O Come All Ye Faithful

In keeping with the Folk Den tradition, this is a Christmas song for December. I have wonderful memories of singing this at my grandparents’ house in Chicago with my family in the mid 50s. My grandmother and grandfather would sit at the piano and play together and we would all harmonize, while recording it on a 78 rpm vinyl disc recorder. The melody is truly captivating. Merry Christmas 2007!
Lyrics:
G] O come, all ye [D] faithful, [G] joyful and triumphant, [D]
[Em] Come ye, [D] O come ye, to [Bm] [A] Bethlehem [D]
[G] Come and [D] behold Him, [Em] born the King of [D] angels;

[G] O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
[C] O come, let us [D] adore [C] Him,
[G] Christ [D] the [G] Lord.

True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
Lo, he shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created;

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation;
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest;

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Joy To The World

This is one of my favorite Christmas Carols. I decided to record it as an instrumental on my Rickenbacker 370/12/RM. Originally named “Antioch,” Mason’s original score said “from George Frederick Handel.”

The tune is named after the city of Antioch, Syria, where believers were first called “Christians”;
(Acts 11:26).

Words: Isaac Watts, 1719
Music: Lowell Mason, 1848

Lyrics:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Children Go Where I Send Thee

Go_Where_I_Send_Thee.gif

A traditional spiritual with a meaning for each number. I have placed the meaning next to the verses in parentheses.
Lyrics:
[E] Children go [A] where I [E] send [A] thee
[E] How [A] shall I [E] send [A] thee?
[E] I’m gonna [A] send thee [E] one by one [A]
[E] One for the [A] Little Bitty [A] Baby
[E] Who was born, [A] born, [E] born in [B7] Bethlehem [E]

Two for Paul and Silas

Three for the Hebrew children

Four for the four who stood at the door (Mathew Mark Luke and John)

Five for the Gospel preachers (Mathew Mark Luke and John and all Gospel preachers)

Six for the jars where the wine was mixed (Miracle at the wedding feast at Cana)

Seven for the seven who came from Heaven (Seven-fold Spirit of God)

Eight for the eight who sealed their fate (The eight people who entered Noah’s Ark)

Nine for the ninety-nine in line (Those waiting while the Good Shepard sought His one lost sheep)

Ten for the ten commandments

Eleven for the eleven who went to Heaven (The eleven disciples minus Judas Iscariot)

Twelve for the twelve Apostles

The First Noel

Noel.gif

One of my fondest childhood memories is of standing around the piano with my mother and father at my grandparents’ house in Chicago. My grandfather and grandmother sat at the keyboard. Every Christmas we would go through the small book of carols. The tree in the next room was decorated with lots of nineteenth century ornaments, and tin toys from Germany were abundantly scattered around the blanket of white material made to look like snow. This is one of the prettiest carols I remember from that time. An English Carol from before 1823.
Lyrics:
The First Noel

[D] The first Noel the [G] angel did [D] say,
Was to [G] certain poor [D] shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay [G] keeping their [D] sheep,
On a [G] cold winter’s [D] night that was [A] so [D] deep.

[D] Noel, [Bm] Noel, [G] Noel, [D] Noel,
[G] Born is the [D] King of Is [A] ra [D] el

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east, beyond them far,
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel

And by the light of that same star
Three Wise Men came from country far;
To seek for a king was their intent,
And to follow the star wherever it went.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
Who hath made heaven and earth of naught,
And with His blood all mankind hath bought.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

wreath.jpg

This is a very popular old English Christmas carol. It’s also a subtle ad for a cup of grog to ease the singer’s throat. Many versions include the line ‘Good tidings we bring to you and your friends,’ but this must have been added to the original at some later date.
Lyrics:
We [G] wish you a merry [C] Christmas
We [Am] wish you a merry [D] Christmas
We [G] wish you a merry [C] Christmas
And a [Am] happy [D] New [G] Year.

Oh bring us some figgy pudding (3x)
With a cup of good cheer.

We won’t go until we get it (3x)

We all love our figgy pudding (3x)

With a cup of good cheer

So bring it out here!

We wish you a Merry Christmas (3x)
And a happy New Year.

Away In A Manger

Away.jpg

Verses 1 & 2, were written by an anonymous author, Some sources show the author as Martin Luther; this attribution (probably incorrect) is based on the title 'Luther's Cradle Hymn,' given to these words by the composer, James Murray. Verse 3 is by John Thomas McFarland (1851-1913).

Thanks to Richard W. Adams for doing this research.

'Mueller,' James R. Murray, 1887

Lyrics:
[G] Away in a manger, no [C] crib for a [G] bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet [D] head.
The [G] stars in the sky looked [C] down where He [G] lay,
The [G] little Lord Jesus, [D] asleep on the [G] hay.

The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle til morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And take us to heaven to live with Thee there.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas 2001

And A Peaceful New Year!

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Lyrics:
[D] I heard the bells on [A] Christmas day

[D] Their old familiar [A] carols play,

[D] And wild and sweet the [Bm] words [G] repeat

[D] Of peace on earth, good [A] will to [D] men.

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along th’ unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head

‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said,

‘For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.’

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men.’

Till ringing, singing on its way

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Twelve Days of Christmas, The

What is a ‘colly-bird’ in the context of the traditional English song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’?

‘On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me four colly-birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.’

The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary published the section covering ‘colly’ in October 1891. It reveals that ‘colly’ is, or was, an old English word meaning black, from ‘coal’. And, it says, a ‘colly-bird’ is the Blackbird.

Lyrics:
[D] On the (first) day of Christmas my [A] true love sent to [D] me
Twelve lords leaping
Eleven ladies dancing
Ten pipers piping
Nine drummers drumming
Eight maids milking
Seven swans swimming
Six geese laying
[D] Five [E] gold [A] rings
[A] Four colly birds
[A] Three French hens
[A] Two turtle doves and
A [D] partridge [A] in a pear [D] tree

Star Spangled Banner

One of the hardest songs in the world to sing!
Lyrics:
[C] Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early [G] light
What so [C] proudly we [G] hailed at the [F] twilight’s last [C] gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous [G] fight
O’er the [C] ramparts we [G] watched were so [F] gallantly [C] streaming

And the rockets’ red [Am] glare the bombs [G] bursting in air
Gave [C] proof through the [G] night that our [F] flag was still [G] there
O [C] say does that [F] star – spangled [Dm] banner yet [C]wa- [G]ve
O’er the [C] land of the free and the home [G] of the [C] brave

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes
What is that which the breeze o’er the towering steep
As it fitfully blows now conceals, now discloses

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam
N’ full glory reflected now shines on the stream
‘Tis the star spangled banner O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep’s pollution

No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave
And the star spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave

Auld Lang Syne

Lyrics:
D A
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
D G
And never brought to mind?
D A
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
G D
And days of auld lang syne?
D A
And days of auld lang syne, my dear,
D G
And days of auld lang syne.
D A
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
G D
And days of auld lang syne?

We twa hae run aboot the braes
And pu’d the gowans fine.
We’ve wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin’ days of auld lang syne.
Sin’ days of auld lang syne, my dear,
Sin’ days of auld lang syne,
We’ve wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin’ days of auld ang syne.

We twa hae sported i’ the burn,
From morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin’ days of auld lang syne.
Sin’ days of auld lang syne, my dear,
Sin’ days of auld lang syne.
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin’ days of auld lang syne.

And ther’s a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine;
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

(c) 2000 McGuinn Music / Roger McGuinn