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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of tender, Awake Arise : A Winter Album, Mayday, Live, Cycle, and Weave & Spin.
1. |
Sing We All Merrily
03:23
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Now winter is here we will draw round the fire
Sister and brother and grandson and sire
Christians and heathens their voices will 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
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 I wish they were with us today
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 to together to lighten the dark
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2. |
Up In The Morning Early
04:16
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Cold blows the wind from east to west
The drift is driving sairly
So loud and shrill I hear the blast
I’m sure that it’s winter fairly
Up in the morning’s not for me
Up in the morning early
When all the hills are covered with snow
I’m sure that it’s winter fairly
The birds sit chattering in the thorn
All day they fare but sparely
And long’s the night from evening to morn
I’m sure that it’s winter fairly
Up in the morning’s not for me
Up in the morning early
When all the hills are covered with snow
I’m sure that it’s winter fairly
---
The Christmas Road
“Outside there is no surprise in the coldness of the morning. It lies on the valley like a frozen goose.
Taking the air in my teeth I feel the old excitement, the raw echoes of an ancestral world, crammed with bull-headed mammoths and tusk toothed tigers, of flint spears and boasting in caves.
Today is the winter as it always was, and when it wasn't it was not remembered. Forgotton, now, are the small freaks of weather, the offbeat heatwaves and wet-warm Decembers that have cropped up now and then in the past.
Winter was always like this since the beginning of winters, since the first man learned how to sneeze.
Pushing the cold before me like a sheet of tin, I set off up the Christmas road."
Laurie Lee
Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year
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3. |
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Bring hither now the holly bough with berries bright and red
The ivy from the ruined tower where owls shriek o’er the dead
The mistletoe with mystic power and winter’s garland weave
And the Yule logs blaze shall shed it’s rays to cheer our Christmas eve
The rack rides fast, deep howls the blast, where is the linnet now?
And where the rose of sunny June? The blossoms of the sloe?
They’re gone but they’ll return again and meantime lest we grieve
We’ll warm our hearts with wassail cups and cheer our Christmas eve
Come Betty dear no voice of love in nature now we hear
But angels near us whisper it through all the varied year
In cold or heat, in gloom or shine, the heart it shall not leave
For as when sultry summer reigns it burns at Christmas eve
We’ll wake the viols merry strings while tempest clouds advance
And while the pane cracks with big hail we tread the careless dance
Thus shall the soul’s warm summer shine ‘til changeful earth we leave
And the Yule fire and the wassail cup shall cheer our Christmas eve
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4. |
Carol Reading
01:27
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5. |
Hail Smiling Morn
02:55
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Hail smiling morn, smiling morn
That tips the hills with gold, that tips the hills with gold
And whose rosy fingers open wide the gates of Heaven, the gates of Heaven
And whose rosy fingers open wide the gates of Heaven
All the green fields that nature doth unfold
All the green fields that nature doth unfold
At whose bright presence darkness flies away, flies away, flies away
Darkness flies away, darkness flies away
At whose bright presence darkness flies away, flies away, flies away
Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail!
Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail!
Reginald Spofforth (Roud 1346)
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6. |
Winter Berries Reading
02:20
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“The principal berries which ornament our country on the naked boughs during the winter months are as follows:
The Holly Ilex Aquifolium, whose berries are scarlet.
Ivy Hedera Helix, berries green.
Pyracantha Mespilus Pyracantha, berries bright-orange.
White Thorn Crategus Oxycantha, berries red.
Wild Roses Rosa Canina, berries light red.
Black Thorn Prunus Spinosa, berries bluish grey.
Bittersweet Nightshade Solarium Dulcamara, red.
Missletoe Viscum Album, berries green.
Yew Taxus Baccata, berries red.
These and several other shrubs bearing ornamental berries should be sought for in laying out a garden. They ornament nature when all but the evergreens are leafless, and serve to decorate our windows and churches at Christmas.”
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7. |
The Old Churchyard
04:01
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Come, come with me, to the old churchyard
I so well know those paths 'neath the soft green sward
Friends slumber in there that we want to regard
We will trace out their names in the old churchyard
Mourn not for them, for their trials are o'er
Oh why weep for those who will weep no more?
For sweet is their sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillows may be in the old churchyard
I know it seems vain when our friends depart
To breathe kind words to a broken heart
And I know that the joy of life is marred
When we follow lost friends to the old churchyard
But were I at rest ‘neath yonder tree
Oh, why would you weep, my friends, for me?
I'm so weary, so wayworn, why would you retard
The peace I seek in the old churchyard?
