“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is a good carol, and since you mention carols which do not rely upon the tune, I thought I’d send you the following. This is the best version (indeed, the only version) I could find on-line, it being as accurate as any that I could transcribe from memory).

This is a tradional west country carol for the time of year. I had the pleasure of hearing it sung (unaccompanied), by Hearts of Oak in an old church in a Devon Village only two weeks ago.

— Andy

Martin adds

Lovely poem, though I wouldn’t have guessed it was a Christmas carol. I suspect it wasn’t really written as one, but rather adopted into the Christmas tradition later. Andy’s right; it does stand up on its own very well, though I didn’t appreciate how well the delayed rhyme worked until I heard it sung.

Notes and Links:

- There’s an mp3 at
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/8/william_pint_amp_felicia_dale.html

Recommended - this is a beautiful song. Many thanks to Andy for introducing me to it.

- http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/j/januarym.html has a bit about the song

- THE JANUARY MAN

Written by Dave Goulder, a one time foot plate man in the good old days of steam trains, who was also a keen walker and climber. He left his hometown of Nottingham to run a climbing centre in the Torridon Hills in Scotland and it was there, he says, that he saw for the first time through his townie eyes the year passing month by month through the seasons. Dave now runs courses in dry-stone walling but is still singing and writing songs. This I believe is one of the most perfect songs ever written.

– http://www.mikeharding.co.uk/music/bomber.htm#jan

- There are several variants floating around; Andy’s matches the mp3 I

pointed to; however there are some details I think have been altered from the original, particularly the end of the June verse (where ‘new colour’ seems to have replaced ‘newcomer’, though it is the latter that rhymes). For the sake of completeness, here’s the other set of lyrics:

The January man he walks abroad in woollen coat and boots of leather The February man still wipes the snow from off his hair and blows his hands The man of March he sees the spring and wonders what the year will bring And hopes for better weather

  Through April rain the man goes down to watch the birds come in to share
    the summer
  The man of May stands very still watching the children dance away the day
  In June the man inside the man is young and wants to lend a hand
  And grins at each newcomer

And in July the man in cotton shirt he sits and thinks on being idle The August man in thousands take the road and watch the sea and find the sun September man is standing near to saddle up and leave the year And autumn is his bridle

And the man of new October takes the reins and early frost is on his shoulder The poor November man sees fire and wind and mist and rain and winter air December man looks through the snow to let eleven brothers know They’re all a little older

And the January man comes round again in woollen coat and boots of leather To take another turn and walk along the icy road he knows so well The January man is here for starting off each and every year Along the way forever

– Dave Goulder

- Here’s a brief biography of Goulder:
http://www.fyldefolk.freeserve.co.uk/fyldefolk/d.html

- And look out for tomorrow’s Irresistible Followup.

— Martin