> The Watersons > Songs > Wassail Song
> Shirley Collins > Songs > Gower Wassail
> Steeleye Span > Songs > Gower Wassail
> Albion Band > Songs > Wassail Song

Wassail Song / Gower Wassail

[ Roud 209 ; Ballad Index RcWasSo3 ; Wiltshire 1216 ; Folkinfo 143 ; DT WASSGOW ; Mudcat 125833 ; trad.]

Alasdair Clayre: 100 Folk Songs and New Songs Maud Karpeles: Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs The Crystal Spring Roy Palmer: Room for Company Heywood Sumner: The Besom Maker

Phil Tanner recorded Gower Wassail for a 78rpm record in November 1936 in London (matrix CA16053-1; Columbia FB1569). Tanner lived on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales where most of the people had originally come from Somerset in England. Many very old songs survived there because of the isolation of the community, similar in a way to the Appalachian music. Phil Tanner’s recording has been included in 1955 and 1998 on the Alan Lomax Collection album World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England, in 1998 on the Topic anthology of songs and dance tunes of seasonal events, You Lazy Lot of Bone Shakers (The Voice of the People Series, Vol. 16, Topic 1998), and in 2006 as the first track of the Free Reed anthology Midwinter. Both this and a BBC recording made on 20 May 1949 at Penmaen were included in 1968 on his eponymous EFDSS album, Phil Tanner, and in 2003 on his Veteran anthology CD The Gower Nightingale.

The Watersons with Mike Waterson in lead sang this song as Wassail Song on their 1965 LP Frost and Fire. This recording was also included on the Topic CD sampler The Season Round. A live version from a Christmas radio programme recorded in December 1980 at Crathorne Hall, Crathorne, North Yorkshire, was published in 2005 on the CD A Yorkshire Christmas. And Lal, Mike, Norma and Rachel Waterson, and Martin Carthy sang this live at Wisconsin University, Madison, USA, on 18 November 1988 for Wisconsin Public Radio’s programme Simply Folk. This track was published as Gower Wassail in 2004 on the on the Watersons’ 4 CD anthology of 2004, Mighty River of Song. A.L. Lloyd noted in the Watersons’s original album:

We end as we begin, with a wassail song, sung from house to house at mid-winter, for luck. The wassailers, perhaps five or six of them, carried a wooden bowl decorated with holly and ivy. in which to collect money or bread and cheese or beer, in return for the good luck wishes conveyed by their song. Sometimes they carried a be-ribboned elder bough as an emblem of their standing as luck-bringers. Many wassail songs indicate that in the past the reception of the luck-visitors was a ceremonious affair, with the person who gave them entry dressed in her best, wearing a silver pin or carrying a golden mace. The version here, led by Michael Waterson, is one familiar in the West country and extending into the Gower Peninsula of Wales. It was one of the favourite tunes of the fine old Gower singer, Phil Tanner.

Shirley Collins sang the Gower Wassail in 1969 on her and her sister Dolly’s album Anthems in Eden. This track was also included in their anthology Within Sound whose title, by the way, is from the lyrics of this song. Shirley Collins also recorded the Wassail Song with the Albion Dance Band in 1971, singing chorus and the last verse; the other verses were sung by John Tams. However, the recording sessions were shelved and it took until 1977 for the LP The Prospect Before Us to be released. The Albion Band returned to the Gower Wassail in 2016 on their Talking Elephant CD Magic Touch.

Steeleye Span sang Gower Wassail in 1971 on their third album, Ten Man Mop or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again, and about 25 years later on their live double CD The Journey. The original album’s cryptic sleeve notes commented:

Head up for power … a viol, a serpent and a big brass drum … a bowl, a bough and a puff of frozen breath … Phil Tanner, a stick and a pooch … a Telecaster, a Mustang and a Boosey & Hawkes tabor.

