Listen, Lordings, Unto Me

Version 2; Compare Carol for Christmas Eve (with sheet music)
Listeneth, lordings, both great and small

Words, a Cento of old material. Melody of Westron wynde, when wyll thou blow (Royal App. MS. 58, time of Henry VIII), harmonized by G. R. W.

Notes and Source: George Ratcliffe Woodward, ed., The Cowley Carol Book For Christmas, Easter, and Ascensiontide, Second Series (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd, ca. 1919), Carol #89

1. Listen, lordings, unto me!
A tale I shall you tell;
The which upon this night of glee
In David's town befell.

2. Joseph came from Nazareth
With Mary, that sweet Maid:
Aweary were they nigh to death,
And for a lodging pray'd.

3. In the inn they found no room;
A scanty bed was made:
Ere dawn the Fruit of Mary's womb
Was in the manger laid.

4. Forth He came as light through glass;
He came to save us all:
Within the stable ox and ass
Before their Maker fall.

5. Shepherds lay afield that night,
To keep the silly sheep;
An host of Angels in their flight
Came down from heav'n's high steep.

6. “Nowel! Nowel! Unto you
A little Child is born,
More purer than the drops of dew,
And brighter than the morn.”

Sheet Music from George Ratcliffe Woodward, ed., The Cowley Carol Book For Christmas, Easter, and Ascensiontide, Second Series (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd, ca. 1919), Carol #89e
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF

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