Coventry Carol
The “Coventry Carol” is an English Christmas carol dating from the 16th century.
The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, originally performed by the city’s guilds.
The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew: the carol itself refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed, and takes the form of a lullaby sung by mothers of the doomed children.
Religious changes caused the plays’ suppression during the later 16th century, but a copy of the songs survived and a transcription was eventually published by the Coventry antiquarian Thomas Sharp in 1817 as part of his detailed study of the city’s mystery plays.
Within the pageant, the carol is sung by three women of Bethlehem, who enter on stage with their children immediately after Joseph is warned by an angel to take his family to Egypt.
Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lully, lullay.
Thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lully, lullay.
O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling for whom we sing,
“Bye bye, lully, lullay”?
Herod the king, in his raging,
Chargèd he hath this day
His men of might in his own sight
All young children to slay.
That woe is me, poor child, for thee
And ever mourn and may
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
“Bye bye, lully, lullay.”
There is a particularly nice recording of the Coventry Carol by the BYU Concert Choir on YouTube, accompanied by colorful holiday-themed stills.