Why weep for me, for I'm anxious to go
To that haven of rest where no tears ever flow
And I fear not to enter that dark lonely ward
For soon I shall rise from the old churchyard
I rest in the hope, that one bright day
Sunshine will burst through these prisons of clay
And old Gabriel's trumpet and the voice of the Lord
Will wake up the dead in the old churchyard
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8. |
The Bear Song
04:03
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Bear Song
by Rowan Rheingans
It's the end of the year and all the leaves are turning brown
A young girl watches dancers turning around
With tired legs and tired eyes she leaves the floor
And walks outside and into the forest
The moon is silver hanging in the trees
The floor's a mossy rug under her feet
The moonlight shows her she is not alone
“Hello”, she says, to the bear in the forest
The bear looks up and greets the little girl
He holds out a paw and says, “the year is turning
The leaves will fall and I must soon to bed
But tonight there is still time for dancing”
They danced every dance they knew
The leaves fell down, the woods were spinning
Just before the sun began to rise
The brown bear raised his head and sighed
“Now it's time for sleeping”
“Must you go bear” she said
“Must you go bear, to your winter bed
Oh, can't we dance just one more
The morning can wait its turn”
The bear he said, “we are from different worlds
You and I who dance so well together
I must go to my winter bed
The leaves are gone, the year is turning”
“We are from different worlds
You and I who dance so well together”
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9. |
Night Came Early
01:35
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Night Came Early
“Night came early, with the valley and it’s woods closing in darkly around the
house. Now was the time to light the tree, it’s branches loaded with tinsel, with
silver cut-out moons and stars, and with the clip on candles, each a living tongue
of flame, building up a pyramid of dancing light.
Mother put out the oil lamps one by one, and we stood hushed and entranced together, adoring the tree and it’s chaste white glare coated all over in frosty fire.
The precious day was dying.
We struggled to keep awake, our eyes shadowed like burnt-out candles. How could we leave the beautiful tree? We piled our toys at the foot of our beds and Mother tucked us up, her shadow large on the ceiling, thrown by the beams of a single candle. As long as she was there it was still Christmas, as long as she held the light in our room, the day somehow could not end. We clung desperately to this last moment.
Then Mother left us, and the angle of the candlelight grew narrower on the wall, and finally went out, closing that day forever.”
Laurie Lee
Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year
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10. |
The King
03:04
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Joy, health, love, and peace be all here in this place
By your leave we will sing concerning our king
Our king is well dressed in the silks of the best
In ribbons so rare, no king can compare
We have travelled many miles over hedgerows and stiles
In search of our king, unto you we bring
We have powder and shot to conquer the lot
We have cannon and ball to conquer them all
Old Christmas is past, Twelfth Night is the last
And we bid you adieu, great joy to the new
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11. |
Da Day Dawn
04:34
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Like as the Thrush
“Like as the thrush in winter, when the skies
Are drear and dark, and all the woods are bare,
Sings undismayed. Till from his melodies
Odours of Spring float through the frozen air.
So in my heart when sorrow’s icy breath
Is bleak and bitter and its frost is strong,
Leaps up, defiant of despair and death,
A sunlit fountain of triumphant song.
Sing on, sweet singer, till the violets come
And south winds blow; sing on, prophetic bird!
Oh if my lips, which are for ever dumb,
Could sing to men what my sad heart has heard.
Life’s darkest hour with songs of joy would ring;
Life’s blackest frost would blossom into Spring.”
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12. |
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Oh the snow it melts the soonest when the winds begin to sing
And the corn it ripens fastest when the frosts are setting in
And when a young man tells me that my face he’ll soon forget
Oh before we part, I’d bet a crown, he’d be fain to follow it yet
Oh the snow it melts the soonest when the winds begin to sing
And the swallow skims without a thought as long as it is spring
But when spring goes and winter blows, my love you will be fain
For with all your pride, to follow me, were to cross the stormy main
Oh the snow it melts the soonest when the winds begin to sing
And the bee that flew when summer shone in winter cannot sting
I’ve seen a young man’s anger melt between the night and morn
So it’s surely not a harder thing to tame a young man’s scorn
Well I’ll not say me farewell here, no farewell I’ll receive
I’ll go and meet you at the stile, you’ll kiss and take your leave
And I’ll wait here ‘til the woodcock calls, and the martin takes his wing
For the snow it melts the soonest love, when the winds begin to sing
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13. |
Snow Falls
04:11
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Cruel winter cuts through like the reaper
The old year lies withered and slain
Like Barleycorn who arose from the grave
The new year will rise up again
There will come a time of great plenty
A time of good harvest and song
‘Til then put your trust in tomorrow my friend
For yesterday's over and done
And the snow falls
The wind calls
The year turns round again
‘Til then put your trust in tomorrow my friend
For yesterday's over and done
Then I’ll garland a bonnet of daisies
I’ll crown you the queen of the may
And all shall behold the seasons unfold
As surely as night follows day
And the snow falls
The wind calls
The year turns round again
All shall behold the seasons unfold
As surely as night follows day
And I'll wager a hat full of guineas
Against all the songs you can sing
Some day you'll love, the next day you'll lose
And winter will turn into spring
And the snow falls
The wind calls
The year turns round again
Some day you'll love, the next day you'll lose
And winter will turn into spring
And the snow falls
The wind calls
The year turns round again
Like Barleycorn who arose from the grave
The new year will rise up again
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14. |
Wassail Recipe
00:45
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“Take 1 lb. of brown sugar, 1 pint of hot beer, a grated nutmeg, and a large lump of preserved ginger root cut up.
