In an attempt to provide this nascent blog with something both festive and relevant/useful/educational I have reproduced below the lyrics of 'The Coventry Carol':
Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child,
By, by, lully, lullay,
Thou little tiny child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Oh sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling, for whom we do sing,
By, by, lully, lullay
Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child,
By, by, lully, lullay,
Thou little tiny child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Herod the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight
All children young to slay
Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child,
By, by, lully, lullay,
Thou little tiny child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
A woe is me, poor child for thee,
And ever mourn and may
For thy parting, nor say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child,
By, by, lully, lullay,
Thou little tiny child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Although familiar to most people as a Christmas carol, the song was originally part of the Coventry cycle of Mystery Plays, sung during the Shearmen and Tailors' pageant of 'The Slaughter of the Innocents'. Of course, it is entirely possible that, during the Middle Ages, the song would also have been sung at Christmas. However, unlike today it was not rigidly connected to one season, or one occasion. Indeed, the song's role in the Mystery Plays' performance of the 'Christmas story' at Whitsun or Corpus Christi is congruent with the collapsing of conventional temporal conceptions enacted by the Cycle drama.
Whatever its history as a Christmas song, 'The Coventry Carol' is notable for two things. Firstly, it has great literary and historical value as one of the few surviving musical elements of the Cycle drama. Secondly, its beautiful lyrical and musical devices wonderfully reflect and engage with the drama of the Shearmen and Tailors' Pageant.
If you have to hand a recording of the song* or if you already know the tune, listen to the chorus. In the verses, and in the second line of the chorus, "By, by, lully, lullay" goes up and down the minor scale, returning to the minor root on the last syllable. In the fourth line of the chorus, however, "By, by, lully, lullay" goes up and down the minor scale, but instead of returning to the minor root, the final note is raised or sharped to end in a major key. This device, known as a Picardy third, was often used in Medieval music. It is less common today, although 'Crazy' by Gnarls Barkley does employ it: in that song, the first verse after a chorus is often raised from the minor key to the major. The Picardy Third's distortion of our musical expectations and its production of an uneasy, bittersweet tone is entirely appropriate for this song, and the play from which it derives. Although tragic, although evil, the Slaughter of the Innocents is a part of the narrative which heralds the arrival of the Son of God. Thus, like Judas' betrayal of Christ, its import sits uneasily between the horror of itself in isolation, and the glory of the destiny it helps fulfil. This unease and bittersweetness is perfectly mirrored in the tonally ambiguous effect of the Picardy Third in 'The Coventry Carol'.
On that note (!), on behalf of everyone at The Belfast Mystery Plays may I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Eamon
* Plenty of people have recorded 'The Coventry Carol' over the years, from the Kingston Trio to Kiri Te Kanawa. However, one of the best is that recorded by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band on their 1986 album A Tapestry of Carols. An excellent, more modern arrangement (albeit one now 21 years old) is by Alison Moyet, from the 1987 compilation A Very Special Christmas. Incidentally, A Very Special Christmas also includes Sting's fantastic, motet-like rendition of 'Gabriel's Message', another carol with distinctly medieval roots: it is a song derived from 'Gabriel From Heven Came', itself an English version of the Latin 'Angelus ad Virginem', famously mentioned by Chaucer in 'The Miller's Tale'.
For additional information on 'The Coventry Carol' (and some other songs possibly used in the Mystery Cycles) please visit:
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