Gloucestershire Wassail

Gloucestershire Wassail
by Traditional
Other nameWassail! Wassail! All Over the Town
The Wassailing Bowl
Wassail Song
GenreChristmas carol
TextTraditional
LanguageEnglish
Based onTraditional English carol

The Gloucestershire Wassail, also known as "Wassail! Wassail! All Over the Town", "The Wassailing Bowl" and "Wassail Song"[a] is an English Christmas carol from the county of Gloucestershire in England, dating back to at least the 18th century,[2] but may be older.[3]

The author of the lyrics and the composer of the music are unknown.[4] The first known publication of the song's current version was in 1928 in the Oxford Book of Carols;[5] however, earlier versions of the song had been published, including, but not limited to, publications in 1838,[6] 1857,[7] and 1868[2] by William Chappell, Robert Bell, and William Henry Husk respectively. Husk's 1868 publication contained a reference to it being sung by wassailers in the 1790s in Gloucestershire. "Gloucestershire Wassail" has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 209.[8]

  1. ^ Anderson, Douglas D. "The Wassail Song". Hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-07.
  2. ^ a b Husk, William Henry (1884). Songs of the Nativity. London: John Camden Hotten, Chiswick Press. p. 150. First part of book; contains lyrics and song information), Second part of book contains sheet music.
  3. ^ Wilks, Jon (13 November 2013). "Wassail All Over the World". The Grizzly Folk. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013.
  4. ^ Studwell, William Emmett. The Christmas Carol Reader. 1st ed., The Haworth Press, 1995.
  5. ^ Percy Dearmer; Ralph Vaughan Williams; Martin Shaw, eds. (1964) [1928]. "Gloucestershire Wassail". The Oxford Book of Carols. Oxford University Press. pp. 62–63 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ Chappell, William (1838). A Collection of National English Airs Consisting of Ancient Song Ballad & Dance Tunes, Interspersed with Remarks and Anecdote, and Preceded by an Essay of English Minstrelsy. London: Chappell. p. 102. (1st part of book; contains the sheet music) & pp. 161–162 (2nd part of book; contains full lyrics)
  7. ^ Bell, Robert (1857). "Ancient Poems Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England". London: John W. Parker and Son, West Strand. pp. 183–184.
  8. ^ Roud, Steve. "Roud Folk Song Index Search". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.


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