NOT A CHRISTMAS RECORD—BUT HOLD ON, HERE WE HAVE A CHRISTMAS SONG, no. 2. Steeleye Span, Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again. The Christmas song on here is some olde English thing about wassail. Why do olde English things evoke Christmas... okay, well, obviously I guess it’s those leftover madrigalisms like “fa la la la la” and figgy pudding and tidings of comfort etc. The wassail number isn’t familiar exactly, in that I’ve never heard it, but it’s *very* familiar in that it’s olde instruments with a woman singing in an olde Saxon-sounding voice like a character in a Chaucer tale, insisting that wassail be served. It’s a cozy thing. Probably works any season but seems especially nice now. (I’d originally grouped this with the Mixed Company subgroup but the Xmastide and the wassail reference made me invent this new category. We’ll see how many others I can think of. I got three lined up—and at the rate I move with these that might still be more than I can manage.) #steeleyespan #tenmanmop #wassail #gowerwassail (at Noblesville, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJNLRhxLbQr/?igshid=1vnkdd5sg5xdl
