Homeless Wassail

— Finest Kind

The song was conceived one wintery evening by the sight of a few homeless folks huddling together for warmth on a subway grate outside Toronto city hall, while hordes of good citizens passed them by, focused on getting home with their Christmas shopping. The old English tradition of wassailing, in which the workers visited the wealthier houses in the village, sang, and were rewarded with food and drink, seemed like an appropriate setting.

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1. Wassail, wassail all over the town
Our cup is white and our ale is brown.
But huddled on this iron grate
We poor and hungry curse our fate.

Chorus:
No wassail bowl for such as these
No turkey scraps, no ale nor cheese.
This Christmas eve our hearts' desire
Is a bottle of gin and a trashcan fire.

2. Good Christian mind, as home you go
With dreams of holly and mistletoe,
That the holly bears a dreadful thorn
For those who wake to a frozen dawn.

Chorus

3. Oh, where is he, that holy child
Once born of Mary, meek and mild?
And whither peace, goodwill to men
Now and for evermore, amen?

Chorus

4. All ye who dine with face aglow
In Reginensi atrio,
Pray pause awhile at pleasure's door
And sup some sorrow with the poor.

Chorus

5. Wassail, wassail all over the town
Our cup is white and our ale is brown.
This cold and hunger, pain and care,
Sweet Jesus Christ, it's hard to bear!

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Personnel: Ian Robb, lead vocals, concertina; Ann Downey, Shelley Posen, harmony vocals; James Stephens, David Bignell, David Cain, sound.

From Feasts and Spirits CD. Buy it.

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Songs not otherwise attributed were recorded at the annual Great Labor Arts Exchange in 2001, 2003, 2004, or 2005 at the National Labor College/George Meany Center, Silver Spring, Maryland. Engineers: Bob Barnes, Ellis Boal, Charlie Ray Fetty III, Joe Jencks, Ray Korona, George Mann, Dave Sless, Isaac Wilson.

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