Words: English Traditional, 16th Century
Music: English Folk Song
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer
1. We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year!
Refrain
Good tidings we bring for you and your kin;
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year!
2. Now bring us some figgy pudding,1
Now bring us some figgy pudding,
Now bring us some figgy pudding,
And a cup of good cheer! Refrain
3. We won't go until we get some
We won't go until we get some
We won't go until we get some
So bring it out here! Refrain
We all like our figgy pudding;
We all like our figgy pudding;
We all like our figgy pudding;
With all its good cheer. Refrain
5. We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year!
And a Happy New Year! Refrain
1. Some versions: "We want some figgy pudding." Return
Alternate 4th verse
4. We all know that Santa's coming,
We all know that Santa's coming,
We all know that Santa's coming,
And soon will be here. Refrain
See A Garritan Community Christmas for an MP3:
We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Jeff Turner
William Studwell, The Christmas Carol Reader (New York: Harrington Park Press, 1995)
The considerable cultural impact of the Christmas carol is graphically demonstrated by the simple yet very popular folk carol from the West Country of England, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Although this song, which is quite possibly from the sixteenth century, is lively, attractive, affable, and conducive to the attainment of a positive holiday temperament, it cannot be considered as a piece with outstanding artistic substance.
The songs which are musically superior to "We Wish" are legion. But if one lists the songs which are better known, more performed, and more reacted to, they would certainly number far less than whatever number legion may be. There is just one reason for this discrepancy. "We Wish" is one of the primary elements in the body of music which pervades the longest, most beloved, and most culturally dominant of our holidays. Collectively, no other group of songs appears to have as much influence on Western civilization as do Christmas carols, especially in light of the relatively small number of significant carols that exist. Carols are not limited by age, education, life-style, beliefs, nationality, or taste.
For about one month of each year they strongly envelop all sectors of predominantly Christian nations, and even non-Christian nations are not exempt from their presence. A little song like "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," therefore, can have an effect surpassing its intrinsic merits because of its continuing membership in the highly influential club of carols.
Keyte and Parrott, eds., The Shorter New Oxford Book of Carols
The remnant of an envoie much used by wassailers and other luck visitors, and still in all too common use by modern doorstep carrolers.
See NOBC for Christemas hath made an end (no. 154).
William L. Simon, ed., The Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook (Pleasantville, NY: Readers Digest Association, revised 2003)
In the days of Merrie Olde England, a good part of life went on to the sound of music. Rich merchants hired bands to accompany them on strolls; peddlers enhanced their sales pitches with song; and a municipal chorus of singers, called waits, were licensed to sing out the hours of day or night, to greet visiting dignitaries, and to enliven weddings of the rich and near-rich. Waits were especially busy at Christmastime, serenading on frosty nights, telling the Nativity story in song, and generally making the festivities of that favorite holiday even merrier. In return, they might receive coins, or a bit of fig pudding, spiced ale or roasted pig. Many of the oldest carols are Wait’s carols, including "We Wish You a Merry Christmas.'
