Wassail, Wassail All Over The Town (Trainee Choristers of Peiyang Chorus 2007-2008)

[alipainting]

If singing in English is as difficult for them as singing in Chinese is for me, I'd say they are doing really well.

[mochalatteee]

youre not doing it right.

[doreva1]

yes and the experience of singing this in the midst of a choir is english mystical at its best...never mind new age "tattoos and piercins"...all superficial expression of a nostalgia for "english" or "celtic" roots...if you want the real experience however, just immerse yourself in the deep end of singing this Wassail in a choir...fantasmagorical!

[HotVoodooWitch]

@doreva1 I agree--this is a peerless ensemble piece and great fun to sing although it's a different arrangement than the one we performed in our high school concert choir (1971!). That arrangement can be found here on YouTube performed by the Roger Wagner Chorale and is my preference (I don't like this one as much). And I STILL remember the soprano part after all these years. :)

[Arminhammer69]

hahaha asians :)

[TheAdmiralsemmes]

awesome. Here we go a wassailing!! Bless you one and all. Wassail! wassail! all over the town, Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown; Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree; With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.

[jamerturnip]

Now dos thees knows what accent they dos speaks with in gloucester/somerset where this be from? The dialect tis proper strong, pirates on uber apple juice. Type in Adge Cutler and theest will finds some. Seems weird folks singing this vormally instead on in the orchard like- but i loves it.

I thinks this song is about getting drunk rather than christmas, its words are older p'raps than christianity in that region indeed there are references to battles in the 7th C.

Wassail vram da wezcunry

[masterfeatherpen]

@jamerturnip "Wassailing" is older than Christianity, but not much. Remember, just because a few monks converted the peoples of Britain doesn't mean they didn't still get drunk. :)

Wassail comes from the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "Wacht heil" which simply means "have good health," and became associated with Christmas because of the tradition of wishing everyone health on Yuletide, when they would go around the village sharing hot mead, and saying, "Wassail!"

Oh, those frisky Saxons. :)

[mayhemrw]

They don't even know what wassailing is and they can't even pronounce their "t's" correctly. I bet they've never even drunk ale either. So why the blazes are they singing it? It's an English song for the English!

[crystaliclake]

hey christmas is all about sharing and giving!

[mayhemrw]

Now surely Christmas is ALL about Christ coming into the world? In other words the birth of our saviour? Otherwise why call it Christmas?

[crystaliclake]

true, and christ is all about sharing and giving and sacrificing himself and we are to do the same so it fits

[mayhemrw]

Yeah alright good point! But my initial point was in my first post was that it's a good song, but they've ruined it, given that they don't have the cultural reference to be able to communicate the contextual meaning across. Also, it's meant to be a bit of a wild song, not so pretty and prim.

[duck97]

@ mayhewmrw

obviously music shouldn't be shared across cultures. I mean, i don't have a british accent, so why should I even bother to sing the beatles songs I love?

[masterfeatherpen]

@duck97 Yes, singing songs in English is DEFINITELY breaking culture boundaries. : / I think it's nice that they're singing it, but the man has got a point—they don't have the context. Singing sixties Britrock is hardly the same as your school choir featuring traditional Chinese holiday songs.

[HotVoodooWitch]

@duck97 The Beatles, as did many other British groups, sang with American accents.

[duck97]

@HotVoodooWitch my point was that it's ridiculous to say that somebody has no right to sing a certain song just because they don't have the "cultural context" to do it properly. you don't have to like their version, but you can't hate on them for attempting a song from another culture

[HotVoodooWitch]

@duck97 Points don't count for much unless they're based on accuracy. Your analogy was a poor one.

[duck97]

@HotVoodooWitch and if those two sentences were supposed to be cohesive, that was a logical fallacy. just because my metaphor wasn't the best doesn't mean the point is invalid. if you agree with me overall, then i'm not sure why you care to argue semantics. if you disagree, don't bother starting an interment argument, just move on with your life.

[HotVoodooWitch]

@duck97 ROTFLMAO OMG...logic from a civilian. And I didn't start an "interment (?) argument"; I merely stated that the Beatles (intentionally) sang with American accents in response to your "point," i.e., YOUR argumentative response to a point of view with which you disagreed. I guess what's good for the goose ain't good for the gander here. Ciao!!!

[duck97]

@HotVoodooWitch yeah, I accidentally hit the "m" key instead of "n" for "internet", calm down... I won't even ask what you mean by "logic from a civilian", I don't want you to embarrass yourself trying to be clever. ciao.

[EMnM340]

haha i never knew so many schools had a madrigal feast like brockport :) we are singing this song at ours in about 2 weeks.

[caitlin312011]

My school does it every year at our madrigal dinner, but our director tweaked the arrangement, so ours is slightly different.

[ChainGrinder]

I miss hearing this song every year before winter break in my highschool, nothing beats hearing this live in your own school auditorium. <3

[gtfreak2112]

all ova da town

[HeLovesMe153]

i like how our choir sounds at this song...we sing it every year for madrigal dinner

[iPanickedTGG]

Do you go to Marcus HS?

[HeLovesMe153]

nope Western Reserve. why?

[iPanickedTGG]

Ohh sorry. Well, MHS has Madrigal every year and does this song every year haha

[gotchaaga1n]

wasea wasea

[horcruxkiller]

Cool! Great job to that choir for singing that song!

[Evanaline]

we are learning this song in choir but it strikes no interest in me... yet... I hear that the more you sing it, the more you love it though... is it true?

[000nour000]

you have to put the right expression - there isn't enough expression in this - we sing by request every christmas and it should be so full of fun! hope this helps!

[dancingstar1226]

for me, it totally is. When i first learned it i was like, what's the big deal?? but now that i know it and can sing it well it's awesome!

[SethSlaughterTM]

come butler come fill us a bowl of the best. then we hope that your soul in heaven may rest.but if you do draw us a bowl of the small. then down shall go butler bowl and all

[SethSlaughterTM]

Wassail, wassail all over the town. Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown. our bowl it is made of the white maple tree, with our wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee. And here is to fillpail and to her left ear. pray god send our master a happy new year and a happy new year that may we all see with our wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee.

[000nour000]

wicked! we sing a different version! *clears throat* Wassail, wassail all over the town. Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown. our bowl it is made of the white maple tree, with the wassail bowl we'll drink to thee! So thanks to the [insert word that i've forgotten here] and to his right eye pray God give our master a good christmas pie a good christmas pie that we may all see to the wassail bowl we'll drink to thee! yaaaay so full of happiness i love it! happy christmas! x

[RedSkiesatDawn]

And here is to dobin and to his right eye =). We also have a verse and here is to cherry and to his right cheek. Love this song.

[000nour000]

that is what we sing! :-D it's good fun to sing! but i'm singing mahler 8 atm and WOW! lmao! aww i do miss singing this kind of stuff though!

[katiegreenaway]

Can you send me the words? I used to sing this in a choir & have been looking for it for some time.Cheers!