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The Moon Shines Bright

[ Roud 702 ; Ballad Index DTbellma ; VWML LEB/2/6/1 , CJS2/9/1779 , RoudFS/S154862 ; Bodleian Roud 702 ; GlosTrad Roud 702 ; trad.]

The Moon Shines Bright is a new year carol collected by Lucy Broadwood from the Goby family, gypsies in Sussex and Surrey c.1893 [VWML LEB/2/6/1] . Jasper Smith sang The Moon Shines Bright in a recording made by Mike Yates near Epsom, Surrey, in April 1974 on the Topic anthology from Gypsy singers, The Travelling Songster. This track was also included in 1998 on the Topic anthology My Father’s the King of the Gypsies (The Voice of the People Series Volume 11).

Lucy Broadwood also collected in 1893 a version The Moon Shines Bright: May Day Song sung by Thomas Gray, at Weston, near Hitchin [VWML RoudFS/S154862] . It is printed in Broadwood and Fuller Maitland: English County Songs (1893). This is a composite of The Moon Shines Bright and May Song (Roud 305).

The Valley Folk sang The Moon Shines Bright in 1968 on their LP of carols for all seasons, All Bells in Paradise. A.L. Lloyd noted:

In its original form this was a May carol, not religious at all, sung at dawn on the return from the woods where the young men had been rambling all night cutting green branches to decorate the cottages in honour of some long-forgotten god of vegetation. Over much of England in the course of time its pagan verses faded and it acquired Christian and moralising ones, and so passed into the Christmas repertory. Sung as it often was by groups of guisers going their rounds dressed in a travesty of rags and carrying brooms to sweep away evil spirits, it must have created paradoxical effect, for those of its verses that flowed originally from Puritan pens must have seemed wildly out of place in the primitive context of folk ritual.

Shirley Collins sang The Moon Shines Bright accompanied by Dolly Collins on flute organ and Philip Pickett playing recorders on the sisters’ 1978 album, For As Many As Will. This recording was also included on their anthologies Fountain of Snow (1992), Within Sound (2002) and The Classic Collection (2004). A live recording from Dublin was included in 1998 on their CD Harking Back.

Ram’s Bottom sang The Moon Shines Bright in 1981 on their Traditional Sound Recordings album The Young May Moon. This track was also included in 2001 on the Fellside anthology of English traditional songs, Voices in Harmony and in 2002 on the Fellside anthology of the calendar in traditional song, Seasons, Ceremonies & Rituals. The sleeve notes commented:

Carols are probably the most natural songs to lend themselves to any self respecting harmony group. This one was collected in Sussex by Lucy Broadwood from the gypsy family Goby. It is one of numerous versions of the carol, sung with suitable adaptions at Christmas or Easter.

Regal Slip sang The Moon Shines Bright in 1981 on their Dingle’s album Bandstand. They noted:

The blend of classical and traditional imagery makes this one of the most lyrically beautiful carols in the English language.

Coope Boyes & Simpson sang The Moon Shines Bright in 1998 on their No Masters CD A Garland of Carols.

Tom Bower sang The Mayer’s Song in 1998 on Magpie Lane’s Beautiful Jo album Jack-in-the-Green. They noted:

The song lyric appears in William Hone’s Everyday Book (1838) where it is described as a composition of great antiquity. It is, in fact, a short version of The Moon Shines Bright, a widespread May carol; Tom Bower wrote the melody for this version.

Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner sang The Moon Shines Bright in 2004 as the title track of their WildGoose CD The Moon Shines Bright. They noted:

Take heed from this joyful song with a very clear message. It was collected from James Beale in Warehorne, Kent in 1908 [VWML CJS2/9/1779] . and is one of the songs in the delightful EFDSS publication Still Growing.

Emily Portman sang The Moon Shines Bright in 2011 on her single Hinge of the Year.

Andy Turner sang The Moon Shines Bright as the 31 December 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week. He commented in his blog:

This version was recorded in the 1950s from Albert Beale of Kenardington in Kent, by Peter Kennedy and Maud Karpeles. I learned it many years ago from the BBC 78 rpm recording held at Cecil Sharp House; it was also included on the Folktrax cassette The Bitter Withy. Slightly different versions were taken down by Cecil Sharp from Albert’s married sister Alice Harden in 1911, and from his father James Beale in 1908; the latter is printed in the EFDSS collection Still Growing.

Steve Roud included The Moon Shines Bright in 2012 in The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. Lucy Ward, Bella Hardy, James Findlay and Brian Peters sang it a year later as the final song of the accompanying Fellside CD The Liberty to Choose.

