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Wassail Song / Gower Wassail

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

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, on You Lazy Lot of Bone Shakers: Songs & Dance Tunes of Seasonal Events (The Voice of the People Series, Vol. 16, Topic 1998), and 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’ 4CD 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.

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.

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).

Kerfuffle sang the Gower Wassail in 2009 on their Midwinter album Lighten the Dark.

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

GreenMatthews sang the Gower Wassail 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.

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.

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.

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

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 noted:

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.

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.

Acknowledgements

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