Of late I like to start with the following song - Collected in Dorset from (William Bartlett Ð Wimborne, Dorset augmented with other Hants/Dorset versions)
It even starts my latest CD.


COME, COME MY FRIENDS

Come, come my friends
We do intent, this night to spend in mirth
With all my heart I'll drink my part
And good liquor shall quench our thirst

Chorus
For in laughing Joking Drinking Smoking
Laughing Joking Drinking Smoking
This night we'll spend in mirth,
This night we'll spend in mirth.

A man that has wealth and starve himself
He might as well be poor
The man that has gold and keep it old
That man had better not been born.

Come ring that bell that we may tell
The secrets of our mind
Come tell to me if you be free
For to mirth we are inclined.

Tim Radford
www.timradford.com