God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
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God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (or God rest you merry, gentlemen) is a traditional Christmas carol. The tune to which it is generally sung is usually in the key of E minor and is in common time or cut time. It seems to have no name but is generally indicated as English traditional and is amenable to arrangement into a wide variety of musical styles.
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[edit] History
"Like so many early Christmas songs, this carol was written as a direct reaction to the music of the fifteenth century church," writes Ace Collins, in Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas. It was the most popular of the early carols, sung for centuries before being published in Britain in 1833, when it appeared in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, a collection of seasonal carols gathered by William B. Sandys, though its incipit was in William Hone's "List of Christmas carols now annually printed" in Ancient Mysteries Described, 1823. The author is unknown.
This is the carol of 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."
This carol also features in the second movement of the Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchinson.
[edit] Lyrics
The carol exists in a wide variety of versions, and even with differing numbers of verses. So no attempt is made here to detail the variants; rather the reader is referred to the Hymns and Carols of Christmas analysis of a nine-verse version.
In the UK, the de facto baseline reference version is that adopted by Carols for Choirs, OUP, (1961):
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[edit] Notable cover versions
[edit] 20th Century
- 1945 – Bing Crosby – Merry Christmas
- 1959 – Perry Como – Seasons Greetings From Perry Como
- 1961 – Leontyne Price with Herbert von Karajan – A Christmas Offering
- 1963 – Nat "King" Cole – The Christmas Song (appeared in the original "magic of Christmas" (1960), deleted and later re-added to "The Christmas Song".)
- 1967 – Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas
- 1967 – Julie Andrews with Andre Previn – A Christmas Treasury
- 1968 – Iron Butterfly – In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
- 1974 – George Guest and the Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge – Christmas at St. John's
- 1980 – Sir David Willcocks and The Bach Choir with the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble – The Bach Choir: Family Carols (recorded for Decca Records and reissued as On Christmas Night)
- 1984 – Mannheim Steamroller – Mannheim Steamroller Christmas
- 1984 – Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge – O Come All Ye Faithful: Favourite Christmas Carols
- 1989 – Randy Travis – An Old Time Christmas
- 1991 – John Williams/ John Neufeld / Alexander Courage – Hook
- 1992 – Neil Diamond – The Christmas Album
- 1992 – Garth Brooks – Beyond the Season
- 1993 – Lorrie Morgan – Merry Christmas from London
- 1994 – Mariah Carey – Merry Christmas
- 1995 – Loreena McKennitt – A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season
- 1995 – Jars of Clay – Drummer Boy EP
- 1996 – Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24
- 1997 – Bad Religion
- 1998 – Almonzo – Happy Christmas Vol. 1
- 1998 – Chicago – Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album
- 1998 – David Hill and the Choir of Winchester Cathedral - O Come Let Us Adore Him: Christmas Carols from Winchester Cathedral
- 1999 – Viva Voce – Happy Christmas Vol. 2
- 2000 – Charlotte Church – Dream A Dream
- 2000 – Bradley Joseph – Christmas Around the World
The song was "sampled" in the 1963 Christmas hit "A Soalin" by Peter, Paul and Mary.
[edit] 21st Century
- 2001 – .38 Special – A Wild-Eyed Christmas Night
- 2002 – Bright Eyes – A Christmas Album
- 2002 – The Irish Rovers – Songs_of_Christmas
- 2003 – Carly Simon – Christmas Is Almost Here Again
- 2003 – Faithbomb – A Brutal Christmas: A Season In Chaos
- 2003 – Jethro Tull – The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
- 2003 – Kekal – A Brutal Christmas: A Season In Chaos
- 2004 – Barenaked Ladies – Barenaked for the Holidays
- 2004 – Angela Chang – Fable
- 2005 – Brian Wilson – What I Really Want for Christmas
- 2005 – Moya Brennan – An Irish Christmas
- 2005 – Pedro the Lion – God rest ye Merry Gentlemen 7"
- 2005 – Boyz II Men – Winter/Reflections
- 2005 – Kate and Anna McGarrigle - The McGarrigle Christmas Hour
- 2005 – Kevin Max – Holy Night
- 2005 – MercyMe – The Christmas Sessions
- 2006 – Aimee Mann – One More Drifter in the Snow
- 2006 – Aly & AJ – Acoustic Hearts of Winter
- 2006 – Maddy Prior – An Evening of Carols and Capers
- 2006 – The Brew Dogs – A Brew Dog Christmas (Egg Dog)
- 2006 – Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band – BAH, HUMDUCK!
- 2007 – Toby Keith – A Classic Christmas
- 2007 – Jars of Clay – Christmas Songs
- 2007 – Christmas at the Devil's House – Christmas Music / Metal Madness: Santa vs. Satan in a Guitar Duel
- 2007 – Brian Setzer Orchestra – Wolfgang's Big Night Out as Take A Break Guys
- 2007 – The Legendary Shack Shakers – Oh Santa! New and Used Christmas Classics from Yep Roc
[edit] Further reading
- The New Oxford Book of Carols, ed. Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 527
- Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, Ace Collins (Zondervan, 2001).
[edit] External links
- Audio sample of the song performed by the german choir Outta Limits

