> Shirley Collins > Songs > Sussex Carol
> The Albion Band > Songs > On Christmas Night All Christians Sing
> Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band > Songs > On Christmas Night (The Sussex Carol)

On Christmas Night (The Sussex Carol)

[ Roud 597 ; trad.]

On Christmas Night All Christians Sing, also knows as The Sussex Carol was collected in the early years of the 20th century by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Shirley Collins with the Etchingham Steam Band sang The Sussex Carol on December 16, 1974 at Cecil Sharp House in London. This recording was included in 1995 on their eponymous CD The Etchingham Steam Band.

The Albion Dance Band recorded On Christmas Night All Christians Sing during the The Prospect Before Us recording sessions but the track was shelved and had to wait until 1983 to be included on the album's CD reissue. They re-recorded this song several times for their album A Christmas Present from The Albion Band (1985), and as the Albion Christmas Band for their CDs An Albion Christmas (2003) and Traditional (2009).

Martyn Wyndham-Read, Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick and Maggie Goodall sang On Christmas Night on the 1986 anthology Yuletracks.

Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band sang On Christmas Night (The Sussex Carol) on their 1987 CD A Tapestry of Carols and 2005 CD and DVD An Evening of Carols and Capers.

Kerfuffle sang the Sussex Carol in 2009 on their Midwinter album Lighten the Dark.

Lyrics

Maddy Prior sings On Christmas Night (The Sussex Carol)

On Christmas night all Christians sing,
To hear the news the angels bring:
News of great joy, news of great mirth,
News of our merciful King's birth.

Then why should men on earth be sad,
Since our Redeemer made us glad
When from our sin he set us free
All for to gain our liberty?

When sin departs before his grace,
Then life and health come in its place;
Angels and men with joy may sing,
All for to see the new-born King.

All out of darkness we have light,
Which made the angels sing this night:
“Glory to God and peace to men,
Now and for evermore, Amen.”