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We wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas

The lyrics of this unusual carol are by Spencer family aristocrat and poet William Robert Spencer (1769-1834) and were published in 1811. It’s variously said that the tune is by a Peter Preston or a Ditchling shoemaker and church musician called Peter Parsons. We think it has a lot of the best of Christmas spirit about it, including generosity, and enjoying food and drink and singing.

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Rest You Here – a new album from Gavin Atkin

‘Good vocals and excellent recording quality, and good songs. The cover is good as well… ‘ – Nick Dow

‘A very good selection of material, very nicely played. Particularly pleased to hear your take on True Blue!’ – Andy Turner

‘What a lovely laid-back and relaxed album. I particularly liked the last track Archie’s Fancy + Elsie’s Waltz.’ – Rees Wesson

‘Having just heard the album I think it is lovely. A great collection of songs, and the tunes are good as well. A perfect production too! I hope it gets out to a larger audience.’ – Doug Welch

Rest You Here is on Bandcamp!

And we have some samples on YouTube:

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Two children’s songs: Lavenders Green and Old King Cole

Here are two interesting alternatives to the usual versions we know so well.

This Lavenders Green uses a tune and verses collected by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould, while Old King Cole uses the tune that appeared in a book of nursery rhymes called ‘Little Songs of Long Ago, published in 1912.

The author doesn’t tell us where the Old King Cole tune came from, but it sounds like a traditional tune to us – though of course it could be a tune of the time carefully composed to sound like something older.