God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Year: 1760

Written By: Unknown

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Published by William B. Sandys in 1833, 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' is a popular traditional English carol. The melody to this carol is in Aeolian mode and is in cut time or is in common time. The title 'God rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' is also sometime known as 'God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen'; this has come about particularly more during modern times.

Although published by William B. Sandys in 1833, the carols earliest known circulation to date appears on a circa 1760 broadsheet. The Christmas carol is also described as a "new Christmas carol", due to this description, there is suggestion that the origin of the popular festive carol may be from the mid-18th century. As well as this description, 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' also appears in "new carols for Christmas", this is another 18th century source which although not completely known when published, it is believed to have been published between 1780-1800. As well as appearing in "new carols for Christmas", it also appeared William B. Sandys "Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern", this was a collection of seasonal carols.

'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' was written as a direct reaction to the music of the fifteenth century church, this is similar to many other early Christmas songs, which were also written in reaction to the church.

The popularity and positive link 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' has with Christmas led to it being referred to in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", it is mentioned in the part, "...at the first sound of - "God bless you merry, gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!"- Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost." This quotation is a clear link to this Christmas carol.
The first line has caused much confusion as to what the line actually means. The use of comma in the title 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen', does not refer to "merry gentlemen". The use of the word 'Rest' can be related to 'keep or make'. Although some believe that 'merry' actually believes mighty', this claim is not supported in the Oxford English Dictionary despite the fact that the dictionary has sixteen different definitions of the word, some of which date as far back to the 10th century. Interestingly, both of the 18th-century versions feature the use of, 'you' instead of 'ye', suggesting the possibility that it may just be a modern insertion