Did you watch that video in its entirety? If not, I'd encourage you to go back and do so. Firstly because it's by Newfoundland-based Great Big Sea, a band which I think is grossly underappreciated for their preservation of songs like this, and I really like their style and their music in general. Secondly, it's lively and intended to bring Christmas cheer, and what good is reading this blog anyway if you're not going to listen to the music that is the subject? The roots of today's song (I hesitate to call it a carol, and that's part of why I'm so excited about it) are deep and obscure, so I hope you'll bear with the twists and turns that come along with "The Twelve Apostles." And if you haven't got a drink in your hand (if you imbibe) for this one, I highly recommend it, for this is as close to a Christmas drinking song as I intend to get.
Christmas comes but once a year...
The song above goes under many names in modern times, including "The Twelve Prophets," "The Carol of the Twelve Numbers," and "The Ten Commandments"). Obviously this song follows the basic structure of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but it's far more likely that the latter took from the former, not the other way around. "Green Grow the Rushes, O," while English in origin, is thought, in concept, to span much of the western world in many languages, including Hebrew, and to cross the border from Christianity Paganism (or rather vice versa) given its age. However, as a result of its word-of-mouth style, not limited to its singing, modern interpretations are likely very different from the versions from which they trace their roots.
I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just trying to spread Christmas cheer.
I honestly don't know where to begin in the analysis of this song. As far as musical structure, it seems to be whatever you want it to be, as in the very shanty-inspired version above. Lyrically, it's a whole different animal from anything I've tackled to date. Cecil Sharp, whom I've mentioned before for his collections of English and Celtic folklore, noted in 1916 that the lyrics are "so corrupt, indeed, that in some cases we can do little more than guess at their original meaning." It seems that this is a folk song in its truest form, which is to say that the original version is entirely unrecorded in writing and effectively unknown to history. To me, the translation of that is "perfect."
One more, for posterity.
On to the lyrical breakdown, since the lyrics-- much more so than the tune-- define this song. We obviously have twelve stanzas, apparently one for each of the twelve apostles. Beginning from the first:
One is one and all alone, and forever more shall be.
Most people take this to refer to God.
Two, two were lily-white babes, clothed all in green, oh
... Adam and Eve
Three of them were rivals (or drivers, riders, or wisers)
Each has its own meaning: the rivals may refer to Peter, James, and John, the drivers/riders/wisers the Magi.
Four were gospel preachers (makers)
...Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Five were ferrymen under the boat (bush?) also, Five for the symbols at your door
... Hard to say
Six, the six pall bearers (or proud walkers)
... Either a simple allusion to a funeral, or a reference to the six jars of water Jesus turned to wine
Seven, seven stars under the sky
...Any of a number of constellations, but probably referring to the seven original planets, excluding Earth
Eight for the April Rainers
...Either the rains of Noah's flood or a star cluster that rises in April
Nine bright-eyed shiners
...Possibly the nine orders of angels
Ten, the Ten Commandments
... Self explanatory
Eleven for the eleven who went to heaven
... Jesus' faithful apostles, excluding Judas Iscariot
Twelve for the twelve apostles
... Self explanatory
There are countless arrangments, versions, and translations of this song, so this is far from the be all, end all of the carol. The stanzas likely differ depending on the language and the translator, and even the English language versions vary from region to region. In fact, the Great Big Sea version seems largely based on a version popularized in Appalachia and the Ozarks toward the beginning of the 20th century. Take what you will from it, I just think it's a nice respite from the same "Twelve Days of Christmas" that we're all used to and sick of.
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