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30 Nov 02 - 02:09 PM (#837807) Subject: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: Keith A of Hertford A book called A Shepherd's Life made me wonder what shepherds in 19th century England made of the Christmas story. That was many years ago, but this resulting song has hardly had an airing because it is too sad for Christmas. Also, the tune Wild Mountain Thyme is now too well known to use. GLASTON NATIVITY (Keith A) Twas a bleak December night, And the downs lay white and frozen, When the angels came again, To some shepherds they had chosen. Will you go shepherds go, To high Glastonbury, Where Christ is come again, To the poor the weak and weary, Will you go shepherds go. If the Christ be come again, Then tis for the priest and squire, Down in their lofty houses, A feasting by the fire. Would you have us go in rags, In filth disease and hunger, For to see a new born King, In a palace or a manger. Then the angels told again, The ancient Christmas story, How the shepherds left the hillside, Bringing gifts of lambs so freely. If we left our flocks to stray, Both our work and homes we'd forfeit, If we took a single lamb, We would know a rope and gibbet. In yon hovel on the downside, My three children all are starving, While their mother hides her face, For she cannot soothe their crying. And the angels they fell silent, And the Christchild he fell crying, For the lonely cruel death, That he must evermore be dying. |
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01 Dec 02 - 07:34 AM (#838210) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: AllisonA(Animaterra) I dunno, Kevin, I think this is a timely reminder. Not all Christmas songs are sweetness and light! Thanks for sharing it! |
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01 Dec 02 - 08:09 PM (#838550) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: MMario Many of the Christmas songs include the death of Christ - the birth, death and resurection each in many ways being meaningless without the other two. 'We Three Kings' brought the three gifts - one relating to life, one to death, and one to godhood. |
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02 Dec 02 - 12:44 PM (#838932) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: Genie Good song, Keith. Yes, not all Christmas songs have to be sweetness and light. But I think the reaction of the English shepherds in your song and the story on which it's based says a lot about The Church's failure to communicate the meaning of the Christmas story (and the rest of the scriptures) to the poor and downtrodden -- partly because The Church has often not behaved in very Christ-like ways. I don't see your lyrics as so much an indictment of Jesus or of the Christmas story as an indictment of the "haves" (both clerical and laity) and how they treat the "have nots." Genie |
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02 Dec 02 - 08:25 PM (#839269) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: Haruo I'm not clear on what the tune is. Is it Wild Mountain Thyme? Or something else? (If the latter, what?) Haruo |
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03 Dec 02 - 11:23 PM (#840086) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: Haruo refresh as to tune |
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04 Dec 02 - 03:17 AM (#840168) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: GUEST Thanks for your comments MMario and Genie. We Three Kings is a favorite of mine. 'Myrre is mine its bitter perfume, Breathes a life of gathering gloom' I certainly agree with you Genie and was commenting on the injustice and harshness of the times, not Christ Himself. Wild Mountain Thyme was the tune I was using, and my chorus was little more than a parody was it? |
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04 Dec 02 - 03:52 AM (#840177) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: Haruo Thanks, Keith, for the lyrics and the tune clarification. Initially you had said "Wild Mountain Thyme" was too well known to use, so I thought maybe you either had a different tune in mind or were looking for one. While it is a very well known tune, I don't think it's too well known, given a strong lyric, and that you have provided. Thanks, Haruo |
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04 Dec 02 - 05:47 PM (#840803) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: Keith A of Hertford Thank you Haruo. Best wishes, Keith. |
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04 Dec 02 - 11:05 PM (#841059) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: Genie Keith, that's the way I understood your song-- as a commmentary on the times, not Christ himself. When you said folks might not sing it because it was too sad, it occurred to me that people who did not listen to or think carefully about your lyrics might take it as anti Christmas. I did not. Genie |
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05 Dec 02 - 08:48 AM (#841284) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: MMario I think it very thought provoking - |
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05 Dec 02 - 03:20 PM (#841696) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: MMario What strikes me is that you can infer from the last verse that the reason Christ weeps For the lonely cruel death, That he must evermore be dying. is because the poor, weary and down-trodden are still here. He weeps, not for his death, but for those he dies for. No idea if this is what Kieth wanted to imply - but it is what I get out of it. |
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06 Dec 02 - 05:14 AM (#842151) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Glaston Nativity From: Keith A of Hertford Just so Mmario. |