Len Hayward from Gloucestershire sang Wassail to Mike Yates in c.1975. This recording was released in 1988 on the Veteran Tapes cassette of English traditional singers, The Horkey Load Vol. 2, and in 2005 on the Veteran CD of English traditional folk singers, It Was on a Market Day—One. Mike Yates note:

Cecil Sharp collected no fewer than twenty-seven Wassail songs in the West Country. Maud Karpeles recounts the following story from Bratton in Somerset:

The wassailers used to meet in the orchard about seven or eight o’clock in the evening, join hands, and dance in a ring round an apple tree singing the song. At the conclusion they stamped on the ground, fired off their guns, and made as much noise as they could while they shouted in unison the words appended to the song. Having placed some pieces of toast soaked in cider on one of the branches, they proceeded to another tree, around which they repeated the ceremony. When Cecil Sharp asked the singer what happened to the toast, he replied, “All gone in the morning; some say the birds eat it, but…”.
(Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs, edited by Maud Karpeles. London, 1972. Volume 2, p. 635)

Wassail songs, and the related mid-winter visiting songs that can be found throughout Europe, are often very ancient affairs. They mix both Christian and Pagan elements (Len’s mention of the ox reminds us of the bull-cults that once flourished around the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, for example) and, at one time, were well-known in many parts of England.

Alice Francombe of Cam, Dursley, Gloucestershire sang the Wassail Song in a recording made by Mike Yates in 1980 that was included in 2004 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs and tunes from the Mike Yates collection, The Birds Upon the Tree. Mike Yates noted:

“The midwinter carolling custom”, according to A.L. Lloyd, “is very ancient. We know it existed in ancient Greece. And today from western Europe to the Balkans it still persists, whether the songs have pagan or Christian words, and whether the singers are in disguise or not.” (Folk Song in England. London, 1967). Cecil Sharp collected no fewer than twenty-seven versions, many of which are echoes from olden times. Take, for example, the set from Bratton in Somerset [see the Maud Karpeles quote above].

Alice Francombe’s text combines both Christian and Pagan elements and has God and Christ rubbing shoulders with the ritual ox, a descendant of both the sacred Apis Bull of Egypt and the Bull Kings of ancient Turkey and Greece.

Three wassailing songs are included on the Topic CD You Lazy Lot of Bone Shakers (TSCD666) and another version that I collected in Gloucestershire will soon be issued by Veteran Records.

Finest Kind sang the Gower Wassail on their 1996 album Lost in a Song and on their 2004 Christmas album Feasts & Spirits. They noted:

This is a somewhat shortened version of the wassail carol recorded for the English Folk Dance and Songs Society in 1937 by the remarkable singer Phil Tanner of the county of Glamorgan, South Wales.

The custom of wassailing (wassail means “be healthy” in Old English) seems to have been associated mainly with the apples and cider country of the southwest of England. At Christmas time, villagers visited the houses of the gentry with good wishes and perhaps a song in return for a “wassail bowl” of spiced ale. In some areas, the custom also extended to firing shotguns into the apple trees to scare the devil and ensure a good harvest, assuming, of course, that there were any branches left.

Calennig sang The Wassail Song in 2000 on their WildGoose CD A Gower Garland, released in remembrance of the 50^th anniversary of Phil Tanner’s death. They noted:

Rev J.D. Davies noted this in The History of West Gower in 1879, 60 years before Phil Tanner was to bring it to the attention of the outside world for the first time as The Gower Wassail. This older version is divided into two-line stanzas with a very brief refrain; other versions collected in Gower had no refrain at all. The song is divided into three parts; The arrival of the wassailers, the reply by the people in the house, a break while the wassail is shared and the departure of the wassail party. Eric Gibbs of Llangennith recalls Phil Tanner carrying out the wassailing ceremony with his friend Billy Bond, always on 5 January.

