CanadaLoreena McKennitt

Artist rating: 83.01 % (ranking: not set)
Highest rating: 83.01 % (2018)
Most recent trend: 73.61 % (2018)
Highest trend: 86.84 % (1994)

Works
Tracks (A-Ö)
Writing credits
Statistics

Data

Born: 1957-02-17

Age: 67
 

External links

Official site
1985
73.73 %
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1989
73.65 %
1991
89.45 %

To Drive the Cold Winter Away

Loreena McKennitt - To Drive the Cold Winter Away
58.78 %
(2019-11-24)
Date released: 1987
Type: studio

In collection: on wishlist [low]
Average track length: 04:35
Average track rating:

Ranking

Loreena McKennitt:
10
/
10
Year (1987):
47
/
92
Decade (1980's):
379
/
780
Overall:
/
2711

Tracks

1
lyrics
06:06
2
lyrics
04:52
3
lyrics
02:05
4
instr
03:54
5
lyrics
05:38
6
lyrics
03:13
7
lyrics
03:47
8
lyrics
06:11
9
instr
03:06
10
lyrics
07:00
 
Total time:
 
45:52

Lyrics

In Praise of Christmas
06:06
All hail to the days that merit more praise
Than all the rest of the year
And welcome the nights that double delights
As well for the poor as the peer
Good fortune attend each merry man's friend
That doth but the best that he may
Forgetting old wrongs with carols and songs
To drive the cold winter away

Tis ill for a mind to anger inclined
To think of small injuries now
If wrath be to seek, do not lend her your cheek
Nor let her inhabit thy brow
Cross out of thy books malevolent looks
Both beauty and youth's decay
And wholly consort with mirth and sport
To drive the cold winter away

This time of the year is spent in good cheer
And neighbours together do meet
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire
Each other in love to greet
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot
All sorrows aside they lay
The old and the young doth carol this song
To drive the cold winter away

When Christmas' tide comes in like a bride
With holly and ivy clad
Twelve days in the year much mirth and good cheer
In every household is had
The country guise is then to devise
Some gambols of Christmas play
Whereat the young men do the best that they can
To drive the cold winter away
The Seasons
04:52
Come all you lads and lasses, I'd have you give attention
To these few lines I'm about to write here
Tis of the four seasons of the year that I shall mention
The beauty of all things doth appear
And now you are young and all in your prosperity
Come cheer up your hearts and revive like the spring
Join off in pairs like the birds in February
That St. Valentine's Day it forth do bring

Then cometh Spring, which all the land doth nourish
The fields are beginning to be decked with green
The trees put forth their buds and the blossoms they do flourish
And the tender blades of corn on the earth are seen
Don't you see the little lambs by the dams a-playing
The cuckoo is singing in the shady grove
The flowers they are springing, the maids they go a-Maying
In love all hearts seem now to move

Next cometh Autumn with the sun so hot and piercing
The sportsman goes forth with his dog and his gun
To fetch down the woodcock, the partridge and the pheasant
For health and for profit as well as for fun
Behold, with loaded apple trees the farmer is befriended
They will full up his casks that have long laid dry
All nature seems to weary now, her task is nearly ended
And more of the seasons will come by and by

When night comes on with song and tale we pass the wintry hours
By keeping up a cheerful heart we hope for better days
We tend the cattle, sow the seed, give work unto the ploughers
With patience wait till winter yields before the sun's fair rays
And so the world goes round and round, and every time and season
With pleasure and with profit crowns the passage of the year
And so with every time of life, to him who acts with reason
The beauty of all things doth appear
The King
02:05
Health, love and peace be all here in this place
By your leave we shall sing, concerning our King

Our King is well-dressed in silks of the best
In ribbons so rare no king can compare

We have travelled many miles over hedges and stiles
In search of our King unto you we bring

We have powder and shot to conquer the lot
We have cannon and ball to conquer them all

Old Christmas is past, twelve tide is the last
And we bid you adieu, great joy to the new
Banquet Hall
03:54
instrumental
Snow
05:38
White are the far-off plains, and white
The fading forests grow;
The wind dies out along the height,
And denser still the snow,
A gathering weight on roof and tree,
Falls down scarce audibly.

