"To Drive The Cold Winter Away" IN PRAISE OF CHRISTMAS (6:06) Traditional English (18th century) All hail to the days that merit more praise Than all the rest of the year, And welcome the nights that double delights As well for the poor as the peer! Good fortune attend each merry man's friend That doth but the best that he may, Forgetting old wrongs with carols and songs To drive the cold winter away. Tis ill for a mind to anger inclined To think of small injuries now, If wrath be to seek, do not lend her your cheek Nor let her inhabit thy brow. Cross out of thy books malevolent looks, Both beauty and youth's decay, And wholly consort with mirth and sport To drive the cold winter away. This time of the year is spent in good cheer And neighbours together do meet, To sit by the fire, with friendly desire, Each other in love to greet. Old grudges forgot are put in the pot, All sorrows aside they lay, The old and the young doth carol this song, To drive the cold winter away. When Christmas's tide comes in a like a bride, With holly and ivy clad, Twelve days in the year much mirth and good cheer In every household is had. The country guise is then to devise Some gambols of Christmas play, Whereat the young men do the best that they can To drive the cold winter away. THE SEASONS (4:55) Traditional English (nineteenth century) Come all you lads and lasses, I'd have you give attention To these few lines I'm about to write here, 'Tis of the four seasons of the year that I shall mention, The beauty of all things doth appear. And now you are young and all in your prosperity, Come cheer up your hearts and revive like the spring Join off in pairs like the birds in February That St. Valentine's Day it forth do bring. Then cometh Spring, which all the land doth nourish; The fields are beginning to be decked with green, The trees put forth their buds and the blossoms they do flourish, And the tender blades of corn on the earth are to be seen. Don't you see the little lambs by the dams a-playing? The cuckoo is singing in the shady grove. The flowers they are springing, the maids they go a-Maying, In love all hearts seem now to move. Next cometh Autumn with the sun so hot and piercing; The sportsman goes forth with his dog and his gun To fetch down the woodcock, the partridge and the pheasant, For health and for profit as well as for fun. Behold, with loaded apple-trees the farmer is befriended, They will fill up his casks that have long laid dry. All nature seems to weary now, her task is nearly ended, And more of the seasons will come by and by. When night comes on with song and tale we pass the wintry hours; By keeping up a cheerful heart we hope for better days. We tend the cattle, sow the seed, give work unto the ploughers, With patience wait till winter yields before the sun's fair rays. And so the world goes round and round, and every time and season With pleasure and with profit crowns the passage of the year, And so through every time of life, to him who acts with reason, The beauty of all things doth appear. THE KING (2:04) Traditional English Health, love and peace be all here in this place By your leave we shall sing, concerning our King. Our King is well-dressed in silks of the best In ribbons so rare no king can compare. We have travelled many miles over hedges 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, twelve tide is the last And we bid you adieu, great joy to the new. BANQUET HALL (3:53) Music by Loreena McKennitt SNOW (5:35) Music by Loreena McKennitt, lyrics by Archibald Lampman White are the far-off plains, and white The fading forests grow; The wind dies out along the height And denser still the snow, A gathering weight on roof and tree Falls down scarce audibly. The road before me smooths and fills Apace, and all about The fences dwindle, and the hills Are blotted slowly out; The naked trees loom spectrally Into the dim white sky. The meadows and far-sheeted streams Lie still without a sound; Like some soft minister of dreams The snow-fall hoods me round; In wood and water, earth and air, A silence everywhere. Save when at lonely intervals Some farmer's sleigh, urged on, With rustling runner and sharp bells, Swings by me and is gone; Or from the empty waste I hear A sound remote and clear; The barking of a dog, or call To cattle, sharply pealed, Borne, echoing from some wayside stall Or barnyard far afield; Then all is silent and the snow falls Settling soft and slow The evening deepens and the grey Folds closer earth and sky The world seems shrouded, far away. Its noises sleep, and I as secret as Yon buried stream plod dumbly on and dream. BALULALOW (3:09) Traditional Scottish I come to hevin which to tell The best nowells that e'er befell To you thir tythings trew I bring And I will of them say and sing. This day to you is born ane child Of Marie meik and Virgin mild That bliss it bairn bening and kind Sall you rejoyce baith hart and mind. Lat us rejoyis and be blyth And with the Hyrdis go full swyth And see what God of his grace hes done Throu Christ to bring us to his throne My saull and life stand up and see Wha lyis in ane cribbe of tree. What Babe is that, sa gude and fair It is Christ, God's son and Air. O my deir hard, yung Jesus sweit Prepair thy creddil in my spreit! And I sall rock thee in my hart And never mair fra thee depart. Bot I sall praise thee evermoir With sangis sweit unto thy gloir The kneis of my hard sall I bow And sing that rycht Balulalow. LET US THE INFANT GREET (3:46) Traditional English Let us the Infant greet, In worship before Him fall, And let us pay Him homage meet, On this His Festival. Let us to the Infant sing, And bring Him of gifts rich store, Let us honour our Infant King With praise for evermore. Let us to the Infant kneel, And love him with faithful love, And let our joyous anthems peal, For him who reigns above. Glad hymns in the Infant's laud, Sing we to Him while we may, In heaven where He is throned as God, Our service He will pay. Be we to the Infant true, While we are dwelling on mould, And He will give us our wages due, A crown of purest gold. THE WEXFORD CAROL (6:07) Traditional Irish Good people all, this Christmas-time, Consider well and bear in mind What our good God for us has done In sending his beloved Son. With Mary holy we should pray To God with love this Christmas day; In Bethlehem upon that morn There was a blessed Messiah born. The night before that happy tide The noble Virgin and her guide Were long time seeking up and down To find a lodging in the town. But mark how all things came to pass; From every door repelled alas! As long foretold, their refuge all Was but an humble ox's stall. There were three wise men from afar Directed by a glorious star, And on they wandered night and day Until they came where Jesus lay, And when they came unto that place Where our beloved Messiah was, They humbly cast them at his feet, With gifts of gold and incense sweet. Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep; To whom God's angels did appear, Which put the shepherds in great fear. 'Prepare and go', the angles said. 'To Bethlehem, be not afraid...
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