My song today is sung by my wife, Sheila and I have assisted with the chorus. Today’s seasonal rendition is the Christmas carol, ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’. This carol is also known as ‘Tidings of Comfort and Joy’, and by others as ‘Come All You Worthy Gentlemen’, or ‘God Rest Ye Merry Christians’ or ‘God Rest You Merry People All’. It is one of the oldest extant carols, dated to the 16th century or earlier. The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet dated to c. 1760. The earliest printed edition of the melody appears to be in a parody in the humorous, witty, and bawdy sayings of William Hone in1829. The carol is referred to in the 1843 novel ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens’.
Merry Christmas and love and peace, Bill and Sheila xxx