We Wish You a Merry Christmas
{{Short description|English Christmas carol}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox musical composition
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| genre = Christmas
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| misc = alt=Instrumental version by [[Kevin MacLeod]]
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"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is an English Christmas carol, listed as numbers 230 and 9681 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The famous version of the carol is from the English West Country.
Popular version
The Bristol-based composer, conductor and organist Arthur Warrell (1883–1939)Arthur Sydney Warrell, born Farmborough, 1883, died Bristol, 1939. Served as organist and choirmaster at several Bristol churches. Subsequently, taught music at Bristol University and founded the Bristol University Choir, Orchestra, and Madrigal Singers. See {{cite book|last=Humphreys|first=Maggie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSLUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA351|title=Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland|author2=Robert Evans|publisher=Mansell|year=1997|isbn=0-7201-2330-5|location=London|pages=351}} is responsible for the popularity of the carol. Warrell, a lecturer at the University of Bristol from 1909,{{Cite web|last=Byrne|first=Eugene|date=2019-12-24|title=Arguably most famous Christmas song was written by a Bristolian|url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/wish-you-merry-christmas-written-3678149|access-date=2020-11-06|website=BristolLive|language=en}} arranged the tune for his own University of Bristol Madrigal Singers as an elaborate four-part arrangement, which he performed with them in concert on December 6, 1935.{{cite journal|date=1935-12-06|title=Music and Drama|journal=Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror|location=Bristol|volume=154|page=4|number=25,920}} His composition was published by Oxford University Press the same year under the title "A Merry Christmas: West Country traditional song".{{cite book|last=Warrell|first=Arthur (arr.)|title=A Merry Christmas|date=1935|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=019340530X|location=London}}
Warrell's arrangement is notable for using "I" instead of "we" in the words; the first line is "I wish you a Merry Christmas". It was subsequently republished in the collection Carols for Choirs (1961), and remains widely performed.In the Carols for Choirs reprint, but not in the 1935 original, the option of replacing "I wish you a Merry Christmas" by the more common "We wish you a Merry Christmas" is given.
The popular version goes as follows:
{{poem quote|We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.{{cite book |last1=Garno |first1=Gerard |title=Ancient Christmas Music for Acoustic Guitar |date=2018 |publisher=Publisher:Mel Bay Publications |page=238}}}}
Many traditional versions of the song have been recorded, some of which replace the last line with "Good tidings for Christmas and a happy new year". In 1971, Roy Palmer recorded George Dunn of Quarry Bank, Staffordshire singing a version close to the famous one, which had a familiar version of the chorus, but used the song "Christmas Is Coming" as the verses; this recording can be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website.{{Cite web|title=Christmas Rhymes (Roud Folksong Index S231282)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S231282|access-date=2020-12-29|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}} Amy Ford of Low Ham, Somerset sang a version called "The Singers Make Bold" to Bob and Jacqueline Patten in 1973{{Cite web|title=The Singers Make Bold (Roud Folksong Index S415287)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S415287|access-date=2020-12-29|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}} which again used a similar chorus to the famous version and can be heard via the British Library Sound Archive.{{Cite web|title=The singers make bold – Bob and Jacqueline Patten English Folk Music Collection – World and traditional music {{!}} British Library – Sounds|url=https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Bob-and-Jacqueline-Patten-Collection/025M-C1033X0018XX-0400V0|access-date=2020-12-29|website=sounds.bl.uk}} There are several supposedly traditional recordings which follow the famous version exactly, but these are almost certainly derived from Arthur Warrell's arrangement.