Phil would prepare the wassail a week beforehand, to his own secret recipe of home-brewed brown ale, elderberry wine, fruit cake, ginger and spices. The wassail would be carried in a large tin can (known as a susan) holding about a gallon and a half. At each call, Phil would offer the wassail and the people in the house had to replenish the susan with whatever they could give… brandy, whisky, anything. At the end of the night the susan would still contain 12 pints but the recipe would have been greatly enhanced. The wassailers then retired to the picnic room at the King’s Head, where the landlord had thoughtfully laid out straw, and they would not be seen again for a couple of days. (That should not give a misleading impression of Phil, a regular churchgoer who had a reputation as a moderate man).

Fairport Convention sang The Wassail Song in 2004 on their Matty Groves album Over the Next Hill and in 2009 on their Matty Groves compilation of off the desk recordings from live performances from 2004 and 2005, Off the Desk.

Swedisch female quartet Ditt Ditt Darium sang the Gower Wassail in 2007 on their album Ifrån främmande land (From a Foreign Country). They noted:

Efter Phil Tanner, Gower Peninsula, Wales
Ordet “wassail” har sitt ursprung i anglosaxiskans “was hail” som betyder “god halsa”. Vid midvinter gick man från dörr till dörr och sjöng med en wassailbägare som fylldes med värdarnas cider. Traditionen skulle bringa lycka och god äppelskörd till kommande års cider.

[After Phil Tanner, Gower Peninsula, Wales
The word “wassail” originates from the Anglo-Saxon phrase “was hail”, meaning “good health”. At midwinter, people would go from door to door singing while carrying a wassail bowl filled with the hosts’ cider. The tradition was meant to bring good luck and a bountiful apple harvest for the cider of the coming year.]

Kerfuffle sang the Gower Wassail, “collected from Phil Tanner of the Gower Peninsula, Wales”, in 2009 on their Midwinter album Lighten the Dark.

Joglaresa sang The Gower Wassail in 2009 on their album In Hoary Winter’s Night. Belinda Sykes noted:

The Gower Wassail was recorded by Phil Tanner in the 1930s. He lived on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales where the community mostly comprised folks originally from Somerset in England. Lordings, Listen to our Lay is a translation into English by Francis Douce (1757-1834) of an original Anglo-Norman carol. Douce was an antiquary who worked at the British Museum and later bequeathed a substantial number of medieval manuscripts to the Bodleian Library.

String quartet Methera played the Gower Wassail in an October 2009 live recording on their 2010 album In Concert.

Broom Bezzums sang the Wassail Song, with Phil Tanner’s words, in 2012 on their album Winterman. They noted:

Wassailing is the pre-Christian version of Carol Singing. Groups of singers go door to door and sing seasonal songs in return for food and strong drink. This song is from Gower.

GreenMatthews sang the Gower Wassail, “a traditional folk carol”, on their 2011 CD A Victorian Christmas.

Gordon Jackson sang The Gower Wassail on his 2011 album It’s Cold by the Door. He noted:

This comes from the singing of Phil Tanner (1862-1950), recorded on a 78 in the 1930s. I find the last verse especially intriguing. Whereas the rest of the song is fairly typical of the type, the last verse sounds line a ritual incantation.

The New Scorpion Band sang the Gower Wassail in 2011 on their CD Nowell Sing We. They noted:

We know this splendid wassail thanks to the recording made of Phil Tanner by the English Folk Dance and Song Society. In South Wales, as in some parts of Cornwall, the custom had a processional element that involved visiting friends and neighbours in the period just after Christmas, inviting them to drink from the wassail bowl and accept good wishes in exchange for a small gift. The toast “Was Hail” or good health, is a remnant from Anglo Saxon.

The Owl Service sang Within Sound on their 2011 Rif Mountain album The Pattern Beneath the Plough.

