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Soul​-​Cake

by Merry Hadaway

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about

A (mostly!) traditional English "souling" song, just in time for Halloween, Samhain, and All Souls' Day (the 2nd November)!

The tradition of going "souling" is one of the origins of trick or treating, and is very similar to the December/Christmas tradition of wassailing (which itself is one of the origins of Christmas caroling). This is even reflected in some similarities between souling/soul cake songs and some of the wassail-type Christmas songs such as "Here We Come A-Wassailing" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Some of the poor people (especially children) of an area would go door to door, singing and saying prayers for the people who lived there, and in return might be given a "soul-cake" - a small round cake filled with sweet spices, raisins, currants and so forth, not unlike a welshcake - or other good things to eat and drink.

This is mostly the traditional tune, but I found myself doing something a little different in the second half of the verses, and I like it so I went along with that. :-) In the general spirit of low budget percussion, the accompanying drum is actually my ukulele case. ;-)

lyrics

Chorus.

A soul, a soul, a soul-cake!
Please, good missus, a soul-cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for him who made us all.


1.

God bless the master of this house,
And the misteress also,
And all the little children
Who round the table grow,
Likewise your men and maidens,
Your cattle and your store,
And all that dwells within your gates,
We wish them ten times more.


2.

Go down into the cellar,
And see what you can find,
If your barrels are not empty,
We hope you will prove kind.
We hope you will prove kind,
With your apples and strong beer,
And we'll come no more a-souling
Till this time next year.


3.

The lanes are very dirty,
My shoes are very thin,
I've got a little pocket
To put a penny in.
If you haven't got a penny,
A ha'penny will do;
If you haven't got a ha'penny,
Then God bless you.

credits

released October 30, 2018
Elly Hadaway - voice, percussion, cover photograph
Somhairle Kelly - production, graphic design

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Merry Hadaway Stonehaven, UK

Folk singer, ukulele player and songwriter. Queer, disabled, trans, Christo-Pagan, powered by waves and mountains. :-)

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