Deck the Halls

"Deck the Halls" or "Deck the Hall" (which is the original version of the lyrics) is a traditional Christmas, yuletide, and New Years' carol. The melody is Welsh dating back to the sixteenth century,^[1] and belongs to a winter carol, "Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862.

Lyrics

Thomas Oliphant's original English words as they appear in "Welsh Melodies With Welsh and English Poetry" (volume 2), published in 1862

The English-language lyrics were written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant. They first appeared in 1862, in volume 2 of Welsh Melodies, a set of four volumes authored by John Thomas, including Welsh words by John Jones (Talhaiarn) and English words by Oliphant.^[2] The repeated "fa la la" goes back to the earlier Welsh and may originate from medieval ballads.^[3] The lyrics run as follows:

Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
'Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Fill the meadcup, drain the barrel,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Troul the ancient Christmas carol,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

See the flowing bowl before us,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Follow me in merry measure,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
While I sing of beauty's treasure,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Fast away the old year passes,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses!
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Laughing, quaffing all together,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Heedless of the wind and weather,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

The phrase "'Tis the season", from the lyrics, has become synonymous with the Christmas and holiday season.^[4]^[5] 'tis being an archaic contraction of "it is".^[4] A similar archaic contraction is "'Twas the night before Christmas", from the first line of the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas".^[4]

The Welsh lyrics

In the original 1862 publication, Oliphant's English lyrics were published alongside Talhaiarn's Welsh lyrics. Although some early sources state that Oliphant's words were a translation of Talhaiarn's Welsh original,^[6] this is not the case in any strict or literal sense. The first verse in Welsh, together with a literal English translation taken from Campbell's Treatise on the language, poetry, and music of the Highland Clans (1862), is given for comparison:^[7]

Goreu pleser ar nos galan,
Tŷ a thân a theulu diddan,
Calon lân a chwrw melyn,
Pennill mwyn a llais y delyn,

The best pleasure on new year's eve,
Is house and fire and a pleasant family,
A pure heart and brown ale,
A gentle song and the voice of the harp

Variants

Pennsylvania School Journal, 1877

A variation of the lyrics appears in the December 1877 issue of the Pennsylvania School Journal.^[8] This version, in which there is no longer any reference to drinking, runs as follows:^[9]

Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
'Tis the season to be jolly,
Don we now our gay apparel,
Troll the ancient Christmas carol,

See the blazing yule before us,
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
Follow me in merry measure,
While I tell of Christmas treasure,

Fast away the old year passes,
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses!
Sing we joyous all together,
Heedless of the wind and weather,

An identical printing appeared four years later in The Franklin Square Song Collection.^[10]

The pluralizing of the title of the carol to "Deck the Halls" is found as early as 1892.^[11]

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".

Melody

Melody of "Deck the Hall", from John Hullah, The Song Book (1866)

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.^[1] The music is in AABA form.^[12]

Variants

The Pennsylvania version from 1877 omits of the third "Fa la la" line (which corresponds to the instrumental flourish in the Welsh original).

The third and fourth "Fa la la" lines sung to the words "Deck the Hall" differ from those sung or played in Wales, the fourth having a more arpeggiated melody in the Welsh version and the third differing in both melody and rhythm.

History

	Deck the Hall Piano solo of "Deck the Halls" Deck the Halls Alternate version for Deck the Halls. Two violins, viola and Violoncello. Deck the Halls Concert band version performed by United States Air Force Band and Singing Sergeants
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The tune is that of an old Welsh air, first found in a musical manuscript by Welsh harpist John Parry dating back to the 1700s . The melody 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 allegedly using it in his 18th violin sonata^[13] 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"). Consequently, tunes originally used to accompany carols became separated from the original dances, but were still referred to as "carols".

The Welsh and English lyrics found in the earliest publication of the "Nos Galan" melody are as follows:^[14]

The first known publication of the melody "Nos Galan", from "Musical and poetical relicks of the Welsh bards" (1794) by Edward Jones

O mor gynnes mynwes meinwen,