The road before me smooths and fills
Apace, and all about
The fences dwindle, and the hills
Are blotted slowly out;
The naked trees loom spectrally
Into the dim white sky.

The meadows and far-sheeted streams
Lie still without a sound;
Like some soft minister of dreams
The snow-fall hoods me round;
In wood and water, earth and air,
A silence everywhere.

Save when at lonely intervals
Some farmer's sleigh, urged on,
With rustling runners and sharp bells,
Swings by me and is gone;
Or from the empty waste I hear
A sound remote and clear;

The barking of a dog, or call
To cattle, sharply pealed,
Borne echoing from some wayside stall
Or barnyard far afield;

Then all is silent and the snow falls
Settling soft and slow
The evening deepens and the grey
Folds closer earth and sky
The world seems shrouded, far away.

Its noises sleep, and I secret as
Yon buried streams plod dumbly on and dream.
Balulalow
03:13
I come from hevin which to tell
The best nowells that e'er befell
To you thir tythings trew I bring
And I will of them say and sing

This day to you is born ane child
Of Marie meik and Virgin mild
That bliss it bairn bening and kind
Sall you rejoice baith hart and mind

Lat us rejoyis and be blyth
And with the Hyrdis go full swyth
And see what God fo his grace hes done
Throu Christ to bring us to his throne

My saull and life stand up and see
Wha lyis in ane cribbe of tree
What Babe is that, sa gude and fair
It is Christ, God's Son and Air

O my deir hart, yung Jesus sweit
Prepair thy creddil in my spreit
And I sall rock thee in my hart
And never mair fra thee depart

But I sall praise thee evermoir
With sangis sweit unto thy gloir
The kneis of my hart sall I bow
And sing that rycht Balulalow
Let Us the Infant Greet
03:47
Let us the Infant greet
In worship before Him fall
And let us pay Him homage meet
On this His festival

Let us to the Infant sing
And bring Him of gifts rich store
Let us honour our Infant King
With praise for evermore

Let us to the Infant kneel
And love Him with faithful love
And let our joyous anthems peal
For Him who reigns above

Glad hymns in the Infant's laud
Sing we to Him while we may
In heaven where He is throned as God
Our service He will pay

Be we to the Infant true
While we are dwelling on mould
And He will give us our wages due
A crown of purest gold
The Wexford Carol
06:11
Good people all, this Christmas-time
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son

With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas day
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born

The night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town
But mark how all things come to pass
From every door repelled alas
As long foretold, their refuge all
Was but an humble ox's stall

There were three wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious star
And on they wandered night and day
Until they came where Jesus lay
And when they came unto that place
Where our beloved Messiah was
They humbly cast them at his feet
With gifts of gold and incense sweet

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God's angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
"Prepare and go," the angels said
"To Bethlehem , be not afraid
For there you'll find this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus born"

With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went the babe to find
And as God's angel had foretold
They did our Saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side the Virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of life
Who came on earth to end all strife
The Stockford Carol
03:06
instrumental
Let All That Are to Mirth Inclined
07:00
Let all that are to mirth inclined
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son

For to redeem our souls from thrall
Christ is the saviour of us all

The twenty-fifth day of December
We have good cause to remember
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born

But mark how all things came to pass
The inn and lodgings filled was
That they could find no room at all
But in a straw-filled ox's stall

Near Bethlehem some shepherds keep
Their flocks and herds of feeding sheep
To whom God's angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear

With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went this babe to find
And as the heavenly angel told
They did our saviour Christ behold

Three eastern wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious star
Came boldly on and made no stay
Until they came where Jesus lay

And being come unto that place
Where the blessed Messiah was
They humbly laid before his feet
Their gifts of gold and incense sweet

See how the Lord of heaven and earth
Shewd himself lowly in his birth
A sweet example for mankind
To learn to bear an humble mind

Let all your songs and praises be
Unto his heavenly majesty
And evermore amongst our mirth
Remember Christ our Saviour's birth