Add 4 glasses of sherry, and stir well.
When cold, dilute with 5 pints of cold beer, spread a suspicion of yeast on to hot slices of toasted bread, and let it stand covered for several hours.
Bottle off and seal down, and in a few days it should be bursting the corks, when it should be poured out into the wassail bowl, and served with hot, roasted apples floating in it.”
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15. |
Cornish Wassail
02:34
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Now Christmas is over, the New Year begins
Come open your door and let us come in
With our wassail, wassail, wassail, wassail
And joy come to our jolly wassail
Come master and mistress who sit by the fire
While we poor wassailers do walk through the mire
With our wassail, wassail, wassail, wassail
And joy come to our jolly wassail
We at this door, we do orderly stand
Us jolly wassailers with a bowl in our hand
With our wassail, wassail, wassail, wassail
And joy come to our jolly wassail
Good mistress and master, sitting down at your ease
Put your hand in your pocket and give what you please
With our wassail, wassail, wassail, wassail
And joy come to our jolly wassail
We hope that your barley may prosper and grow
That you may have plenty and enough to bestow
On our wassail wassail, wassail, wassail
And joy come to our jolly wassail
It’s Happy New Year, and long may you live
Since you’ve been so kind and willing to give
Long live our wassail, wassail, wassail, wassail
And joy come to our jolly wassail
Verses from two singers; Bessie Wallace in Camborne and Mr. W. D. Watson in Penzance, both collected by James Madison Carpenter between 1928 – 1935. (Roud 209)
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16. |
Heading for Home
04:05
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My face to the sky, my back to the wind
Winter is entering my bones
The day has been long and night's drawing in
And I'm thinking of heading for home
And I'm thinking of heading for home
The cradle and grave, the fruit and the seed
The seasons they mirror my own
The geese flying south are calling to me
And I'm thinking of heading for home
And I'm thinking of heading for home
Always on the move with banner unfurled
Yet gathering moss on a stone
I sing to the children and cry for the world
And I'm thinking of heading for home
And I'm thinking of heading for home
As time's my old friend and death's my new kin
I'm not taking the journey alone
I am old, I am young, and I’m all that I've been
And I'm thinking of heading for home
And I'm thinking of heading for home
The memory of love will burn in my heart
‘Til embers and ashes are gone
The light in your window is my northern star
And I'm thinking of heading for home
And I'm thinking of heading for home
Peggy Seeger, 2003
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17. |
Hope is Before Us
04:25
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I heard some saying, leave hope and praying
All days shall be as all have been
Today, tomorrow, bring fear and sorrow
And never ending woe between
But the hope we lost begins to glimmer
Like Autumn wheat under snow lies green
The moon that shines through clouds and darkness
The babe inside that grows unseen
Come shoulder to shoulder, for the world grows older
Help lies in none but you and I
Hope is before us, so let our chorus
Bring joy at last to all our lives
When the earth was younger, mid toil and hunger
In hope we strove, our hands were strong
Then great men led us, with words they fed us
And made us sing a different song
But now the seeds of spring are sown
Let wintered hearts be warmed by sun
The joy of people now buds and grows
The birds will sing ‘ere the winter’s done
Come shoulder to shoulder, for the world grows older
Help lies in none but you and I
Hope is before us, so let our chorus
Bring joy at last to all our lives
We know not who’ll lead us, what god shall heed us
But now we’ve seen what our hands have won
The world’s been shaken and fear awakened
But let good faith not be undone
We have voice and vision from those before us
The famed and honoured, the nameless wise
While many living, their lives are giving
To help a bright new world arise
Come shoulder to shoulder, for the world grows older
Help lies in none but you and I
Hope is before us, so let our chorus
Bring joy at last to all our lives
Now to the tavern, the lights and fire
The fiddler’s tune, under shuffling feet
For in the morning a new day’s dawning
The young abounding year we’ll meet
Come shoulder to shoulder, for the world grows older
Help lies in none but you and I
Hope is before us, so let our chorus
Bring joy at last to all our lives
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Lady Maisery Sheffield, UK
In an English folk scene currently bursting with bold and innovative folk music, vocal trio Lady Maisery shine brightly.
The Guardian has called theirs "some of the most some of the most exquisite, thrilling vocal harmony work in the English folk scene".
Over the last ten years, the trio have toured widely, performing sell-out shows across the UK and Europe.
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