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The Gloucestershire Wassail

from Hearth and Fire by Matt Walton

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Wassailing was a tradition involving getting extremely drunk. Wassailers would call at houses with their wassailing bowl, which would be full of beer. They'd drink from it, and the people they called on would be expected to top up the bowl with something suitably alcoholic. One can imagine by the end of the process, the wassailers were finding it difficult to carry the bowl without spilling anything.

The purpose - beyond getting drunk - was to bring good luck to the wassailers and to the households they called upon for the coming year, something fairly evident from the lyrics, which are as they appear in the New Oxford Book of Carols.

lyrics

Wassail! Wassail all over the town!
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree
With the wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee!

So here is to Cherry and to his right cheek!
Pray God send our master a good piece of beef
And a good piece of beef that we all may see
With the wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee!

And here is to Dobbin and to his right eye!
Pray God send our master a good Christmas pie
And a good Christmas pie that we may all see
With our wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee!

So here is to Broad May and to her broad horn!
May God send our master a good crop of corn
And a good crop of corn that we may all say
With the wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee!

And here is to Fillpail and to her left ear!
Pray God send our master a happy new year
And a happy new year as e'er he did see
With our wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee!

And here is to Colly and to her long tail!
Pray God send our master he never may fail
A bowl of strong beer; I pray you draw near
And our jolly wassail it's then you shall hear

Come butler come fill us a bowl of the best
Then we hope that your soul in heaven may rest
But if you do draw us a bowl of the small
Then down shall go butler, bowl and all!

Then here's to the maid in the lily-white smock
Who tripped to the door and slipped back the lock
Who tripped to the door and pulled back the pin
For to let these jolly wassailers in.

credits

from Hearth and Fire, released December 13, 2009
Matt Walton: Vocals

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Matt Walton Nottingham, UK

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