Ahead of his new album, folk musician, Jon Wilks, has released a recording of a traditional Christmas Carol, with lyrics from Birmingham that have not been heard since the 1820s.
It opens to some lovely finger-style guitar, before Wilks, a vocal chameleon, delivers this old ballad in a way that just seems to fit its history so well. It’s as if he has got ‘into character’ for it. While Jon is equally at home with a fuller soundstage, this stripped-down approach really makes his voice and guitar playing shine through, an approach he has employed for the remainder of his upcoming album, “Up The Cut”, which also features traditional songs collected in Birmingham and the Midlands, mostly in the first three decades of the 19th century.
About the song, Jon says, “This version of the well-known carol was printed by D. Wrighton at 86 Snow Hill, Birmingham, sometime between 1812-30. It contains lyrics most of us will not recognise – they were certainly a surprise to me. I don’t recall singing verses about the defeat of Satan while growing up in Solihull in the 1980s! I have always been incredibly moved by this carol, marvelling at the rather austere melody. With that in mind, I’ve kept the arrangement and performance suitably subdued, hopefully presenting the song in all its stark beauty.”
It’s also our Song of the Day.
Lyrics: God rest ye merry gentlemen
God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our saviour
Was born on Christmas Day
To save our souls from Satan’s thrall
Which long have gone astray
This brings tidings of comfort and joy
From him that is our father
A blessed angel came
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same
That there was born in Bethlehem
The son of God by name
This brings tidings of comfort and joy
Fear nothing said God’s angel
Let nothing you affright
This night was born our saviour
Of a virgin pure and bright
He’s able to advise you
And throw down Satan quite
This brings tidings of comfort and joy
Then these certain shepherds
Rejoiced much in mind
And left their flocks a feeding
In tempest, storm and wind
And straight they went to Bethlehem
The son of God to find
This brings tidings of comfort and joy
And when they came to Bethlehem
Where our sweet saviour lay
They found him in a manger
Where oxen fed on hay
The blessed lady kneeling down
Unto the lord did pray
This brings tidings of comfort and joy
Let me to you all invite
Who are within this place
To live in love and unity
The gospel to embrace
The merry time of Christmas
Is drawing on a-pace
This brings tidings of comfort and joy
“Up The Cut”, which was produced by Jon and mixed/mastered by Andi Lee at Kosi Studios, will be released via Jon’s website (https://jonwilks.online/) and Bandcamp page on January 11th, 2021.
Download via Bandcamp: https://jonwilks.bandcamp.com/track/god-rest-ye-merry-gentlemen