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Please to see the King

from Nutmeg & Ginger by IONA

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Please to see the King/Gower Wassail (Welsh) 4:30

Please to See The King is the tune of a carol from Pembrokeshire, South Wales. It commemorates an ancient ritual in which boys hunt a wren, the King of all birds, on St. Stephen's Day (Dec. 26). They then carry it from house to house as a token of good luck. Since we are not into dead birds, especially the day after Christmas when we've probably got a hangover from all that wassail, we don't do the words.
The Gower Wassail, from the nearby Gower Peninsula, is another carol for bringing in the luck. Collected by the Welsh folksinger, Philip Tanner, it contains a great wassail recipe using elderberry, nutmeg and ginger...

lyrics

Please to see the King/Gower Wassail

A-wassail, a-wassail, throughout all the town.
Our cup it is white and our ale it is brown.
Our wassail is made of the good ale and true,
Some nutmeg and ginger, it’s the best we can do.
Fol the dol, the dol-de-dol,
Fol the dol-de-dol, fol the dol-de-dee,
Fol the dero, fol the daddy,
Sing tu-re-lye-do!

Our wassail is made of the elderberry bough
And so, my good neighbour, we’ll drink unto thou;
Besides all of that, you’ll have apples in store,
Pray let us come in for its cold by the door.
Fol the dol, . . . &c.

There’s a master and a mistress sitting down by the fire,
While we poor wassailers do wait in the mire,
And if we’re alive for another new year,
Perhaps we may call and see who doth live here.
Fol the dol, . . . &c.

We know by the moon that we are not too soon,
We know by the sky that we are not too high,
We know by the stars that we are not too far,
We know by the ground that we are within sound.
Fol the dol, . . . &c.
© 1996 Barnaby Productions Inc.

credits

from Nutmeg & Ginger, released October 1, 1996
Bernard - Flute, C whistle; Diana - Mandolins; Barbara - Lead guitar, vocals, tambourine; Mike Melchione - Tremolo guitar.

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IONA Washington, D.C.

IONA has been taking its unique brand of traditional Celtic music to festivals, arts centers, schools & house concerts all over North America and Europe since 1986, blending music from the various Celtic traditions with stories and a little humor - Barbara Ryan (vocals, bouzouki, bodhran), Bernard Argent (flute, doumbek), Chuck Lawhorn (bass), Jim Queen (fiddle, banjo) & Kathleen Larrick (dance). ... more

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