Andy Turner sang the Gower Wassail as the 29 December 2012 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week. He commented on the provenance of his verses:

I first learned the song from the Steeleye Span album Ten Man Mop with reference at some point to the version printed in A.L.Lloyd’s Folk Song in England. The words of most folk revival performances (mine included) appear to derive from the verses given in Lloyd’s book, which he introduces—with typical sleight of hand—thus:

roistering carols of wassailing still survive as happy reminders of the luck perambulations of unchristian ceremony, with such melodies as the one recorded from grand old Phil Tanner before he died in a Gower workhouse in 1947, and with verses like the following.

The key word here is ‘like’, as the verses he prints are not necessarily those sung by Phil Tanner! (the sentence is doubly misleading since Phil Tanner actually died in 1950, not 1947). The Mudcat thread linked to above provides Tanner’s words, and those of other versions of the song collected in Gower in 1928 and 1884. It is only comparatively recently that I actually got to hear any recordings of Phil Tanner, and it’s too late to consider relearning the words I’ve been singing for more than 30 years.

Welsh group Fernhill recorded Amser in 2014 on their album Amser. This song contains Joy, Health, Love and Peace, Gower Wassail, and extracts of The Ballad of the Outer Dark and Ballad of the Mari Lwyd, both by Vernon Watkin.

Cupola:Ward sang Gower Wassail on their 2016 album Bluebell and Doug Eunson and Sarah Matthews sang it on their 2019 CD Chimes. They noted on the first album:

From the singing of Phil Tanner, this gorgeous seasonal piece was recorded on the Voice of the People Collection and Sarah [Matthews] learned it from Chris Wood whilst wassailing around Nailsworth in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire.

Joshua Burnell sang the Gower Wassail, with the tune credited to Nic Jones and Dave Moran, on 8 January 2017 in his “a folk song a week” song cycle. This recording was included in 2021 on his album Seasons Vol. 1 Winter. He noted:

‘Wassailing’ was the ancient custom of hanging about an apple orchard on Twelfth Night, making a load of racket to scare away the spirits so the apples would grow back again. And nothing scares spirits away faster than folk music, so they made up loads of wassail songs. The farmer would thank everyone by giving them a spiced cider called wassail, whose name comes from Old English ‘was hal’ meaning ‘good health’.

The tradition later evolved into groups of wassailers carrying a bowl of wassail from door to door offering wealthy people a drink in exchange for food or money, a bit like a Christmassy trick-or-treat. And nothing makes people give you their money to make you go away faster than folk music, so they made up loads more wassail songs.

As with most traditions, wassail songs and customs varied from town to town. This one was from Gower in South Wales. I first heard it from Steeleye Span’s Ten Man Mop or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again, (what an album title!) and fell in love with the haunting ability it has to immediately transport you back to some ancient time where the lines between what we know and what we believe were much more blurred.

Jim Causley sang The Dartmoor Wassail, from the Baring-Gould collection, in 2018 on his Hrōc album A Causley Christmas and in 2022 on his digital album Yule.

The English Acoustic Collective sang Wassail in 2018 on their album Christmas Champions.

Iontach played and sang Caleneg / Gower Wassail on their 2023 album The Season of Mirth and of Glee.

The Unthanks sang Gower Wassail on their 2024 album In Winter. Becky Unthank noted:

In this midwinter tradition wassailers would go from house to house with a wassail bowl, decorated with holly and ivy, wishing good luck to their neighbours and asking for money, beer, cheese, spices—anything that could be spared for their wassail bowl. This is a much loved song in the Unthank family and band. We’ve been singing this, either at our singing weekends or in the pub with friends, every winter for years. Its ritualistic words and rhythm send my imagination off wondering who these people were and what their lives were like.

And Adrian McNally added:

Dark December and Gower Wassail were two of the first songs we worked on as an ensemble for this record. Determined that the band would take the chance on this project to occupy a different sound world, I moved my early piano sketches on to guitar, bass and vibes and sat behind the drum kit to keep my hands away from the keys!

Gower is meant to have a ‘fol-de-dol’ lilting chorus, which seemed a bit jaunty for us to carry off, so we gave those sections to Faye [MacCalman] and Niopha [Keegan] to play instrumentally.

