Noël! Noël! Noël! Noël!
A Catholic tale have I to tell!
And a Christian song have I to sing
While all the bells in Arundel ring.

I pray good beef and I pray good beer
This holy night of all the year,
But I pay detestable drink for them
That give no honor to Bethlehem.

May all good fellows that here agree
Drink Audit Ale in heaven with me
And may all my enemies go to hell!
Noël! Noël! Noël! Noël!
May all my enemies go to hell!
[Noël! Noël!]1

G. Bachlund sets lines 13-14

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Bachlund: "Noël! Noël! Noël! Noël!/ Fa-la-la-la-la."

Text Authorship:

• by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), no title, appears in The Four Men, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Lines for a Christmas card", 2010, lines 13-14 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Trevor Harvey , "A sailor's carol", published 1933 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by (James) Healey Willan (1880 - 1968), "Noel, Noel, Noel, a Catholic Tale" [ baritone and TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 90