Get all 13 GreenMatthews releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Songs of the Sea, Festive Favourites, The Wind in the Willows, Virtual Wassail, Midwinter Revels, Roots&Branches, Come Again! Sweet Love Doth Now Invite (live), A Christmas Carol: A Folk Opera, and 5 more.
1. |
Introducing Scrooge
07:50
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A tale of Victorian Yuletide we'll tell
So listen unto us and listen ye well
A tale we'll unfold that we're sure you will know
By Mister Charles Dickens, who lived long ago
Here's a health to the holly and ivy
And a health the Yule log we burn
To the goose and the tree and the glad company
Here's a health to Old Christmas Returned
The month was December, snow lay on the ground
And the wind chilled the busy streets of London Town
The city was bustling with vigour and vim
Save for one lonely office which stood dark and dim.
The office's sign hung forlornly and read:
'Messrs. Scrooge and Marley' though Marley was dead.
They'd buried him deep down and there he would stay
But to change signs costs money, and Scrooge wouldn’t pay.
A mean-tempered grasping old miser was he!
He was so tight with money that he'd skin a flea
For its hide if he thought it would add to his hoard.
For Wealth was his Deity; Profit his Lord.
Such a skinflint you've never encountered
As cold and as hard as a stone
No warmth and no glee and no sweet charity
He's Winter made flesh, skin and bone
One cold Christmas Eve, as Scrooge sat at his desk
Bob Cratchit, his clerk, plucked up courage to ask:
'Kind sir, might I ask since it's Christmas Day soon
If I work Christmas morning, could I leave here at noon?’
'A pox upon Christmas!' the old miser spat
'You know very well that I've no time for that.
I suppose I can cope if you're early away
But mind you work twice as hard on Boxing Day!’
Flushed with success, Bob walked back to his place
A glow of deep pleasure suffused his pinched face
For he'd eat Christmas dinner with his family and wife
And with young Tiny Tim, the delight of his life.
Just then came a knocking - Bob went to the door
There stood a gent crying: 'Alms for the poor!
We provide them with sustenance, clothes and refuge
Would you care to donate to us, dear Mr Scrooge?’
'Alms for the poor, sir? Please give me details.
'Are there no workhouses? Are there no gaols?'
'I regret, sir, there are.' said this friend of the poor
'Then let them go there!' snapped Scrooge, slamming the door.
Scrooge's nephew was next, his face red as a berry
'Happy Christmas, dear uncle! May your Yule be merry!
Cratchit looked up and he smiled at the lad
But one glare from Scrooge sent him back to his pad.
'Uncle, you always spend Yuletide alone.
This year come to dinner with us at our home!
We promise we'll give you a Christmas to treasure!'
But Scrooge merely scowled and bent over his ledger
'Uncle, pray tell me why you look so glum?
The happiest time of the whole year has come
When all through the land folk make merry and feast
From richest to poorest, from greatest to least’.
'If it comes to that, nephew, what brings you such cheer
When you're poor as a church mouse and your prospects are drear?
I'll be too busy working to come round and dine
Keep Christmas in your way - I'll keep it in mine!
Later that day, Scrooge returned to his home
Where – needless to mention – he dwelt all alone.
As he searched for his key, he looked up at the door
And noticed a thing he'd not noticed before.
The knocker – a thing made of solid cast iron -
Was wrought to resemble an African lion
But now it was Marley, his partner of old
Who glowered at Scrooge in the gloom and the cold.
'Beware' cried the knocker: Scrooge started away
In terror and shock, with a cry of dismay.
But when he looked back at the knocker he saw
It looked just the same as it had done before.
'Humbug!' Scrooge muttered 'A trick of the light!
What a weakling I was for to take such a fright.'
His brave words however his actions belied
As he fumbled the lock and then scuttled inside.
But no trick of the light was the spectre
Though Scrooge had dismissed it as naught
Before long he'd see that old Jacob Marley
Was not quite as dead as he'd thought...
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2. |
The Coming of Marley
02:49
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Upstairs went Scrooge with a single candle.
The house was dark but the dark is cheap.
Beside the fire ate a frugal supper,
Then closed his eyes and fell fast asleep
He had not long been in sloth and slumber
When he was wakened by a sound.
He heard a bell toll in the distance
And then from down below the ground
He heard a groaning and a wailing
As one in torment and despair
The sound at first came from the cellar
But slowly travelled up the stair
Closer and closer came the crying
The voice familiar seemed to be
Then with a crash the door burst open
There stood the Ghost of Old Marley
Old Scrooge sat speechless in his armchair
And gazed upon the spectre bleak
With chains and fetters was it girded
It gazed on Scrooge and began to speak....
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3. |
Marley's Song
02:39
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My old friend Ebenezer Scrooge, my partner when alive,
I'm glad to find you well and trust our counting-house still thrives?
Though by your ashen countenance I judge that my arrival
Has caused you no comfort or joy, comfort or joy
Has caused to you no comfort or joy.
Now doubtless you desire to know why I've returned again.
This visit from beyond the grave must seem to you arcane,
But gaze upon my fetters and pray take note of this chain
Which has brought me no comfort or joy, comfort or joy
Which has brought me no comfort or joy.
This chain I forged when on the earth, by avaricious deeds.
Thus am I fettered by my own hard-heartedness and greed.
I am beyond redemption and so now with you I plead
Let me bring you some comfort and joy, comfort and joy
Let me bring you some comfort and joy.
For if my chain seems long to you who died so long ago,
Think how much longer must be yours and daily how it grows,
And how you'll spend the afterlife in misery and woe
In a place with no comfort or joy, comfort or joy
For in Hell there is no comfort or joy.
You have one chance to yet evade this bleak eternity.
This night more ghosts shall visit you – their number shall be three.
Pay heed to them and if you do I vow and guarantee
They shall bring you great comfort and joy, comfort and joy
They shall bring to you great comfort and joy
My time alas is ended, friend, and so I take my leave
To stumble through the endless night; to sorrow, mourn and grieve.
Think on my words and do not fail to seize this one reprieve
And I wish you great comfort and joy, comfort and joy
So farewell my friend – I wish you only joy...
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4. |
After Marley
02:26
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5. |
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6. |
Into Scrooge's Past
01:16
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7. |
Scrooge's Boyhood
02:09
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8. |
Fezziwig's Ball
03:57
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9. |
After The Ball
00:57
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10. |
Scrooge's Sweetheart
03:17
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11. |
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12. |
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13. |
London at Christmas
01:13
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14. |
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15. |
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16. |
A Funeral
02:01
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17. |
Christmas Morning
01:51
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18. |
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19. |
The Following Morning
01:55
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20. |
In Conclusion
01:49
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GreenMatthews Coventry, UK
Chris Green and Sophie Matthews play English traditional songs and tunes in a thoroughly 21st-century kick-ass style. Using a blend of ancient instruments such as cittern, English bagpipes and shawm as well as modern folk instruments such as guitar, flute and piano accordion, they breathe new life into material from hundreds of years ago, making it fresh and relevant for a modern audience. ... more
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