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Green Grow’th the Holly

[ Roud - ; Henry III]

Nowell Sing We Clear sang Green Grow’th the Holly in 1985 on their Front Hall album Nowell Sing We Clear Vol. 3.

Frankie Armstrong, Joan Mills and John Kirkpatrick sang Green Groweth the Holly in 2000 on Frankie’s Fellside album The Garden of Love. She noted:

Another of those songs attributed to Henry the Eighth. If true, it’s better than one has any right to expect from a king. Holly was one of the old symbols of hope for the return of spring. The song sweetly expresses the significance of the seasonal cycle for our forebears.

Coope, Simpson, Fraser & Freya sang Green Grow’th the Holly, “from The Oxford Book of Carols via Keith Kendrick”, in 2014 on their No Masters album Hark Hark.

Janice Burns and Jon Doran sang Green Grows the Holly on their 2024 album Great Joy to the New. They noted:

Allegedly written by Henry VIII, Janice found this in a dusty corner of Halsway Manor’s library. Upon learning that the British Library had described this carol as a ‘failed classic’, we took a fairly brutal approach when arranging and reimagining the melody and structure.

Lyrics

Nowell Sing We Clear sing Green Grow’th The Holly

Green grow’th the holly, so doth the ivy,
Though winter blasts blow ne’er so high,
Green grow’th the holly.

Gay are the flowers, hedgerows and ploughlands,
The days grow longer in the sun,
Soft fall the showers.

Full gold the harvest, grain for thy labor;
With God must work for daily bread
Else, man, thou starvest.

Fast fall the shed leaves, russet and yellow,
But resting buds are snug and safe
Where swung the dead leaves.

Green grow’th the holly, so doth the ivy;
The God of life shall never die.
Hope! saith the holly.