Winter WonderBand sang The Gower Wassail on their 2025 album Joy Illimited.

Lyrics

Phil Tanner sings Gower Wassail

A-wassail, a-wassail throughout all this town,
Our cup it is white and our ale it is brown.
Our wassail is made of good ale and cake,
Some nutmeg and ginger, it’s the best we could get.

Chorus (after each verse):
Fol-dee-dol, lol-dee-dol-dee-dol,
Lol-dee-dol-dee-dol, lol-dee-dol-dee-dee,
Fol-dee-derol, lol-dee-der-dee,
Sing too-ra-li-doh.

Our wassail is made of an el’berry bough,
Although, my good neighbour, we’ll drink unto thou,
Besides all on earth, we have apples in store,
Pray let us come in, for ’tis cold by the door.

We know by the moon that we are not too soon,
And we know by the sky that we are not too high.
We know by the stars that we are not too far,
And we know by the ground that we are within sound.

Now, master and mistress, thanks to you we’ll give,
And for our jolly wassail as long as we live.
And if we should live till another New Year,
Perhaps we may call and see who do live here.

The Watersons sing the Wassail Song

A-wassail, a-wassail throughout our town,
Our cup it is white and our ale it is brown.
Our wassail is made of the good ale and true,
Some nutmeg and ginger, it’s the best we can brew.

Chorus (after each verse):
Fol-dee-dol, fol-dee-dol-dee-dol,
Fol-dee-dol-dee-dol, fol-dee-dol-dee-dee,
Fol-dee-derol, fol-dee-der-dee,
Sing too-ra-li-doh.

Our wassail is made of the elderberry bough,
And so my good neighbours, we’ll drink unto thou,
Besides all on earth, you’ll have apples in store,
Pray let us come in for it’s cold by the door.

There’s a master and a mistress sitting down by the fire
While we poor wassail boys do wait in the mire.
And you pretty maid with your silver-headed pin,
Please open the door and let us come in.

We know by the moon that we are not too soon,
And we know by the sky that we are not too high.
We know by the stars that we are not too far,
And we know by the ground that we are within sound.

There’s our wassail boys growing weary and cold,
Drop a bit of small silver into our old bowl,
And if we’re alive for another New Year,
Perhaps we may call and see who do live here.

Shirley Collins sings Gower Wassail

A-wassail, a-wassail throughout all this town,
Our cup it is white and our ale it is brown.
Our wassail is made of the good ale and cake,
Some nutmeg and ginger, the best we can get.

Chorus (after each verse):
Lol-dee-dol, lol-dee-dol-dee-dol,
Lol-dee-dol-dee-dol, lol-dee-dol-dee-dee,
Fol-dee-derol, lol-dee-der-dee,
Sing too-ra-li-doh.

Our wassail is made of the elderberry bough,
And so my good neighbour, we’ll drink unto thou,
Besides all on earth, we have apples in store,
Pray do let us come in for it’s cold at the door.

We know by the sky that we are not too high,
And we know by the moon that we are not too soon.
We know by the stars that we are not too far,
And we know by the ground that we are within sound.

Now master and mistress here’s a health to you we give,
And pour our jolly wassail as long as we live.
And if we do live till another New Year,
Then perhaps we may call and see who do live here.

Steeleye Span sing Gower Wassail

A-wassail, a-wassail throughout all the town,
Our cup it is white and our ale it is brown.
Our wassail is made of the good ale and cake,
Some nutmeg and ginger, the best we could bake.

Chorus (after each verse):
Fol-dee-dol, dol-dee-dol,
Dol-dee-dol, dol-dee-del,
Fol-dee-derol, lol-dee-der-dee,
Sing too-ra-li-doh.

Our wassail is made of the elderberry bough,
And so my good neighbours, we’ll drink unto thou,
Besides all on earth, you have apples in store,
Pray, let us come in for it’s cold by the door.

