Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)

Subject: Devonshire Carol lyrics reqd
From: GUEST,Anne R
Date: 27 Jan 12 - 05:54 PM

I've totally fallen in love with 'The Devonshire Carol' written by John Tams for 'War Horse' and would love to have the lyrics. I've listened to it on Youtube but can't quite make out all the words. Can anyone help?

Subject: RE: Devonshire Carol lyrics reqd (John Tams)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Jan 12 - 06:05 PM

Hi, Anne -
Can you post what you have, and we'll try to help with the rest?
You'll find a YouTube video here (click).
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Devonshire Carol lyrics reqd (John Tams)
From: GUEST,Anne R
Date: 27 Jan 12 - 07:42 PM

Hi Joe, here's what I have. I had got most of it from the Youtube site you suggest and there's another one as well which also helped but there are several words/phrases I'm not sure of and one wee bit I can't get at all. Thanks for offering to help.

THE DEVONSHIRE CAROL    as sung by John Tams

The lambkin in the manger the light upon the lea
The royal man yields to glory the shepherds bend the knee
And all are wrapped in grace and all are gifted mirth
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Goodwill upon all Earth

The ploughboy at his traces, the line upon the land
Those gifts by Nature's graces are bounty to the man
And all are wrapped in grace and all are gifted mirth
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Goodwill upon all Earth

Tommy in the meadow, Tommy in the byre
Tommy on the firestep, Tommy on the wire
And those who walked in war and those who walked in peace
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
Their souls shall never cease.

Stand to, me bonny lads, stand to and make you ready
Stand to, me bonny lads, hold the line right steady
Let   ?    the flame, this day shall bear your name
Stand to, me bonny lads, hold the line right steady
And those who walked in war and those who cherished peace
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
Their souls shall never cease.

Subject: RE: Devonshire Carol lyrics reqd (John Tams)
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 05:59 AM

Anne

I transposed it off you tube as well and its just about the same as yours except for the next three lines.

1. The moorland yields to glory the shepherd bends the knee
2. Holds gifts by Nature's graces her bounty to command
3. Let bright bands rule the flame, this day shall bear your name

THE DEVONSHIRE CAROL    as sung by John Tams

The lambkin in the manger the light upon the lea
The moorland yields to glory the shepherd bends the knee
And all are wrapped in grace and all are gifted mirth
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Goodwill upon all Earth

The ploughboy at his traces, the line upon the land
Holds gifts by Nature's graces her bounty to command
And all are wrapped in grace and all are gifted mirth
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Goodwill upon all Earth

Tommy in the meadow, Tommy in the byre
Tommy on the firestep, Tommy on the wire
And those who walked in war and those who walked in peace
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
Their souls shall never cease.

Stand to, me bonny lads, stand to and make you ready
Stand to, me bonny lads, hold the line right steady
Let bright bands rule the flame, this day shall bear your name
Stand to, me bonny lads, hold the line right steady
And those who walked in war and those who cherished peace
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
Their souls shall never cease.

regards

Chris

Subject: RE: Devonshire Carol lyrics reqd (John Tams)
From: GUEST,Anne R
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 07:04 AM

Hi Chris, thanks very much.I think you're right about 'holds gifts....' and you could be right about 'moorland' too. My Lancastrian hubby (a bit closer to J T's native Derbyshire than my native Scottish Borders and therefore perhaps more attuned to the accent than me!) thinks it's 'Let bright plans rule the flame'. I've sent an email to the contact address on the great man's website so I'll let you know if anything happens.

Subject: RE: Devonshire Carol lyrics reqd (John Tams)
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 08:14 AM

Thanks Anne we'll wait to see what JT comes back with then.

Chris

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DEVONSHIRE CAROL (John Tams)
From: GUEST,Anne R
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 04:19 PM

Result!

I got a very nice email within hours from a lady called Sally who even looked through the 'War Horse' script for me. The lyrics are as follows -

THE DEVONSHIRE CAROL
(as sung by John Tams)

The lambkin in the manger the light upon the lea
The moorland yields to glory the shepherds bend the knee
And all are wrapped in grace and all are gifted mirth
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Goodwill upon all Earth

The ploughboy and his traces, the line upon the land
All's gift by Nature's graces her bounty to command
And all are wrapped in grace and all are gifted mirth
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Peace walks upon this blessed land
Goodwill upon all Earth

Tommy in the meadow, Tommy in the byre
Tommy on the firestep, Tommy on the wire
And those who walked in war and those who walked in peace
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
Their souls shall never cease.

Stand to, me bonny lads, stand to and make you ready
Stand to, me bonny lads, hold the line right steady.
Let pride burn through the flame, this day shall bear your name
Stand to, me bonny lads, hold the line right steady
And those who walked in war and those who cherished peace
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
And those who walked this blessed land
Their souls shall never cease.

Cheers and thanks again for your help,
Anne

Subject: RE: Devonshire Carol lyrics reqd (John Tams)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 04:34 PM

Beautiful song, isn't it?

One question remains - was this written by John Tams, or does it come from another source?
Now that we have definitive lyrics, I reformatted Anne's post so the lyrics are in Digital Tradition format - title in allcaps at the top, followed by the songwriter name in parentheses - although in this case, the songwriter name is uncertain so I qualified it, at least for the time being.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 04:50 PM

Joe/Anne

On the You Tube Video if you listen at the end John states the name Michael Morpurgo who wrote War Horse.

If you also listen to him singing "Will I See Thee More", at the end he says John McCusker who wrote it. So maybe it was written by MM?

