|
Winter
Steeleye Span
Maddy Prior, vocals; Peter Knight, violin, “Octave” violin, viola, electric piano, mandolin, backing vocals, string arrangements; Ken Nicol, vocals, acoustic and electric guitars; Rick Kemp, bass, vocals; Liam Genockey, drums and percussion
All tracks arr. Steeleye Span except
Tracks 3, 8 Steeleye Span / Ken Nicol
Track 6 Steeleye Span / Peter Knight
Recorded at Warehouse Studios Oxford Engineered and mixed by Steve Watkins Produced by Steeleye Span Mastered
by Tony Poole Album co-ordination John Dagnell at Park Records
 |
|
|
In The Bleak Midwinter
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.
Snow had
fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain.
Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In
the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for him, whom cherubim worship night and day,
A breastful of milk and a mangerful of hay;
Enough
for him whom angels fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air.
But only his
mother, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb.
If I were a Wise Man I
would do my part.
Yet what I can I give him: give my heart.
|
|
Christina Rossetti / Gustav Holst (1872), arr. Steeleye
Span
|
|
Christina Rossetti wrote the poignant words for this well known song in response
to a request from the magazine
Scribner's Monthly for a Christmas poem. The tune is by Gustav Holst. Maddy Prior sings this on the album but leaves out the third
verse like many hymn books who censor the
“breastful of milk”.
compare with the Albion Band version, here
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
related internet links
|
|
1814-1878
composer of
See Amid the Winter's Snows
and other hymns
1874-1934
this website introduces you
to the life and work of this
emminent composer
1830-1894
an overview of her life and writings.
from the Victorian Web
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
![Winter 2004 [click for larger image]](/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=https://thealbionchronicles.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wintersteeleyespan.jpg&target=tlx_new)