History
File:Figgy Pudding with flaming brandy.jpg is referenced in the latter verses of the carol]]
The greeting "a merry Christmas and a happy New Year" is recorded from the early eighteenth century;"a merry X'mas and a happy New Year", letter of Samuel Goodman dated December 20th 1710, in {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/letterstoftg1711madr#page/2/mode/2up|title=Letters to Fort St. George: vol. xii (1711)|publisher=Government Press|year=1931|location=Madras|page=3}} however, the history of the carol itself is unclear. Its origin probably lies in the English tradition wherein wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve, such as "figgy pudding" that was very much like modern-day Christmas puddings;Brech, Lewis (2010). [https://books.google.com/books?id=BcTq8pnkWJMC&dq=figgy+pudding+-+christmas+pudding&pg=PA48 "Storybook Advent Carols Collection Songbook"]. p. 48. Couples Company, Inc,Lester, Meera (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=TQTYa5OWxuAC&dq=we+wish+you+a+merry+christmas+english+traditional&pg=PA146 "Why Does Santa Wear Red?: And 100 Other Christmas Curiosities Unwrapped"] p.146. Adams Media,[http://www.worldofchristmas.net/christmas-carols/we-wish-you.html "We Wish You a Merry Christmas! – Christmas Songs of England"]. Retrieved December 11, 2010 in the West Country of England, "figgy pudding" referred to a raisin or plum pudding, not necessarily one containing figs."A 'figgy pudding'; a pudding with raisins in it; a plum pudding", from "Devonshire and Cornwall Vocabulary", [https://books.google.com/books?id=7LQRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA435 The Monthly Magazine vol. 29/6, no. 199, June 1, 1810. p. 435]"Plum-pudding and plum-cake are universally called figgy pudding and figgy cake in Devonshire", from {{cite book|last=Lady|first=A|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dPcGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA46|title=A dialogue in the Devonshire dialect, by a lady: to which is added a glossary, by J.F. Palmer|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman|year=1837|location=London|pages=46}}"Figgy Pudding ... the ordinary name for plum-pudding. Also a baked batter pudding with raisins in it", {{cite book|last=Elworthy|first=Frederic Thomas|url=https://archive.org/details/dialectwestsome00elwogoog|title=The Dialect of West Somerset|publisher=Trübner & Co.|year=1875|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dialectwestsome00elwogoog/page/n480 252]}} In the famous version of the song, the singer demands figgy pudding from the audience, threatening to not "go until we get some".{{cite news |title=‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’: what are the lyrics and who wrote the carol? |url=https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/we-wish-you-a-merry-christmas-lyrics-history-carol/ |access-date=7 December 2023 |publisher=Classic FM}}
The song is absent from the collections of West-countrymen Davies Gilbert (1822 and 1823){{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Davies|url=https://archive.org/details/SomeAncientChristmasCarols/page/n5/mode/2up|title=Some ancient Christmas Carols, with the Tunes to which they were formerly sung in the West of England|publisher=J. Nichols and Son|year=1822|location=London}} and William Sandys (1833),{{cite book|last=Sandys|first=William|url=https://archive.org/stream/christmascarolsa00sandrich#page/n5/mode/1up|title=Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern|publisher=Richard Beckley|year=1833|location=London}} as well as from the great anthologies of Sylvester (1861){{cite book|title=A Garland of Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern|publisher=John Camden Hotten|year=1861|editor-last=Sylvester|editor-first=Joshua|location=London|hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t93779d3t}} and Husk (1864),Husk, William Henry (ed.) [https://archive.org/stream/songsofnativityb00husk#page/n6/mode/1up Songs of the Nativity], London: John Camden Hotten, 1864. and The Oxford Book of Carols (1928). In the comprehensive New Oxford Book of Carols (1992), editors Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott describe it as "English traditional" and "[t]he remnant of an envoie much used by wassailers and other luck visitors"; no source or date is given.{{cite book|title=The New Oxford Book of Carols|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1992|editor1-last=Keyte|editor1-first=Hugh|location=Oxford|pages=529|editor2-last=Parrott|editor2-first=Andrew}} The famous version of the song was completely unknown outside the West Country before Arthur Warrell popularised it.
