2019 Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival—Deck the Halls

Deck the Halls.

Quiz—What popular British Christmas favorite is actually a Welsh New Year’s carol in disguise?  Hint—it is one of the festive street caroling songs and also celebrates a pagan-ish Yule without any mention of Christmas or the Christ Child.  Answer—Deck the Halls!

Blind Welsh Harpist John Parry first noted the melody for Nos Galan in a 1741 manuscript.

The melody for the song comes from a Welsh winter or New Year’s carol probably dating to the 17th Century or earlier and first found in manuscript by Welsh harpist John Parry as Nos Galan (New Year’s Eve), in 1741 and published in Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards by Edward Jones in 1784.

The English words to Nos Galan began as follows:

Oh! how soft my fair one’s bosom,

fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la.

Oh! how sweet the grove in blossom,

fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la.

Oh! how blessed are the blisses,

[instrumental flourish]

Words of love, and mutual kisses,

fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la.

That titillating lyric was representative of the revelry associated with New Year’s.  Additional Welsh lyrics added later and translated literally without attempt to rhyme included reference to drinking:

            The best pleasure on new year’s eve,

fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la.

Is house and fire and a pleasant family,

fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la.

A pure heart and brown ale,

fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la.

A gentle song and the voice of the harp

fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la.

Scottish poet and musician Thomas Oliphant first penned the English language Deck the Hall.

The English lyrics were written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant and first appeared in 1862, in Volume 2 of Welsh Melodies, a set of four volumes by John Thomas, and named Deck the Hall.  Note the singular form which referred to the common custom in Celtic societies like Wales, Scotland, and Brittany in France of decorating homes for New Year’s visiting and parties. 

Thomas’s collection included Welsh words by John Jones (Talhaiarn) which were once regarded as the source for Oliphant.  It was actually the other way around—Jones translated Oliphant’s version into Welsh. 

Oliphant’s song continued reference to drinking in the first verse and mentioned Christmas.  FYI—troul in the first verse means a round or lively folk song.

            Deck the hall with boughs of holly,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

'Tis the season to be jolly,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Fill the meadcup, drain the barrel,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Troul the ancient Christmas carol,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

See the flowing bowl before us,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Strike the harp and join the chorus.

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Follow me in merry measure,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

While I sing of beauty's treasure,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Fast away the old year passes,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses!

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Laughing, quaffing all together,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Heedless of the wind and weather,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

An American version of the lyrics published in the Pennsylvania School Journal in 1877 removed references to drinking replacing “Fill the meadcup…” with “Don we now our gay apparel”, “See the flowing bowl…” with “See the blazing Yule before Us”, and “Laughing, quaffing all together” with “Sing we joyous all together.”  It also replaced “ancient Christmas carol” with “ancient Yuletide carol.”  These are the lyrics usually sung in the United States.

The title was not pluralized to Deck the Halls until 1892.

The song was perfect for street caroling, parlor sing-alongs, and in public school holiday programs which could be skittish about religious carols.  It is also popular with neo pagans who sometimes seem to believe that the 19th Century English words are much more ancient and perhaps even pre-Christian.

Deck the Halls has been recorded many times.  Nat King Cole had a charted hit with his version and it launched the jazz/syntho-pop/New Age instrumentalists Mannheim Steamroller as an annual Holiday Season touring phenomenon in 1984.

Today’s version is a sing-a-long with lyrics from the album and YouTube channel Christmas Songs and Carols.