God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen |
|
|---|---|
| Genre | Christmas carol |
| Based on | Luke 2 |
| Meter | 8.6.8.6.8.6 with refrain |
God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is an English traditional Christmas carol. It is in the Roxburghe Collection (iii. 452), and is listed as no. 394 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It is also known as Tidings of Comfort and Joy, and by variant incipits as Come All You Worthy Gentlemen; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; God Rest Ye, Merry Christians; or God Rest You Merry People All.
Contents
Lyrics
The first recorded version is found in Three New Christmas Carols, dated c. 1760. Its first verse reads:
God rest ye, merry Gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this Day.
To save poor souls from Satan's power,
Which long time had gone astray.
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.( in a low key)
The transitive use of the verb rest in the sense "to keep, cause to continue, to remain" is typical of 16th- to 17th-century language (the phrase rest you merry is recorded in the 1540s). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase "God rest you merry" means "may God grant you peace and happiness." Etymonline.com notes that the first line "often is mispunctuated" as "God rest you, merry gentlemen" because in contemporary language, rest has lost its use "with a predicate adjective following and qualifying the object" (Century Dictionary). This is the case already in the 1775 variant, and is also reflected by Dickens's replacement of the verb rest by bless in his 1843 quote of the incipit as "God bless you, merry gentlemen".
Some variants give the pronoun in the first line as ye instead of you, in a pseudo-archaism. In fact, ye would never have been correct, because ye is a subjective (nominative) pronoun only, never an objective (accusative) pronoun.
A variant text was printed in 1775 in The Beauties of the Magazines, and Other Periodical Works, Selected for a Series of Years. This text was reproduced from a song-sheet bought from a caroler in the street. This version is shown here alongside the version reported by W. B. Sandys (1833) and the version adopted by Carols for Choirs (OUP, 1961), which has become the de facto baseline reference in the UK.
| The Beauties of the Magazines (1775) | Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, W. B. Sandys (1833) | Carols for Choirs (1961) |
|---|---|---|
|
1. God rest you, merry gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, Remember Christ our Saviour Was born on Christmas-day To save poor souls from Satan's power, Which long time had gone astray.
|
1. God rest you merry, gentlemen Let nothing you dismay For Jesus Christ, our Saviour Was born upon this day, To save us all from Satan's power When we were gone astray.
|
1. God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, For Jesus Christ our Saviour Was born upon this day, To save us all from Satan's power When we were gone astray:
|
|
2. From God that is our Father The blessed angels came Unto some certain shepherds, With tidings of the same; That he was born in Bethlehem The Son of God by name.
|
2. In Bethlehem, in Jury This blessed babe was born And laid within a manger Upon this blessed morn The which his mother Mary Nothing did take in scorn.
|
2. From God our heavenly Father A blessed angel came, And unto certain shepherds Brought tidings of the same, How that in Bethlehem was born The Son of God by name:
|
|
3. Now when they came to Bethlehem, Where our sweet Saviour lay, They found him in a manger Where oxen feed on hay. The blessed Virgin kneeling down Unto the Lord did pray.
|
3. From God our Heavenly Father A blessed Angel came, And unto certain Shepherds Brought tidings of the same, How that in Bethlehem was born The Son of God by name.
|
3. The shepherds at those tidings Rejoiced much in mind, And left their flocks a-feeding In tempest, storm and wind, And went to Bethlehem straightway, This blessed Babe to find:
|
|
4. With sudden joy and gladness, The shepherds were beguil'd, To see the Babe of Israel Before his mother mild. O then with joy and cheerfulness Rejoice each mother's child.
|
4. Fear not, then said the Angel, Let nothing you affright, This day is born a Saviour Of virtue, power and might; So frequently to vanquish all The friends of Satan quite.
|
4. But when to Bethlehem they came, Whereat this Infant lay, They found Him in a manger, Where oxen feed on hay; His mother Mary kneeling, Unto the Lord did pray:
|
|
5. Now to the Lord sing praises, All you within this place Like we true loving brethren, Each other to embrace, For the merry time of Christmas Is coming on a-pace.
|
5. The Shepherds at those tidings Rejoiced much in mind, And left their flocks a feeding In tempest, storm and wind, And went to Bethlehem straightway, This blessed babe to find.
|
5. Now to the Lord sing praises, All you within this place, And with true love and brotherhood Each other now embrace; This holy tide of Christmas All other doth deface:
|
|
<no further couplets> |
6. But when to Bethlehem they came, Whereas this infant lay, They found him in a manger, Where oxen feed on hay, His mother Mary kneeling Unto the Lord did pray.
7. Now to the Lord sing praises, All you within this place, And with true love and brotherhood Each other now embrace; This holy tide of Christmas All other doth deface.
|
<no further couplets> |
Cover versions
American country singer Garth Brooks's version of the song, for the week ending 8 January 2000, peaked at number sixty-nine each on Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay. For the week ending 7 January 2006, American contemporary Christian band MercyMe's version peaked at number thirty-four on Adult Contemporary, number nine on Hot Christian Songs, and number nine on Christian Airplay The version also peaked at number forty-nine on Christian Digital Song Sales for the week ending 17 December 2011. American smooth jazz gospel singer Tim Bowman's version peaked at number twenty-nine on Smooth Jazz Songs for the week ending 9 January 2010, the version's only week on the chart.
The Glee Cast's version peaked at number eighteen on Billboard Holiday Digital Songs for the week ending 4 December 2010. For the week ending 17 December 2011, American metalcore band August Burns Red's version peaked at number three on Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, number thirty-five on Rock Digital Song Sales, number one on Christian Digital Song Sales, and number thirty-four on Holiday Digital Song Sales. For the week ending 4 January 2014, the Canadian band Barenaked Ladies and singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan's version, included in the band's 2004 holiday album Barenaked for the Holidays, charted as "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings", peaking at number twenty-two on Billboard Holiday Digital Songs and number twenty-five on Hot Canadian Digital Song Sales. American a-capella band Pentatonix's version, included in A Pentatonix Christmas (2016) and the soundtrack of the 2018 animated film adaptation of The Grinch, peaked at number seventy-three on Billboard Holiday 100 for the week ending 31 December 2016. For the week ending 3 January 2018, Christian band Tenth Avenue North and Christian singer Sarah Reeves's version peaked at number eleven on Christian AC Songs and number forty-four on Christian Airplay. Canadian duo Ali & Theo's version peaked at number twenty on the Canada AC for the week ending 28 December 2019.
- The New Oxford Book of Carols, ed. Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 527
- An eight-verse version of this carol can be heard at New Star Sound
Images for kids
-
1827 publication of the melody, set to satirical lyrics by William Hone
.png)
See also
In Spanish: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen para niños
