Talk:Deck the Halls

message: This article makes claims about the age of the carol, suggesting it is much older without any evidence to support these claims. It also contradicts itself. It claims it dates from the C16th yet the first publication of the music is claimed to be from a MS (not cited) by John Parry in the 1700s. The 1700s are C18th not C16th. Often many claims are made about "old" tunes or songs, but as a musician researching various aspects of early music it surprises me how popular myth can out-weigh evidence. I'm not saying these statements are necessarily incorrect - just that there should be no contradictions and that claims should be properly backed up with reference to actual MS or publications.
--Barryspearce (talk) 22:44, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Citation of sources regarding dating and provenance

message: I am absolutely sure that it's not "deck the hall" or "fa la la la la, fa la la la". Could soneone fix this? 156.34.60.112 23:42, 25 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, I'm listening to a recording right now of "Deck the Hall", a version I've never previously heard; I've always heard "Halls" before.  I'm really not sure how to cite it, since I don't have the CD case or anything right now.  On the other hand, I can't imagine all those extra "fa-s" are correct.  If they are, they should be noted, but they should be properly cited.  The way the change to the "fa-s" was made, with the intro being seriously mangled, doesn't help my impression of the idea put forward.  Nyttend 04:08, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

text: I am flabbergasted that somebody even questioned the "hall" vs "halls" thing. Anybody who's ever sang this song in high school or college choir has heard their conductor lament the erroneous extra s at the end of hall. The original translation from the Welsh certainly read "hall" not "halls."  It would have been strange for people to decorate their hallways, rather than the banquet hall. Read the book "At Home" by Bill Bryson sometime. It has an entire chapter dedicated to the hall. -50.59.88.46 (talk) 18:46, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

text: I found the word "secular" kind of glaring too.  It's not as if this song is anti-religious or something.  BTW why is it a part of the Anglicanism project?  Steve Dufour 13:57, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Secular doesnt mean anti-religious. it means its not of a religious nature. and its probably in an anglacanism project because it is an old english folk song that describes the archaic symbolism and practices of the anglican culture.75.32.34.72 (talk) 06:10, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

text: I changed the word to "traditional."  I hope that is ok with everyone. Steve Dufour 14:00, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

text: Because the holiday is celebrated by religious people and also by people who are not religious but celebrate it for their own reasons. You do live in the modern world, don't you?  Don't live under a rock, do you? You idiot. Senjoro Nie (talk) 23:10, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

text: literally nobody cares. stop wasting our time. Senjoro Nie (talk) 23:15, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

text: No, it's "troll", as an archaic varient of "trill".  As far as secular goes, I agree "traditional" is a fair compromise.  Decorating with evergreen boughs (or trees), singing, dressing in festive attire and lighting fires or Yule-logs are all seasonal traditions.  None feature in scriptural accounts of the Nativity. One could argue that these are broadly religious, as they date back to pagan customs of pre-Christian Europe, as does the holiday, Yule, which is explicitly mentioned in the song while Christmas and Christ are not. 72.49.43.222 (talk) 00:02, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Problem

message: This song was originally attached to a Welsh poem, Oer yw'r gwr, or "Cold is the Man". I have included the poem below. See if you can spot the similarities.
Could someone with a knowledge of Welsh provide an accurate translation? On-line "translators" provide nothing but gibberish about beans and heartburn (of course).
Oer yw'r gwr sy'n methu caru, 
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
Hen fynyddoedd annwyl Cymru, 
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
Iddo ef a'u cêr gynhesaf , 
Ffa la la, la la la, la la la. 
Gwyliau llawen flwydd nesaf, 
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
I'r helbulus oer yw'r biliau 
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
Sydd yn dyfod yn y Gwyliau, 
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
Gwrando bregeth mewn un pennill, 
Ffa la la, la la la, la la la. 
Byth na waria fwy na'th ennill
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
Oer yw'r eira ar Eryri, 
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
Er fod gwrthban gwlanen arni, 
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
Oer yw'r bobol na ofalan', 
Ffa la la, la la la, la la la. 
Gwrdd a'u gilydd ar Nos Galan, 
Ffa la la la la, la la la la. 
Just thought I'd put my two cents' worth in. dm01 06:19, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Welsh Origins

message: Should we put that Mannheim Steamroller released a notible instrumental version, or am I just obsessed? --69.218.57.236 (talk) 15:14, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Mannheim Steamroller

