Always scheduled on the winter solstice, this carol … said solstice was on:
As it’s precisely 0930 GMT as I write, it has passed … and I am sad. More as to why below the carol …
In the carol, there’s a mournful or melancholy tone to the earth and nature resting but I for one beg to differ … there is no season so restful, so hushed, so without stress, bar that which humans bring to it … whilst a “proper” perspective, not just in my eyes, might be:
There’s a song I sometimes run at this time, by Richard Thompson, sung by Fairport Convention:
The album was about Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow, and ultimate defeat, but the lyrics do add to the feel of a wintry Britain just as well … requiring of us hearts of oak.
This is my time now, ladies and gentlemen … possibly yours too … a time of intimacy with nature, with our Maker … of reflection … of hush, except for a roaring fire, good cheer, good fayre, bonhomie … I’d vaguely date it from the solstice to maybe January 8 to 10, somewhere there.
Bonny Bunch is not my favourite Fairport album, but it’s interesting in having an essentially historical theme. Much folk(ish) music is historic in the sense of being traditional but not much is historical in the context of politics.and events. I recommend a dive into Al Stewart’s catalogue.. You could do worse than start with this one about Charles of Sweden’s invasion of Russia in the early 1700’s. Had Napoleon known his history he may have had second thoughts 100 years later.! https://youtu.be/jM0zvTL7Adc?si=Vf7pmqEF_p-QmrU2
The technology changes but governments and wars never really change do they.