SONG-WRITING
Song is at the heart of this project, as the initial inspiration for the project's thematic focus*, and as the main characteristic of the local folkways that we're experimenting with. Singer-songewriter Jim Causley, with whom I has previously collaborated in 2014-15, has taken the lead on writing not only the wassail song, but also songs for other events in the cider-making year: we draw on Maying traditions, beating the bounds, and work-songs, among other conventions, to produce a suite of songs for the microbes on the farm and the people who work with them. The workshops at the farm, and our project participants, informed the writing of the wassail song in the project's first stage, and led to others being written later on, in 2022. §
*The song that inspired me to start this project is 'Bread n Cheese n Cider,' – a song that is part of project-participant Bill Murray's repertiore as as a folk singer. Having heard Bill sing this song, while persuing my research-interest in 'microbiopolitics' by reading Heather Paxson's anthropological studies of cheese-making, it became obvious to me that cider offers another tractible, practical example of how humans negotiate their social worlds with microbes. Conseqeuently, the song has become an anthem for the project, sung at every workshop and public presentation of our work.
RECORDINGS: JANUARY 2020
The tracks included here were recorded at the first Halstow Wassail; also included in this playlist, a BBC Radio Devon interview that gives additional context to the event that concluded the project's first stage. §
THE HALSTOW WASSAIL LYRICS
*AROUND THE TREE*
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the microbes we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
You be in the air with the moon shining bright.
So here’s to you all that dwell in the air,
May you bring us plenty of cider next year.
CHORUS
Here’s to thee all on the ground
Here’s to thee all in the air
Here’s to thee all in the earthen clay
And here’s to thee by the night and by the day
Wassail! Wassail!
And jolly come to our jo’val wassail!
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the yeast we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
You be on the apples where appledrains bite!
So here’s to apiculate yeasts on the skin,
May they yield and increase and keep good favour in!
CHORUS
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the lichen we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
You be on the bark of the tree stood upright.
So here’s to the lichen on the branch of the tree,
From brown rot and canker pray keep us all free!
CHORUS
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the fungus we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
You be underground binding all trees in sight.
So here’s to the soil so rich and so red,
All things mycorrhizal in their earthly bed.
CHORUS
*IN THE POUND-HOUSE*
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the mould we praise with delight
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
On the walls of the pound-house you be infnite.
So here’s to the mould and the mildew and dust,
Cobwebs on the ceiling; you all are a must!
CHORUS
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the bacilli we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
You be on the press where we squeeze the cheese tight.
So here’s to the pomace and here’s to the mock,
And here’s to the scrater and the old granite rock.
CHORUS
*IN THE CIDER BARN*
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the yeast we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
You be in the barrels sealed-up watertight.
So here’s to continued fermentation I vow,
All wild & untamed as Mother Nature knows how.
CHORUS
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the fora we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
You be in our bellies, full plain out of sight!
So here’s to gut-fora alive in me tum,
To nasty diseases I’ll never succumb!
CHORUS
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the cider we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
You be in the bowl we pass round with delight.
So here’s to earthenware clay and the cloam,
And here’s to Pomona who blesses our home.
CHORUS
*New Verse*
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
You be the virus our wassail doth smite!
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
On the air of our breath hiding-out in plain sight.
So here’s to our gathering, singing with friends,
And here’s to the vaccine, your reign for to end!
CHORUS
*Final verse, sung with reverence*
Who be I? Who be I? Who be I this night?
The Great Good Unseen we praise with delight.
Where be I? Where be I? Where be I this night?
Within and without,
In each one of us as we sing with delight.
And here’s to old Halstow, long may she remain,
The font of real cider, “natural” by name.
And here’s to Gray’s Cider; the mark of good taste,
So long may they prosper in this holy place!
ABOUT THIS SONG: This version (with additional COVID-19 verse) for the 2002 wassail | Words & music by Jim Causley | Commissioned for Simon Pope’s Here’s To Thee: wassailing the microbial ecology of cider- making (2020-22) | in partnership with Gray’s Devon Cider, RAMM and Arts & Culture at The University of Exeter | More information at heres-to-thee.org.uk