Frodi Rest Ye Merry
(to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen")
O Frodi rest ye merry
Let nothing you dismay
For tyrants have begun to fall
Upon this very day
Restoring all our ancient freedoms
they had seized away
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
On Yuletide Frodi came to us
Out from the Greenwood heath
Goodwill towards men and frith
were all that he would merry teach :
Loving generosity
and play would make us breathe
In the tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
On Yule eve Frodi dressed in green
and rode to every house
Dispensing gifts so plentily
and good feelings aroused.
He rode his golden boar
and gave out ham for all to eat.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
O sad and tired, overworked,
and weary with the toil
that giant men with ice-cold hearts
forced us to feed their spoils
Frodi wiped out all our fear
reminding us to play
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
The hard-heart tyrants pushed us hard
and ploughed o'er all our rights,
They terrorized our children
by towering with their heights,
But Frodi brought our hearts together
with the tools to fight :
With the tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
The giants fell down from our joy
which tied them up in knots,
We danced and sung and loved again,
together called the shots,
We helped each other when we fell down
A hand to help get up,
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
O to the greenwood we would go
to learn the lore of wild-woods
where sacred cheer, and holy awe
with sensual love were riled
Up so we could feel our hearts were melding
Into one strong pact, filled with
Tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
He reigned as king of freedom
and let loose all the chains
He untied all the manacles
locked into all our brains
And urged us, follow bliss
and find the true gold of our dreams
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
One day he left us to travel
back up into the sky.
But we know that he lives
amongst us even though he died.
For green and golden are the fields
that smile every spring, bringing
Tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace.
On Yuletide join your hearts together
with King Frodi's grace, in the
Tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
(adaptation copyright 2007 by Siegfried Goodfellow)
(adaptation copyright 2007 by Siegfried Goodfellow)
posted by SiegfriedGoodfellow at 6:28 AM
3 Comments:
Cheers! Wonderful adaptation.
Thank you! I want to work on adapting many such carols. We know for a fact that carol tunes originally were not Christian oriented, but heathenesque and even bawdy. The tunes were taken and written over. (In fact, this is true for a lot of Christian music. Many Christian hymns from the 1600's, 1700's, even 1800's came from folk tunes given Christian lyrics.) It is legitimate to tap these melodies and give them a new spin. It is a way of honoring them. (Not so much by "returning them to origin", since we cannot know for certain what their "original" lyrics were, but by Inflecting something we honor its Roots.)
Yes, I know something of the origins of christmas carols. As such, I originally wrote my comment as "Wonderful adaption of an adapted carol". But, as soon as I finished it, it seemed more unwieldy than intentioned. So I lopped off the extra verbiage.
Something I did not do at all this time around. LOL.
I look forward to more carol rewinds.
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