Festival and Anthology recordings
Sing Christmas and the Turn of the Year
2000 - Rounder CD1850 CD
Track List:
Introduction / Good King Wenceslas - Alan Lomax, Birmingham Studio Group
Caroling in the Dark / Good King Wenceslas / This is the Truth Sent from Above / The Holly and the Ivy - Alan Lomax, Children's Chorus, The Haddo House Choir, Brian Newey Skiffle Group, The Skinner's Bottom Glee Singers, Shirley Collins
Boscastle Breakdown / Padstow Wassail Song / St. David's Day Dance / I Wonder as I Wander - Charlie Bate, Marshfield Paper Boys, Cyril Tawney
We Wish You a Merry Christmas / Caroling scene - Wisbech Children's Choir
Peace O're the World - Carolers At The Cheshire Cheese Pub
Introduction to the Ballad of Jesus Christ - Ewan MacColl
The Ballad of Jesus Christ - Ewan MacColl
Excerpt from Shepherd's Nativity Play / Shepherd's Cradle Song / Coventry Carol / Excerpt from Wisbech Nativity Play - Steven Kirby, Hollinwood Girls' Choir, Ronald Soules, Wisbech Grammer School, Walter Slasher
Christmas in London - Alan Lomax, Charles Chilton
The Derby Ram - A.L. Lloyd
Christmas Morning Calypso - Fitzoy Coleman
Unite - Rans Boi Highlife Group
Pretty Little Baby - Peggy Seeger
Reading from Luke 2: 15-19 / Psalm 23 / The Mother's Consecration / Christ Child Lullaby / Saint Mary's Men Are We - Joe Duthie, Peter Buchan, Students From The Scalloway Junior Secondary School, Flora MacNeil, Katie Ann Nicholson
The Day We Went to Rothsay-o - Ian McRae
Regional hookup: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Ewan MacColl, Brian Newey Skiffle Group, Birmingham Studio Group, Charlie Bate
Cromwell Versus Father Christmas - Alan Lomax
The Jug f Punch / Vinyl Ridge March - The McPeake Trio, Ravenhill Temperance Flute Band
Royal Belfast Hornpipe / Millicent's Hornpipe / The Tenpenny Bit / The Dublin Reel - Gerard O'Kane, The Rakes, Seamus Ennis, Katie Graham
The Cherry Tree Carol - Shirley Collins
Anglesey Carol / Hiraeth - The North Wales Singers, Sian Emlyn
Excerpt from the Symondsbury Mummers Play / Donny Brook Fair (Winlaton Sword Dance) - Unkown Artist
Good King Wenceslas / When the Saints Go Marching In - Haslington Boys Brass Band, The Happy Wanderers
T'was Mary Conceived / The Noble Stem of Jesse - Dominic Behan, Hollinwood Girls' Choir
The Lord's Prayer (in Welsh) - Unknown Welch Choir
O Come All Ye Faithful / The Gift of Power / Metrical Psalm in Gaelic - The Sale And District Musical Society, Katie Ann Nicholson
No Room at the Inn (story) / Last Month of the Year - Alan Lomax
Hark, What News the Angels Bring / I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In / Wassail, Wassail, All Over This Town / Here We Come a-Wassailing - Carolers At The Chesire Cheese Pub, Shirley Collins, Charlie Bate Group, Birmingham Studio Group
Notes
Place Sing Christmas and the Turn of the Year in your stereo, press "play" and instantly it's 1957. Christmas Day, specifically, and all of Britain is celebrating. Alan Lomax was there and he saved it for us all to hear. And Rounder Records, 43 years later, has released it for everyone's seasonal enjoyment.
Working with live hookups throughout the British Isles, Lomax presented an original holiday broadcast on the BBC. Leapfrogging around the country, Lomax and his associates gave listeners a taste of Britain's multicultural celebrations, ranging from traditional pub sings to choral hymns and, yes, even the skiffle bands which were popular in the day.
We don't get a lot of full songs here; Lomax hops and skips from place to place, feeding us a snippet here and a snippet there, providing cultural commentary like a gung-ho sports announcer as he goes. And it's a rollicking ride.
Because the BBC saved no copies of the production, Sing Christmas and the Turn of the Year may well have disappeared from our folk memory forever. Fortunately, two copies — one preserved on 33 1/3 vinyl, the other on 78 — were found in the Lomax archives in 1996. The CD was made using the best tracks from both, but there is still a bit of sound distortion — it's rarely intrusive, however. The CD comes with comprehensive liner notes detailing the first broadcast and the subsequent folk revival which Lomax would be remembered for spearheading. There are also photos, a complete transcription of Lomax's dialogue and the lyrics of all the songs.
If you have a yen for Christmas Past, take this one home and send yourself back to 1957.
Source: Rambles.net