message: I cut this section.
First, they're hardly "covers" in the usual sense. It's a folk song -- unless someone can name the original artist?
Second, this song is so commonplace and has been recorded so many times, that any list is necessarily incomplete. As for notability of any one recording, that's more in the eye of the individual editor who adds it than anything else. Some of those in the list were obscure, to say the least. But again, there are so many around that none of them are particularly notable compared to the others.
Such a section can therefore never be complete or useful. 63.249.96.218 (talk) 21:41, 28 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree there is far too much of this trivia in songs like this. Enter CambridgeBayWeather, waits for audience applause, not a sausage 08:46, 29 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Cutting "Cover versions"

message: :"Fra la la la la, la la la la."
I have never heard of this R. Fra, really? Fra? Can we verify this is not a typo? I am enraged. Nym (talk) 09:20, 21 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Fra

message: Troll, in the popular version, can really be toll. --Diamondland (talk) 04:38, 21 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Highly unlikely. The english translation is highly sarcastic.--207.191.199.237 (talk) 03:50, 21 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Troll 

message: While there are several references that claim Mozart used "Nos Galan" in one of his works, I have yet to pin down the actual work and passage in which this use occurs.  Some sources suggest the Violin Sonata K301, but I've looked through the score to that work pretty carefully and I don't see any quotation of the melody.  At the very least, if it is quoted there, it's done extremely subtly.  What's more, I've been unable to find any reference to "Nos Galan", "Deck the Hall(s)" or even "Welsh" (in the appropriate context) in any scholarly work on Mozart.  Is it possible that this alleged use by Mozart is actually an urban legend, albeit one that has been widely propagated? Grover cleveland (talk) 09:33, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Alleged use by Mozart

message: Was this song based on the hymns "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" and "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today"? It has the same rhyme pattern for every verse (aabb); every line in the song ends with "Fa la la la la la la la la" like every line in "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" and "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" ends with "A-A-Alle-lu-uia"; the melody for that song itself (Deck the Hall) sort of has a similar pattern to "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" and "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today." Cbsteffen (talk) 02:36, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Idea of This Song 

message: The sound example that says "Two violins, viola and Violoncello." is definitely not played by two violins, viola, and violoncello. Oeoi (talk) 20:25, 12 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sound examples have incorrect instruments 

message: I remember once hearing a youth choir (probably from a school) performing this song on TV, and the "fa la la" sequence was replaced by "fe le le" (pronounced either "FAY-leh-leh," etc., or "FEE-lee-lee"). Is this the original form? I have to believe that it was, or that it was–at least at one time–a common alternative. 64.85.231.88 (talk) 09:44, 23 December 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Fa la la," or "fe le le"? 

message: This edit seems to imply that the actual credit on the singles were to someone named "Unknown". That's clearly not the case. If there is no writer credited, adding text does not help to clarify that. It is often the case that songs that are in the public domain are often credited as "traditional", although they often do credit the original writers. What is the case here? If we don't know, we definitely should not be making assumptions. Walter Görlitz (talk) 15:25, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: That's a very strange way to look at it, especially bearing in mind your comment when you reverted me. However, you cannot dispute that in this instance the writer is not known, so it appears a disagreement of nomenclature. It does seem to be that matching :Category:Songwriter unknown is the best solution. Do you have another solution, leaving the songwriter information blank is not an option. --Richhoncho (talk) 15:41, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  But not knowing the writer and stating that the writer is "unknown" are different things. The latter violates :WP:V. Walter Görlitz (talk) 16:56, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Writing credits for singles 

message: I have this tune in 14 books of carols, and in various versions on 43 albums, tapes, and CDs covering a slightly more than 100 year span of time.  In every one of them the title and first line is rendered as Deck the hall, and not "Deck the halls".
The title of the article needs to be corrected.
If someone can provide a citation verifying that the title appears somewhere as "Deck the Halls", the lede should be rewritten to say "Deck the Hall (occasionally seen corrupted as 'Deck the Halls') ..." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.95.43.253 (talk) 20:29, 7 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: There are thousands of renditions where it reads with the plural. It is, in fact the more popular version. For the record, I have a handful of copies of ':The First Nowell" , but it will never be the more popular spelling. Sorry. Walter Görlitz (talk) 20:34, 7 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Is Wikipedia intended to be a repository of what is popular, or what is correct? 74.95.43.253 (talk) 01:22, 16 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  False dichotomy. Wikipedia articles use the :WP:COMMONNAME. That was my point. Walter Görlitz (talk) 04:44, 5 April 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Halls? 

message: Brilliant Classics published that Mazzinghi: Andante from Sonata, Op. 30 No. 3 consists of variations on the melody before it became Deck the Halls. I haven't found any sources to confirm this, but it might be worth mentioning. Fernando Trebien (talk) 18:12, 18 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mazzinghi’s variations