The Furrow Collective sang The Moon Shines Bright in 2023 on their Hudson album We Know by the Moon. Emily Portman noted:

The beautiful Dorian melody to our version of he Moon Shines Bright was sung by Mr G. Vaughn at Dilwyn to the Hereford collector Ella Mary Leather in March 1907 [VWML RoudFS/S154871] ; I made up an additional B-part melody to augment it. Leather suggested that older variants of the carol celebrated May Day folkloric rituals before being usurped by moralising verses about mortality and Christmas. The text is compiled from various versions found in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and Bodleian archives; the reference to a ‘bellman of the night’ (a nightwatchman) was found in a broadside printed in 1813 by J. Catnach, London under the alternative title of St John’s Day.

Kate Rusby sang The Moon Shines Bright on her 2023 Christmas album Light Years.

Lyrics

Thomas Gray sings The Moon Shines Bright: May Day Song

The moon shines bright, the stars give a light,
    A little before ’tis day.
Our heavenly Father he callèd to us
    And bid us to wake and pray.

Awake, awake, oh pretty, pretty maid,
    Out of your drowsy dream,
And step into your dairy below
    And fetch me a bowl of cream:

If not a bowl of your sweet cream
    A mug of your brown beer,
For the Lord knows where we shall meet again
    To be maying another year.

So dear, so dear Christ lovèd us
    And for our sins was slain,
He bids us to leave off our wicked, wicked ways.
    And turn to the Lord again.

Turn to the Lord and our sweet God.
    O turn to him with praise,
For when we are dead and in our graves
    We are nothing but dust and clay.

I have been rambling all this night
    And best part of this day.
And now have returnèd back again,
    And have brought you a branch of may.

A branch of may have I brought you
    And at your door it stands,
It is but a sprout, but well budded out
    By the work of our Lord’s hand.

My song is done and I must be gone,
    No longer can I stay,
So it’s good bless you all, both great and small
    And send you a joyful May.

Jasper Smith sings The Moon Shines Bright

Oh, the moon shines bright and the stars gave a light,
And a little before the day.
Our Lord, our Lord, how he suffered on a cross,
And he begged us the way how to pray.

Oh, wait, oh, wait, good people, wait,
Wait and you shall hear.
Oh, we’re here today and the morrow we’re away
And our body lays under the turf.

God bless the rulers of this house, likewise the gentlemen, too.
All the happy families set round the table, too.
A little of your pudding, sir, a glass of your strong ale,
Lord, we’ll [The Lord will?] send you all a happy New Year.

Now my carol’s done and I must be gone,
No longer can I stay here.
Our Lord, our Lord, how he suffered on a cross,
And he begged us the way how to pray.

Shirley Collins sings The Moon Shines Bright

The moon shines bright and the stars give a light,
In a little while it will be day.
Our Lord, our God, He calls upon us all
And bids us awake and pray.

So dear, so dear Christ loved us
And for our sins got slain.
I’d have you to leave all your wicked, wicked ways
And turn to the Lord again.

For the life of a man it is but a span
And he flourishes like a flower
For he’s here today, tomorrow he is gone
And dead all in an hour.

Now the clock strikes one, it’s time we were gone,
No longer to tarry here.
God bless you all, both great and small
And send you a happy New Year.

Ram’s Bottom sing The Moon Shines Bright

O the moon shines bright and the stars give a light
O a little before the day.
Our Lord, our God, He calls upon us all
And he bids us awake and pray.

Awake, awake, good people all
Awake, and you shall hear:
Our blessed Saviour died upon the cross
Saying Christ loved us so dear.

So dear, so dear Christ loveth us
And for our sins got slain.
We’ll all leave off our wicked, wicked way
And turn to the Lord again.

O the life of a man it is but a span,
He flourishes like a flower.
He is here today and tomorrow he is gone
And he’s dead all in an hour.

O teach your children well, good man
As long as here you stay
For it might be better for your sweet soul
When your body lies under clay.

There’s a green turf at your head, good man,
And another at your feet.
God bless you all, both great and small
And I hope you a happy New Year.

Regal Slip sing The Moon Shines Bright

The moon shines bright and the stars give their light
A little before the day;
Our Lord, our God, He calls on us
And bids us awake and pray.

So dear, so dear Christ loved us
And for our sins got slain;
I’d have you leave all your wicked ways
And turn to the Lord again.

The life of man it is but a span
And he flourishes like a flower;
He’s here today, tomorrow he’s gone;
And he’s dead all in one hour.