Lyrics Kate Rusby - Cold Winter

-- based on an Elizabethan (late C.16th ) winter carol

All hail to the days
that merit more praise
than all the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights
that double delights
as well for the poor as the peer!
And good fortune attend
each merry man's friend
that does but the best that he may;
And forgetting all wrongs
with music and songs
to drive the cold winter away
to drive the cold winter away.

'Tis ill for a mind
to anger inclined
to think of small injuries now;
If it's wrath that you seek
don't lend her your cheek
nor let her inhabit thy brow.
And cast out of thy books
malevolent looks —
both beauty and youth will decay,
And we'll wholly consort
with mirth and with sport
to drive the cold winter away,
to drive the cold winter away.

Oh, this time of the year
is spent in good cheer,
and neighbours together do meet
Oh, to sit by the fire
with friendly desire,
each other in love for to greet;
And old grudges forgot
are put in the pot,
and sorrows beside them will lay;
And the old and the young
will carol this song
to drive the cold winter away,
to drive the cold winter away.

When Christmas's tide
comes in like a bride
with holly and ivy clad,
For twelve days of the year
are spent in good cheer
and every household is glad;
Then the country guise
is then to devise
some gambols of Christmas to play,
Oh, and every young man
does the best that he can
to drive the cold winter away,
to drive the cold winter away.

All hail to the days
that merit more praise
than all the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights
that double delights
as well for the poor as the peer!
And good fortune attend
each merry man's friend
that does but the best that he may;
And forgetting old wrongs
with music and songs
to drive the cold winter away,
to drive the cold winter away,
to drive the cold winter away.