Anne. thanks for the correct lyrics.

Chris

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST,Georgina Boyes
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 05:01 PM

Michael Morpurgo is a great writer of novels - including War Horse, but it's John Tams who wrote "The Devonshire Carol".
Georgina

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: JohnB
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 11:49 PM

Not specifically on this Carol but an interesting talk by both of the above is here
JohnB

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 05:25 AM

Excellent! Another of John's wonderful songs (Wikipedia has it that John wrote it for the stage version of "Warhorse") - and I'm sure Georgina would know too!
Other works by Michael Morpurgo include "Private Peaceful" which has also been dramatised into a very moving play about wartime.
Thanks for the link above JohnB: will watch/listen later.

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Mar 12 - 06:43 PM

anyone know where can get a recording of the version he sings live on the youtube video? its not sung like that in the war horse soundtrack

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 25 Mar 12 - 07:03 PM

Here you go

Devonshire Carol

Best bet is to do what I did, and use Audacity to record what it hears.

CC

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 26 Mar 12 - 09:07 PM

If you want to hear it live there is a special "pre-festival" concert featuring The War Horse with John Tams and Barry Coope and Michael Morpurgo at Sidmouth this year, 3pm on Friday 3ed August.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Reinhard
Date: 20 Sep 13 - 02:35 AM

Coope Boyes & Simpson sang the first two verses of the Devonshire Carol on their 2007 CD with Michael Morpungo, "On Angel Wings". Their sleeve notes state "Written by John Tams as part of the music for War Horse".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST,Phil Underwood
Date: 14 Jan 14 - 04:42 PM

Correction: Let pride burn through the flame

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST,Phil Underwood
Date: 14 Jan 14 - 04:44 PM

Ah just saw you've correct lyrics already!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 16 Jan 14 - 12:13 PM

Looking forward to seeing the stage production of "War Horse" in Edinburgh next week: they started advertising that it was coming about 15 or more months ago! I think most performances are pretty well sold out or close to it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: JohnR
Date: 26 Aug 14 - 11:01 AM

The final verse is slightly changed from the War Horse version on the wonderful new double CD 'In Flanders Fields' by Coope, Boyes and Simpson. (I see Georgina has previously contributed to this thread). The song is credited as 'Carol for Carmen' (John Tams).

DEVONSHIRE CAROL / CAROL FOR CARMEN
John Tams

The lambkin in the manger the light upon the lea,
The moorland yields to glory, the shepherds bend the knee,
And all are wrapped in grace and all are gifted mirth.
Peace walks upon this blessed land,
Peace walks upon this blessed land,
Peace walks upon this blessed land.
Goodwill upon all Earth.

The ploughboy and his traces, the line upon the land,
Those gifts by Nature's graces her bounty to command,
And all are wrapped in grace and all are gifted mirth.
Peace walks upon this blessed land,
Peace walks upon this blessed land,
Peace walks upon this blessed land.
Goodwill upon all Earth.

Tommy in the meadow, Tommy in the byre,
Tommy on the firestep, Tommy on the wire;
And those who walked in war and those who walked in peace
And those who walked this blessed land,
And those who walked this blessed land,
And those who walked this blessed land,
Their souls shall never cease.

And those we leave behind us, those who count the cost
Their future is provided by those who won and lost
And those who walked in war and those who cherished peace
And those who walked this blessed land,
And those who walked this blessed land,
And those who walked this blessed land,
Their souls shall never cease.


The forward in the CD cover says "The more we learn about war, the more important it becomes to sing about peace".
- Only Remember

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST,Brian May
Date: 20 Nov 14 - 06:20 PM

The lady 'Sally' who got the words from the War Horse script is probably the same Sally Tams that John is married to.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Brian May
Date: 20 Nov 14 - 06:22 PM

Must confess to liking Coope Boyes and Simpson version better, although they are both outstanding and very moving.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 26 Nov 14 - 05:27 AM

The stage production of War Horse was the best piece of live theatre I have ever seen in my life! Bob Fox was the singer. Just wish we'd got more of each song: they were just snatches of each.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST,Smudge
Date: 30 Jul 16 - 11:27 AM

Try to get a copy of CD The Song Man by Bob Fox. Absolutely brilliant.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Dec 16 - 10:24 AM

Got the words from here, ordered the Bob Fox CD and would like to learn the tune now! Beautiful song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Carol
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 12:42 PM

Brilliant CD by Bob Fox and this song is the best! We certainly need to sing about peace nowadays.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jun 19 - 01:25 PM

The section - "Tommy in the meadow.. Tommy on the wire" - is that a quote from somewhere else? Something says, Kipling but I can't place it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Weasel
Date: 15 Jun 19 - 01:27 PM

Sorry, that was me, Weasel. (forgot to log in)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 16 Jun 19 - 01:18 PM

You may be thinking of Kipling's lines;

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide

First published, under the title "The Queen's Uniform", in W.E. Henley’s weekly Scots Observer on 1 March 1890 and in the St. James's Gazette on the same day.

First collected, under the title “Tommy”, in Departmental Ditties, Barrack Room Ballads and Other Verses, United States Book Company, New York, 1890. The title “Tommy” was used in all subsequent collections.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Devonshire Carol (from John Tams)
From: Weasel
Date: 16 Jun 19 - 03:35 PM

No, I wasn't thinking of that poem (I know it well). I seem to have heard the other lines before. I may be dreaming. Cheers.