“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was the most famous and most loved of all the early carols. Their Christmas folk songs became the foundation of what are now knows as Christmas carols. In this way, the peasant class led a quiet rebellion against the tone of religious music by writing religious folks songs that were light, lively and penned in common language. So, while they continued to go to worship, they created their own church music outside the walls of the cathedrals and chapels. In fact, though few admitted it in public, most church members secretly disliked the accepted religious songs of the day. During this period, the songs of organized religion were usually written in Latin and their melodies were somber and dark, offering singers and listeners little inspiration or joy. Like so many early Christmas songs, this carol was written as a direct reaction to the music of the 15th Century Church. What Americans hear when they listen to “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is not anything like what the English peasants meant when they first sang this song more than 500 years ago. It was first published in 1827, but even then it was introduced as “an ancient carol, sung in the streets of London.” In fact, old London had municipal watchmen who were licensed to perform certain tasks, including the singing of Christmas carols. The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet dated to c. This Christmas carol is one of the oldest extant carols, dated to the 16 th century or earlier. Here goes.GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN written in 1760

Of course, not all the stanzas are incorporated but whatever are, are done well. Why? Because I love Irish music and this one is a good version of the song. I am embedding the song as sung by the ‘Irish Rovers’. Again, there can be a lot of different words to the same song.įinally, the song. I am posting the one which is generally accepted in the United Kingdom. This carol also is featured in the second movement of the Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchinson. It is referred to in Charles Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol, 1843: “…at the first sound of ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!’, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.” It appeared again among “new carols for Christmas” in another 18th century source, a chapbook believed to be printed between 17. 1760 broadsheet, it is described as a “new Christmas carol”, suggesting its origin is actually in the mid-18th century.

However, in the earliest known publication of the carol, on a c. The carol is occasionally described as a 16th or 15th century composition. It is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. Sandys in 1833, although the author is unknown. “ God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen“, also known as “ God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen“, “ God Rest You Merry People All” and “ “Come All You Worthy Gentlemen” is an English traditional Christmas carol. We can then all have a good listen to it. Till then, however, there are other various brilliant versions of it available with which, I guess, we will have to console ourselves with. I do hope though that he sings the whole song, records it and uploads it somewhere. I particularly liked the one which Hugh Laurie sung in House but that’s hardly half a minute long. There are in-numerous renditions and versions of it available. The song’s titled ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’. This song on the other hand did and it is still running amock. None of them, however, stuck to my memory. Yes, this was despite the fact that I spent an hour listening to new Bollywood dance numbers. Curiously though, today I found myself humming it again. I feel it adds a nice tone to the wintery festive feeling. I generally hum this song a lot during the Christmas week.

May god rest ye merry gentlemen lyrics