God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
More actions
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is a traditional English Christmas carol. The earliest known versions of the text date to the 1650s,[1] and it was set to its current tune at least as early as the 1810s (some sources claim 1790s, though direct evidence of that date has not yet been found).[2] The Longest Johns' version was released on the 2013 Christmas at Sea EP.
Factoids
The title line is commonly interpreted to be the singer addressing a group of "merry gentlemen" and wishing them rest; however, the phrase "God rest you merry" was a common expression of good wishes in medieval and early modern England. The originally intended way to parse the sentence would be "God rest you merry, gentlemen," meaning something like, "May you be well, gentlemen."
And if we're being very pedantic, the third word in the line was originally "you", not "ye", since "you" was the object form of the pronoun and "ye" was the subject form. However, as these both merged into modern "you", common knowledge of the distinction was lost and "ye" is now often interpreted as simply an older form of "you" in all cases.
Lyrics
God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray
{Chorus}
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
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
{Chorus}
The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoicéd much in much in mind
And left their flocks-a-feeding
In tempest, storm, and wind
And went to Bethlehem straight-way
This blessed babe to find
{Chorus}
And 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
{Chorus}
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
{Chorus}
Recordings
Streaming/Purchase
YouTube Videos
Full Band Streams
- Christmas Party with The Longest Johns!!! (19 Dec 2018)
- TLJ Christmas Party!! (18 Dec 2019)
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Streams-mas (16 Dec 2020)
- THE SING ALONG! JINGLE JAM 2021 - DAY 6! w/ The Longest Johns (9 Dec 2021)
- Hark the Herald Angels Stream (21 Dec 2022)
- It Was Christmas Stream Babe (20 Dec 2023)