Music, History & Popular Culture
Singing of Duke, Page & Peasant
Familiar tune with elusive lyrics
As it is the Christmas season, I want to share some thoughts on my favorite carol. Everyone knows the tune. According to my convenience sample of people around me, nobody seems to know the words. The singer, Mojo Nixon, even made a parody song about not knowing the words. The memorable melody predates the modern lyrics by 500 years, but that head start probably has little to do with the oft-forgotten verse.
I’ve also come to understand that the song is polarizing, with some folks loving it (the logical and morally correct position to take) and some distaining it (the belief of fools, brigands, and the uncouth). The song: John Mason Neale’s 1853 composition, Good King Wenceslas.
Critics, of whom H. J. L. J. Massé is typical, states, “Why, for instance, do we tolerate such impositions as Good King Wenceslas? The original was and is an Easter Hymn… it is marked in carol books as ‘traditional,’ a delightful word which often conceals ignorance. There is nothing traditional in it as a carol.”¹