We hope that your apple trees prosper and bear
So that we may have cider when we call next year.
And where you have one barrel we hope you’ll have ten
So that we may have cider when we call again.

There’s a master and a mistress sitting down by the fire
While we poor wassail boys stand here in the mire.
Come you pretty maid with your silver-headed pin,
Pray, open the door and let us come in.

It’s we poor wassail boys so weary and cold,
Please drop some small silver into our bowl,
And if we survive for another New Year,
Perhaps we may call and see who does live here.

We know by the moon that we are not too soon,
And we know by the sky that we are not too high,
And we know by the stars that we are not too far,
And we know by the ground that we are within sound.

Len Hayward sings Wassail

Chorus (after each verse):
Way-sail, way-sail, to my jolly way-sail,
And joy shall go with our jolly way-sail.

Our bread it is white and our ale it is brown
And our bowl it is made of the seedy-more tree,
To my way-sailing bowl I will drink unto thee.

Here’s a health unto collie and to her left eye,
Pray God send our master a good Christmas pie.
And a good Christmas pie that we may all see,
To my way-sailing bowl I will drink unto thee.

Here’s a health unto collie and to her left arm,
Pray God send our master a good crop of corn,
And a good crop of corn that we may all see,
To my way-sailing bowl I will drink unto thee.

Here’s a health unto collie and to her left leg,
Pray God send our master a good fattened pig,
And a good fattened pig that we may all see,
To my way-sailing bowl I will drink unto thee.

Come butler, come butler, a bowl of your best,
I hope that in heaven your soul it will rest.
But if butler don’t bring us a bowl of his small,
Then down will go butler, bowl and all.

There was an old woman, she had but one cow,
And how to maintain it she did not know how.
So she built up a barn to keep her cow warm
And a drop of your cider won’t do us no harm.

Alice Francombe sings the Wassail Song

Waissail, waissail, all over the town,
Our bread it is white and our ale it is brown.
Our bowl it is made of the maypole and tree,
And a wassailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.
Drink unto thee, drink unto thee,
Our waissailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.

Now here’s to the ox and its too long tail,
May God send our master a fine keg of ale.
A fine keg of ale as we may all see,
And a waissailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.

Now here’s to the ox and to its hind leg,
May God send our master a fine christmas peg.
And a fine christmas peg as we may all see,
And a wassailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.

And here’s to the ox and to its long horn,
May God send our master a fine crop of corn.
A fine crop of corn as we may all see,
And a waissailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.
Drink unto thee, drink unto thee,
Our waissailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.

Now here’s to the ox and to its right eye,
May God send our Mrs a fine christmas pie.
A fine christmas pie that we may all see,
And a wassailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.
Drink unto thee, drink unto thee,
Our waissailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.

Now here’s to the ox and to its right ear,
May God send our master a happy new year.
A happy new year that we may all see,
And a wassailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.
Drink unto thee, drink unto thee,
Our wassailing bowl we’ll drink unto thee.

Now, Landlord, come fill us a bowl of your best.
We hope that Christ’s sake in heaven will bless.
But if you should fill us a bowl of your small,
Then down shall go landlord, bowl and all.

Fairport Convention sing The Wassail Song

Wassail and wassail all over the town
Our cup it is white and our ale it is brown
Our w assail it is made of good ale and true
Some nutmeg and ginger, the best that we could brew

Chorus (after each verse):
It’s your wassail and it’s our wassail
Love and joy come to you and our jolly wassail

Our wassail is made of an elderberry bough
And so my good neighbour we’ll drink unto though
Besides all on earth we have apples in store
So let us come in for it’s cold by the door

We know by the sky that we are not too high
We know by the stars that we are not too far
We know by the moon that we are not too soon
We know by the ground that we are within sound.

Acknowledgements

Garry Gillard transcribed the Wassail Song from the singing of the Watersons.