Loreena McKennitt Album

Traditional English (eighteenth century)
arr. by Loreena McKennitt

All hail to the days that merit more praise
Than all of the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights that double delights
As well for the poor as the peer!
Good fortune attend each merry man's friend
That doth but the best that he may,
Forgetting old wrongs with carols and songs
To drive the cold winter away.

'Tis ill for a mind to anger inclined
To think of small injuries now,
If wrath be to seek, do not lend her thy cheek,
Nor let her inhabit thy brow.
Cross out thy books malevolent looks,
Both beauty and youth's decay,
And wholly consort with mirth and with sport
To drive the cold winter away.

This time of the year is spent in good cheer,
And neighbours together do meet,
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire,
Each other in love to greet.
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot,
All sorrows aside they lay;
The old and the young doth carol this song,
To drive the cold winter away.

When Christmas's tide comes in like a bride,
With holly and ivy clad,
Twelve days in the year much mirth and good cheer
In every household is had.
The country guise is then to devise
Some gambols of Christmas play,
Whereat the young men do best that they can
To drive the cold winter away.

Traditional English (nineteenth century)
arr. by Loreena McKennitt

Come all you lads and lasses, I'd have you give attention
To these few lines I'm about to write here,
'Tis of the four seasons of the year that I shall mention,
The beauty of all things doth appear.
And now you are young and all in your prosperity,
Come cheer up your hearts and revive like the spring
Join off in pairs like the birds in February
That St. Valentine's Day it forth do bring.

Then cometh Spring, which all the land doth nourish;
The fields are beginning to be decked with green,
The trees put forth their buds and the blossoms they do flourish,
And the tender blades of corn on the earth are to be seen.
Don't you see the little lambs by the dams a-playing?
The cuckoo is singing in the shady grove.
The flowers they are springing, the maids they go a-Maying,
In love all hearts seem now to move.

Next cometh Autumn with the sun so hot and piercing;
The sportsman goes forth with his dog and his gun
To fetch down the woodcock, the partridge and the pheasant,
For health and for profit as well as for fun.
Behold, with loaded apple-trees the farmer is befriended,
They will fill up his casks that have long laid dry.
All nature seems to weary now, her task is nearly ended,
And more of the seasons will come by and by.

When night comes on with song and tale we pass the wintry hours;
By keeping up a cheerful heart we hope for better days.
We tend the cattle, sow the seed, give work unto the ploughers,
With patience wait till winter yields before the sun's fair rays.
And so the world goes round and round, and every time and season
With pleasure and with profit crowns the passage of the year,
And so through every time of life, to him who acts with reason,
The beauty of all things doth appear.

Traditional English
arr. by Loreena McKennitt

Good health, love and peace be all here in this place
By your leave we will sing, concerning our King.

Our King is well-dressed in silks of the best
In ribbons so rare no king can compare.

We have travelled many miles over hedges and stiles,
In search of our King unto you we bring.

We have powder and shot to conquer the lot,
We have cannon and ball to conquer them all.

Old Christmas is past, twelve tide is the last
And we bid you adieu, great joy to the new.
And we bid you adieu, great joy to the new.

[No lyrics]

Lyrics by Archibald Lampman (1861-1899)
Music by Loreena McKennitt

White are the far-off plains, and white
The fading forests grow;
The wind dies out along the height,
And denser still the snow
A gathering weight on roof and tree,
Falls down scarce audibly

The meadows and far-sheeted streams
Lie still without a sound;
Like some soft minister of dreams
The snow-fall hoods me round;
In wood and water, earth and air
A silence everywhere

Save when at lonely intervals
Some farmer's sleigh, urged on,
With rustling runners and sharp bells
Swings by me and is gone;
Or from the empty waste I hear
A sound remote and clear

The barking of a dog, or call
To cattle, sharply pealed,
Borne echoing from some wayside stall
Or barnyard far afield;
Then all is silent and the snow falls
Settling soft and slow

The evening deepens and the grey
Folds closer earth and sky
The world seems shrouded, far away.
Its noises sleep, and I as secret as
Yon buried stream plod dumbly on and dream.

Traditional Scottish
arr. by Loreena McKennitt

I come to hevin which to tell
The best nowells that e'er befell
To you thir tythings trew I bring
And I will of them say and sing.

This day to you is born ane child
Of Marie meik and Virgin mild
That bliss it bairn bening and kind
Sall you rejoyce baith hart and mind.

Lat us rejoyis and be blyth
And with the Hyrdis go full swyth
And see what God of his grace hes done
Throu Christ to bring us to his throne

My saull and life stand up and see
Wha lyis in ane cribbe of tree.
What Babe is that, sa gude and fair
It is Christ, God's son and Air.

O my deir hard, yung Jesus sweit
Prepair thy creddil in my spreit!
And I sall rock thee in my hart
And never mair fra thee depart.

Bot I sall praise thee evermoir
With sangis sweit unto thy gloir
The kneis of my hard sall I bow
And sing that rycht Balulalow.

Traditional English
arr. by Loreena McKennitt

Let us the Infant greet,
In worship before Him fall,
And let us pay Him homage meet,
On this His Festival

Let us to the Infant sing,
And bring Him of gifts rich store,
Let us honour our Infant King,
With praise for evermore.

Let us to the Infant Kneel,
And love Him with faithful love,
And let our joyous anthems peal,
For Him who reigns above.

Glad hymns in the Infant's laud,
Sing we to Him while we may,
In heaven where He is throned as God,
Our service He will pay.

Be we to the Infant true,
While we are dwelling on mould,
And He will give us our wages due,
A crown of purest gold.

Traditional Irish
arr. by Loreena McKennitt

Good people all, this Christmas-time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son.
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas day;
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born.

The night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town.
But mark how all things came to pass;
From every door repelled alas!
As long foretold, their refuge all
Was but an humble ox's stall.

There were three wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious star,
And on they wandered night and day
Until they came where Jesus lay,
And when they came unto that place
Where our beloved Messiah was,
They humbly cast them at his feet,
With gifts of gold and incense sweet.

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep;
To whom God's angels did appear,
Which put the shepherds in great fear.
'Prepare and go', the angles said.
'To Bethlehem, be not afraid:
For there you'll find, this happy morn,
A princely babe, sweet Jesus born.

With thankful heart and joyful mind,
The shepherds went the babe to find.
And as God's angel had foretold,
They did our saviour Christ behold.
Within a manger he was laid,
And by his side the virgin maid,
Attending on the Lord of life,
Who came on earth to end all strife.

[No lyrics]

Traditional English, arr. by Loreena McKennitt

Let all that are to mirth inclined
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son

Chorus:
For to redeem our souls from thrall
Christ is the saviour of us all.

The twenty-fifth day of December
We have good cause to remember
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born

But mark how all things came to pass
The inn and lodgings filled was
That they could find no room at all
But in a straw-filled oxes stall.

Chorus

Near Bethlehem some shepherds keep
Their flocks and herds of feeding sheep
To whom God's angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear

With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went this babe to find.
And as the heavenly angels told
They did our saviour Christ behold.

Chorus

Three eastern wise men from afar,
Directed by a glorious star
Came boldly on and made no stay,
Until they came where Jesus lay.

And being come unto that place
Where the blessed Messiah was
They humbly laid before his feet
Their gifts of gold and incense sweet.

Chorus

See how the Lord of heaven and earth
Shewd himself lowly in his birth;
A sweet example for mankind
To learn to bear an humble mind.

Chorus

Let all your songs and praises be
Unto his heavenly majesty
And evermore amongst our mirth
Remember Christ our Saviour's birth.

Let all that are to mirth inclined
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son

Chorus