The First Noel

By:Traditional · Source Recording: Patty Loveless (2002)Song details

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The first Noel the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay while keeping their sheep
On a cold winter's night that was so deep

Noel Noel Noel Noel
Born is the King of Israel

They all looked up and saw a bright star
Shining in the east beyond them afar
And to the earth It gave a great light
And so it continued both day and night

And by the light of that same star
Three wise men came from the country far
To seek for a King was their intent
And to follow the star wherever it went

This star drew nigh to the north west
O'er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both stop and stay
Right over the place where Jesus lay

Then entered in those wise men three
Fell reverently upon their knee
And offered there in his presence
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made heav'n and earth of nought
And with his blood mankind has bought

Tempo BPM

Key Eb Time Waltz

Verse

Chorus

Waltz

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Song Details

Also Known As

The First Nowell

Songwriter

Traditional

Genres

Holidays Gospel

Themes

Faith/Praise

Jam Popularity

History

“The First Noel” is a traditional English carol with roots in Cornwall, probably from the early modern period. Its words and tune were not known in print until William Sandys published them in Carols Ancient and Modern in 1823, followed by Davies Gilbert and Sandys’s collection of 1833; the four-part setting most choirs sing is John Stainer’s, from Carols, New and Old (1871). “Noel” is an old word for Christmas, from the French Noël and ultimately the Latin natalis, birthday. The melody is unusual for an English folk tune: one phrase is sung twice and then varied in the refrain, and every phrase comes to rest on the third of the scale. As late as the early 1930s the collector James Madison Carpenter was still recording traditional versions in Cornwall.