"Cellar full of beer" variant
A closely related verse, dating from the 1830s, runs: {{poem quote|We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy new year;
A pocket full of money,
And a cellar full of beer.{{cite journal |page=4 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24551604/we_wish_you_a_merry_christmas_1836/ |journal=North Wales Chronicle |date=1836-02-16 |volume=ix |issue=451 |title=untitled [Welcome given by the people of Llandyssil to the newly-married Mr and Mrs John Glynne Mytton on December 31st 1835] |location=Bangor}}{{cite journal |page=4 |title=The 'Compliments of the Season;' and 'Obliging Inquiries' |date=1834-01-23 |journal=Mayo Constitution |location=Castlebar |volume=xxv}}}}
It was sung by mummers – townsfolk who would go about singing from door to door to request gifts. An example is given in the short story The Christmas Mummers (1858) by Charlotte Yonge: {{quote|When at last they were all ready, off they marched, with all the little boys and girls running behind them; and went straight to Farmer Buller’s door, where they knew they should find a welcome. They all stood in a row, and began to sing as loud as they were able:{{poem quote|I wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year,
A pantryful of good roast-beef,
And barrels full of beer.{{cite book |first=Charlotte |last=Yonge |title=The Christmas Mummers |year=1858 |location=London |publisher=Mozley |page=87 |hdl=2027/wu.89016071219?urlappend=%3Bseq=93 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89016071219?urlappend=%3Bseq=93}}}} }} After they are allowed in and perform a Mummers play, the boys are served beer by the farmer's maid.{{cite book |first=Charlotte |last=Yonge |title=The Christmas Mummers |year=1858 |location=London |publisher=Mozley |page=93 |hdl=2027/wu.89016071219?urlappend=%3Bseq=99 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89016071219?urlappend=%3Bseq=99}}
Various sources place this version of the song in different parts of England during the nineteenth century.{{cite journal |journal=Derbyshire Times |page=3 |date=1872-12-28 |title=Notes: Christmas Carols |quote=[W]hen little children came round to our doors, and lisped their Christmas greeting, the which seems to have sadly degenerated into a scuttling round the first thing on Christmas-morn and a shouting at the doors of:
A wish you a merry Christmas
An' a happy New Year
A pocket full o' money
A cellar full o' beer.
A' apple an' a pear
An' a plum an' a cherry
An' a sup o' good ale
Ter mak' a man merry.
A horse an' a gig
An' a good fat pig
To sarve y'all th' year.}}{{cite book |editor-first=Charlotte Sophia |editor-last=Burne |title=Shropshire Folk-Lore |year=1883 |location=London |publisher=Trübner & Co. |page=317 |hdl=2027/inu.39000005759647?urlappend=%3Bseq=339 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.39000005759647?urlappend=%3Bseq=339|quote=I wish you a merry Christmas, a happy New Year,
A pocket full of money, and a cellar full of beer;
A good fat pig to last you all the year.
Please to give me a New Year's gift.}}{{cite journal |first=Frank |last=Kidson |title=Christmas Melodies: The Carols of the Season |page=1 |journal=Weekly Supplement to the Leeds Mercury |date=1888-12-15 |location=Leeds |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24517577/wish_you_a_merry_christmas_leeds/ |issue=15817 |quote=The special form of asking for Christmas-boxes generally runs in rhyme, and varied in different parts of the country. That in Leeds, which is bellowed in a quick, hoarse voice through the keyhole, is:
I wish you a merry Kersmas,
A happy New Year,
A pocket full of money,
A barrel full o' beer,
A big fat pig to serve you all t'year,
Please will you give us my Kersmas-box.}} Several versions survived into the twentieth century and were recorded by folk song collectors in England, such as those of George Dunn{{Cite web|title=Open the Door (Roud Folksong Index S247999)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S247999|access-date=2020-11-06|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}} and Mary Evans{{Cite web|title=We Wish You Merry Christmas (Roud Folksong Index S415452)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S415452|access-date=2020-11-06|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}} of Quarry Bank, Staffordshire (both recorded in 1971), as well as Miss J. Howman of Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire (1966),{{Cite web|title=We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Roud Folksong Index S415451)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S415451|access-date=2020-11-06|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}} all of which are publicly available online courtesy of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. These versions use completely different tunes to the now famous West Country variant.