The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #174501 Message #4231481
Posted By: Mick Pearce (MCP)
10-Nov-25 - 02:12 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Sing We All Merrily
Subject: Lyr Add: Sing We All Merrily
SING WE ALL MERRILY (Traditional, Hannah James)
Now winter is here we will draw round the fire, Sister and brother and grandson and sire. Christians and heathens their voices to bring, Gather together, make merry and sing.
Sing we all merrily and sing with good cheer, For the day we love best of the days of the year. Bring out the holly, the box and the bay. Deck out our cottage for glad Christmas Day.
[2nd verse repeated twice more with inst verse between them]
Sing we all merrily and sing with good cheer, Talk of the absent and wish they were here. Sisters at service and brothers away, Oh how we wish they were with us
Sing we all merrily (Sing with some cheer) Sing we all merrily (Sing with some cheer) Sing we all merrily (Sing with some cheer) Sing we all merrily (Sing with good cheer)
Sing we all merrily and sing with great mirth, Sing loud and joyful for peace upon earth. Parents and children down icy streets walk Hasten together to lighten the dark
To lighten the dark.
<>Source:<> Album: Awake Arise: A Winter Album, Lady Maisery + Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldman.
According to Dave Kidman's review at: KLOFmag (and repeated on Mainly Norfolk):
"The aim is to sing and gather to take stock of the year, to reinforce which theme Hannah has rewritten and added verses to this song originally collected by Vaughan Williams in Oxfordshire in 1918." And Mainly Norfolk gives the Roud No. as 13245.
Here we have a slight problem. According to the Roud Index We Wish You All A Happy Christmas was collected from Linda Welch on Dec 10 2018 at Adderbury, Oxon by Janet Blunt (Janet Blunt Collection, Vol 13, p511), not by Vaughan Williams. (I assume this is the one intended; Linda Welch only has 2 entries, the other being I Saw Two Ships. I assume Christmas was on her mind on the 10th December!) And the Roud No. is given as 230, which leads to what seems a variety of Christmas songs, mostly The Cock Sat Up The Yew Tree.
On the other hand Roud 13245 does give a song called Sing We All Merrily (Sing we all merrily, for Christmas has come), whose single source seems to be Mr. Thomas of Stainton, Yorks, from R.A.A. Gatty MS collection (Birmingham Ref Lib 661164 11R 20) n/bk 4 pp.50-52 / n/bk 1 p.14.
I don't have any sources, though Sing We All Merrily from Mr. Thomas is in Paul Davenport's book Down Yorkshire Lanes (2013), p75. (I can't reach digItal content at VWML as they seem to be having problems at the moment.)
Sing We All Merrily appears online with the Welsh tune Llwyn Onn (The Ash Grove), with lyrics mostly like these (often just verse 1):
Sing we all merrily, Christmas is here— Day that we love best of days in the year; Bring forth the holly, the box and the bay, Deck out the cottage for glad Christmas day.
Refrain: Christmas is here, Christmas is here, Sing we all merrily, Christmas is here; Christmas is here, Christmas is here, Sing we all merrily, Christmas is here.
Sing we all joyfully, sing of Christ’s birth, Sing what the angels sang, "Peace upon earth!" Parents and children in bright garments dressed, Hasten to church to sing praise with the rest. [Refrain]
Sing we all merrily, bring out good cheer, Think of the absent, and wish they were here; Pray for our armies by land and by sea, Our brave defenders, the noble and free. [Refrain]
Sing we all merrily, draw round the fire, Father and mother, and grandson and sire; Tell of the mercies to every one given, Talk of the dear ones now mansioned in Heav’n. [Refrain]
Sing we all merrily, Christmas is here, Day that we love best of days in the year; Sisters and brothers, and friends far away, O how we wish they were with us today! [Refrain]