"Deck the Halls" or "Deck the Hall" (which is the original title) is a traditional Yuletide/Christmas and New Years' carol. The melody is Welsh dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, Nos Galan. (In the eighteenth century Mozart used the melody for a violin and piano duet, Sonata No. 18.[1])
The lyrics are American in origin, dating from the late nineteenth century, although the repeated "fa la la" goes back to the original Welsh Nos Galan, and may originate from medieval ballads.[2][1]
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The melody of "Deck the Hall" is taken from "Nos Galan" ("New Year's Eve"), a traditional Welsh New Year's Eve carol published in 1794, although it is much older. The Welsh and English lyrics supplied there are as follows:[3]
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The following lyrics are found in the printings of 1877 and 1881 (which are identical):
The major difference from the current version is the omission of the third "Fa la la" line in the early printings (which corresponds to the instrumental flourish in the Welsh original). The alteration of the first line to "Deck the halls" (plural) in found as early as the 1930s:[4] both "hall" and "halls" are found today.
Other common alterations change "Christmas" to "Yule" or "Yuletide" in various locations where it appears. For example, "Christmas carol" may be changed to "Yuletide carol". By the 1970s, perhaps because of developments in the meaning of the word "gay", we see the line "Don we now our gay apparrel" changed to "Fill the mead-cup, drain the barrel" in some sources.[5]
The tune is that of an old Welsh air, first found in a musical manuscript by Welsh harpist John Parry Ddall (c. 1710-1782), but undoubtedly much older than that. The composition is still popular as a dance tune in Wales, and was published, with both Welsh and English lyrics, in the 1784 and 1794 editions of the harpist Edward Jones's Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards. Poet John Ceiriog Hughes later wrote his own lyrics. A middle verse was later added by folk singers. In the eighteenth century the tune spread widely, with Mozart using it in a piano and violin concerto[6] and, later, Haydn in the song "New Year's Night."
Originally, carols were dances and not songs. The accompanying tune would have been used as a setting for any verses of appropriate metre. Singers would compete with each other, verse for verse — known as canu penillion dull y De ("singing verses in the southern style"). The church actively opposed these folk dances. Consequently, tunes originally used to accompany carols became separated from the original dances, but were still referred to as "carols". The popular English lyrics for this carol are not a translation from the Welsh. The connection with dancing is made explicit in the English lyrics by the phrase "follow me in merry measure" as "measure" is a synonym for dance. A collection of such sixteenth and seventeenth century dances danced at the Inns of Court in London are called the Old Measures. Dancing itself having been previously suppressed by the church was revived during the renaissance beginning in fifteenth century Italy.
The Welsh melody with English lyrics appeared in the December 1877 issue of the Pennsylvania School Journal, with the melody, described as a "Welsh Air" appearing in four-part harmony, and unattributed lyrics.[7] The melody is substantially today's, except that the third "Fa la la" is omitted. An identical printing appeared four years later in The Franklin Square Song Collection.[8]
Charles Wood arranged a version, the words from Talhaiarn; translated by T. Oliphant. Oliphant died in 1873 and the first English version of 1881 is attributed to him.
| "Deck the Halls" | |
|---|---|
| Single by SHeDAISY | |
| from the album Brand New Year | |
| B-side | "Deck the Halls" (Radio Mix) |
| Released | November 9, 1999 |
| Format | CD single |
| Recorded | 1999 |
| Genre | Country pop |
| Length | 3:50 |
| Label | Lyric Street |
| Producer | Dann Huff |
In 1999, an adaptation of "Deck the Halls" was released by country music group SHeDAISY for Disney animated film Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. The song was later included on the group's Christmas album, Brand New Year, released in 2000. The music video filmed for the song features scenes from Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas.
| Chart (1999-2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs | 37 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 61 |
The characters in the comic strip Pogo traditionally sang this song at Christmas, using nonsense lyrics, "Deck us all with Boston Charlie", and so on. A version expounding on these lyrics was recorded by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.
In the United States and Canada it is common for children to sing ``Deck the halls with poison ivy``, a playground song based on Deck the Halls.