Lyr/Chords Req: Celtic Holiday songs

Subject: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: GUEST,Kristine
Date: 05 Nov 01 - 10:56 PM

I am part of a Celtic/Old Thyme band, and we have quite a few Dec. gigs coming up. My band mates say we need to learn some good holiday songs. I'm especially looking for the words and chords to a song that I don't know the name or lyrics, but it goes something like this... "Love and Joy come to you, and to you a Wasale (sp?) to, ....a happy New Year, and .....a happy New Year". But please, any good songs (with chords and lyrics) for a celtic band would be great. Thank You!!! Kristine

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Nov 01 - 11:30 PM

Here is your "love and joy" song--Here We Come A Wassailing" from the DT. If you could be more specific about "Celtic" we could help more. Celtic is damn near anything......Scots, Irish,Welsh, Manx, Breton, Galician,etc. Name either some specific tunes, or a specific area and we'll be glad to help out.

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: GUEST,Pavane
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 02:55 AM

Wassail is a SAXON tradition, and Saxons were enemies of the Celts (still regarded in that way in some parts). So it is hardly appropriate.

And Thyme is a herb. Time was not spelled that way in the old times!

Like that modern word Fayre, which seems to have replaced both fair (event) and fare (food).

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: sian, west wales
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 04:25 AM

Look in the DT, searching for "Wren" and you'll come across a lot of Wren-hunting songs. There's also a discussion of the Welsh tune, Nos Galan, (OK - I'm going to try a blue-clicky... ) here

sian

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 05:10 AM

Bear in mind that the (mostly) US convention of referring to the "Holiday Season" is not really identifiable in Scotland, or other parts of the UK. There are songs about Christmas, and songs associated with New Year/Hogmanay, a few probably about "Yule".

There are many Christmas carols, but fewer "merrymaking" songs which are still in current common use.

I appreciate that someone -probably Malcolm Douglas - is going to come along and shoot me down in flames any minute now, pointing out 30 -odd songs that I have forgotten about... anyway..

Cheers

Steven

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: GUEST,Pavane
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 07:17 AM

Are the Wren-hunting songs Celtic? I wouldn't think so. The King was collected in Pembrokeshire, aka 'Little England beyond Wales', i.e. not a Celtic area. But still a good song.

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 07:25 AM

And in Ireland, Pavane.

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: John P
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 08:46 AM

I'm going to assume you are using the term Celtic very loosely. There are some very nice books easily available from bookstores and libraries that contain lots of old traditional Christmas songs that aren't often heard by the general public. One of my favorites is The International Book of Christmas Carols by Walter Ehret and George K. Evans, published by The Stephen Greene Press. It contains more Christmas songs than you will ever be able to learn. Also look for The Christmas Revels Songbook compiled by Nancy and John Langstaff and published by David R. Godine. Then there's Three Log Night edited by Jane Peppler and published by Skylark Productions in Chapel Hill, NC. And, of course, The Oxford Book of Carols published by the Oxford University Press.

Here are some songs I've done over the years and enjoyed:
Blessed Be That Maid Marie
The Boar's Head Carol
The Holly and the Ivy
The King
The Salutation of the Angel
Chrisimis Day
Masters in This Hall
Babe of Bethlehem
Personent Hodie
Come Mad Boys, Be Glad Boys
Star of the East

John Peekstok

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: GUEST,Alice
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 09:14 AM

This page has several versions of Christ Child Lullaby as well as information about the song. The server of my site is changing again, so the link directly to this may not work in the future. In that case, you can always find it from my home page, www.aliceflynn.com

Alice Flynn

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: GUEST,Kristine
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 11:31 AM

Thank you very much for the Wassail song and the other song suggestions. As for the rest of you puritans, sorry to have ruffled your feathers with such crassness by having a little artistic expression in our style of music (i.e. the word Thyme) and to have the modern blending of different cultures and sounds (i.e. Celtic anything).I guess I'll keep quiet about the "Peace on Earth" and "Good Will to All" bit.

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: GUEST,sian on a different computer
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 02:01 PM

Pavane, wren hunting is a custom in many parts of our fair country: Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Pembrokeshire, etc. Also, yes, Steeleye Span collected the song in Pembs. which is Little England Beyond Wales but, if I remember correctly, the metre is a distinctively Welsh one (known as "Dau air byrion").

cofion,

sian

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 03:37 PM

The set recorded by Steeleye Span (and by Martin Carthy some years earlier) was collected not by them, but by Andy Nisbet (while he was at Swansea University), from "two old ladies in Pembrokeshire".  I think that John P is right to take "Celtic" as being meant very loosely, in this case; indeed, it will have to be if many useful songs are to found.  Largely as a result of marketing exercises, a great many people seem to refer to anything from Ireland or Britain which they like as "Celtic"; this is to misunderstand history and demographics, of course, but there are plenty of people who actually live here who also have rather strange ideas about what it means!  A lot of the time, people are referring to a style more than anything else, which is what I assume is meant here.

The song Kristine was mainly looking for is, as has been pointed out, English, but I don't think that matters; presumably, no one is going to pretend that it isn't!  The peoples of these islands have lived alongside each other for so long that we all have a large body of traditional customs and musics in common; personally I only use the "Celtic" word when referring to Celtic language material; any attempt at a greater distinction is pretty much doomed to failure, and of course interminable argument.

The most useful (available) printed resources have already been mentioned, I think, but there is a great deal of seasonal material in both the DT and Forum; what you might like to try is a search for @carol.  In order to avoid the huge amount of additional hits you'd get from searching the Forum, try going here: Search Results;  de-select the Forum box before running the search.  @wassail and @wren will also get you useful results.  A lot of the files have midis of their tunes, but traditional songs don't come with chords, as a rule, so you may have to work out your own.

To avoid confusion (and arguments), English-language material not from Ireland is probably best described as "British Isles", but I don't expect that it matters much in the circumstances.  It does rankle sometimes when people make "Celtic" records with a large proportion of English material on them, and credit all the countries of origin except England (for which they usually grudgingly substitute "Britain", for some reason) but that's an issue that needn't concern us here.

Have fun, Kristine and friends.  There's a lot of excellent seasonal songs -both religious and secular- to be found (I'm not shooting, Steven!) so long as you don't restrict yourself unnecessarily.

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: UB Ed
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 01:22 AM

All rise, for a brief, yet heartfelt round of Applause as Malcolm as come through again.

Malcolm, your contributions are what make the Mudcat.

Period. Max, I hope you saw this thread.

Ed

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: sian, west wales
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 04:55 AM

Malcolm, thanks for the Steeleye Span note. I wrote in a rush and didn't put the point succinctly enough. My understanding is that Andy Nisbet had passed it straight to SS so it's interesting to note the Martin Carthy point. I think there might even be a recording of the two sisters in the Museum of Welsh Folk Life ...

sian

Subject: RE: Lyr/chords req for Celtic Holiday songs
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 10:28 AM

I hope there is; if you get the chance to look, please do let us know.  Presumably their names are on record somewhere?  It seems a shame that the sources of such a fine song should be remembered only as "two old ladies"!