God Rest You Merry, gentlemen
God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen or God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen is a traditional English Christmas carol .
history
Although the 15th century is sometimes assumed to be the time of origin, the text and melody can be found for the first time in the middle of the 18th century. With the happy, solemn melody in a minor key, it was a backlash from the rural population to the rather gloomy chorales of the church. The text author knew how to make the meaning of the birth and life of Jesus Christ clear. The song text refers to the announcement of the birth to the shepherds ( Luke 2 : 8–20 EU ). Today the song causes problems of understanding in places.
It was first published in full in 1833 in the collection of carols Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern edited by William B. Sandys . As early as 1823, William Hone published the first lines of the song in his Ancient Mysteries Described under the heading “ List of Christmas carols now annually printed ”.
Charles Dickens also quotes the song in his Christmas story A Christmas Carol , published in 1843 .
Many artists from different genres of music have made recordings of this song. Parodies of the song are also featured in the TV series Dr. House or in the novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix .
Ernest Hemingway also uses the title of the song as a parody of the title of a short story (German title: God have you blessed, you gentlemen ) about the Christian fundamentalist self-mutilation of a young man.
song lyrics
There are different versions of this song (text and melody), these have a long tradition in different regions of England. The most widespread is the version published in the Carols for Choirs collection of songs by Oxford University Press (there, however, the second verse is missing).
1. God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Savior
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray:
O tidings of comfort and joy,
comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy.
2. In Bethlehem, in Jury,
This blessed Babe was born,
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn,
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn:
O tidings ...
3. From God our heavenly Father
A blesséd angel came,
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name:
O tidings ...
4. The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoicéd much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blesséd Babe to find:
O tidings ...
5. 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:
O tidings ...
6. 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 others doth deface:
O tidings ...
misunderstandings
A wrong comma is often used in the first line before “merry”, as if “merry gentlemen” were a salutation. But the words rest and merry and especially the phrase to rest somebody merry had a special meaning at the time the text was written. Against this background, the first line should be read in the sense of God make you joyful, gentlemen , which translates as 'God make you happy, you gentlemen' (and not 'God spare you, you merry gentlemen').
An occasional confusion with married gentlemen 'married men' is also used deliberately as a parody in the English-speaking world.
German text
In 1998 Manfred Siebald backed the song with a German text under the title It will not always be dark .
Even Rolf Harris backed the song in 1996 with a German text, entitled Silver and gold bears.
Web links
- Ace Collins: The Stories Behind The Best-Loved Songs of Christmas - On the origin of the song
- Hymns and Carols of Christmas - Analysis and Comparison of Different Versions
- Catherine Osborne: Considerations for Understanding the Text and the First Line of Text in particular.
Individual evidence
- ↑ God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen . Hymns and Carols of Christmas; Retrieved January 10, 2010.
- ↑ rest . In: Online Etymology Dictionary
- ↑ merry . In: Online Etymology Dictionary
- ↑ For example, in a fun text about Elton John's wedding , the sound of which is otherwise based on the original.
- ↑ Song of the week: "It won't always be dark". erf.de
- ↑ Rolf Zuckowski & His Great Friends * - Silent Nights - Light. discogs.com