On Epiphany Eve

Today you are getting something a little different... in fact, you're getting it twice. Christ Has My Hart, Ay is an old, Scottish song, which, if you go trying to find out more about, you will discover is also referred to as a "hymn", "carol" and "psalm". As far as we can tell, it has its origins in a collection of music inspired by Martin Luther, and the Reformation, and called Ane Compendious Buik of Godlie Psalmes-- also known as The Dundee Psalms, or The Gude and Godlie Ballates. This rather curious work was published in 1567, but seems to be a reprint of a slightly older work, and is composed of songs based on Psalms, and the reworking of popular songs, either as parodies, or as adaptions. While there is some uncertainty about the authorship of this collection, it is generally accepted to be the work of the Wedderburn brothers, all of whom were ardent reformers. What makes the inclusion of this particularly song interesting, is the fact that Our Lady is treated with great reverence. It specifically informs us that, next to Christ, we must "love his mother fair/ With steadfast hart for evermair/ She bore the birth, freed us from care"-- which this Papist may be excused for finding extremely Papist... Our Lady was not exactly beloved of the Reformers.

The first version of this song is by the Battlefield Band, who apparently set it to music, as the original has been forgotten. As you can see, it falls into that category of old Christmas carols (once quite common, and still somewhat extant in the form of What Child is This) that are focused on Christ's coming Passion as well as His birth:

You are also getting this somewhat longer and more Christmassy version by Emily Smith. The original did, indeed, have only the verses which this Battlefield Band performs. This version, according to folkradio.co.uk, "expands to embrace more contemporary influences and an intense, joyful final chorus." All well and good... but it really doesn't? There is one verse there that might be entirely new, but most of the expanded lyrics are simply borrowed wholesale from Balulalow-- another old (and very cheerful) Scottish Christmas carol, which, according to Hymns and Carols of Christmas, is also from the Gude and Godlie Ballates...  Hardly deserving of the label "contemporary influences", even if the focus of Balulalow is more on the exuberant joy of the Holy Birth:

(As a side-note: both the Battlefield Band and Emily Smith are Scottish... I find the fact that the word "heart" is spelled "hart" on one recording, "hairt" on the other, and that the singers, correspondingly, pronounce it differently, to be very intriguing.)