine recording by The Valley Folk on their LP 'All Bells in Paradise' Topic 12 T 192 [1968]. I don't know whether or not the album made it to CD. The note by A.L. Lloyd on the record sleeve is as follows:

By some happy accident, a secular love song and a religious poem came together and got jumbled up. The result is one of our most surprising and beautiful carols. It was printed on a large number of broadsides, and appeared in William Sandy's 'Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern' (1833), but has not been recovered from tradition since then. There are, then, several slightly different sets of words, but Sandy's is the only tune we know for this singularly attractive piece. Gustave Holst made a fine choral setting of it.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 09:59 PM

Text, midi, Noteworthy and Sandys sheet music, along with an explanation, is given in the Hymns and Carols of Christmas website: Tomorrow

I am surprised that there hasn't been more discussion of this carol. Guest Rae, thanks for bringing it up.

It was posted by 'T in Oklahoma' in thread 7425 in 1998: Christian Folk Music
Maddie Prior's version is in the DT.