The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3260   Message #16059
Posted By: dulcimer
10-Nov-97 - 08:41 PM
Thread Name: Medieval Christmas\Yule\Wassail
Subject: Lyr Add: BOAR'S HEAD CAROL
I hope you can understand this attempt at notes and words. The notes are repeated for verse and chorus alike.

BOAR'S HEAD CAROL

Key=G  (^=8th, /=quarter, /^=quarter+ 8th,) time=6/8
^ II /^ / / II / ^ / ^Il ^ I ^ / II / ^ ^ /
d g g g f g d b c c e e d d g
The boar's head in hand I bear, bedecked with bays and rosemary.
And I pray you, my masters, be merry. You who are feasting together.

The boar's head, I understand, is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedecked with a garland, let us serve with a song.

Our steward hath provided this, in honor of the King of bliss,
Which on this day now served is, in Queen's Hall.

CHORUS: I bring in the head of the boar, offering praises to the Lord.

"This carol first appeared in 1521 in the first book containing music printed in England. A student at Queen's was attacked by a boar. He thrust his Aristotle down the boar's throat choking him to death. He then served it to his fellows. Later, Henry VIII proclaimed it the official meat of the holiday feast.