Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man is an album by Waterson:Carthy

Waterson:Carthy

Waterson:Carthy are an English folk group originally comprising Norma Waterson on vocals, her husband Martin Carthy on guitar and vocals and their daughter Eliza Carthy on fiddle and vocals....

. There is more instrumental accompaniment on this collection than on any previous Waterson:Carthy album. Tracks 13 and 16 could even be mistaken for the work of "Brass Monkey". Despite the title, almost all the songs have a Christian flavour. "Diadem" has phrases which suggest that the figure being adored is some kind of "Green Man" rather than Christ. They have mostly avoided familiar carols, and even where the words as well-known, they have selected unfamiliar tunes. Running time 59 minutes 47 seconds. Recorded and released in 2006.

Line-up

• Norma Waterson
  Norma Waterson
  Norma Christine Waterson is an English musician, best known as one of the original members of The Watersons, a premier English traditional group. Other members of the group included her brother Mike Waterson and sister Lal Waterson, and in later incarnations of the group her husband Martin...
  
   (vocals, triangle)
• Eliza Carthy
  Eliza Carthy
  Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...
  
   (vocals, fiddle, mandolin)
• Martin Carthy
  Martin Carthy
  Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
  
   (vocals, guitar)
• Tim van Eyken
  Tim Van Eyken
  Tim van Eyken is an English guitarist and melodeon player of Belgian descent.-Biography:Van Eyken first started playing penny whistle after seeing James Galway on television. He graduated to playing for his mother, then a member of the Beetlecrushers clog dance team. There was pressure from the...
  
   (vocals, melodeons)

Also "The Devil's Interval"

• Jim Causley
  Jim Causley
  Jim Causley is an English folk singer, songwriter, and musician from Whimple, East Devon, England.-Biography:Jim Causley is a folk singer and musician from Devon who specializes in the traditional songs and music of the West Country and Devon in particular...
  
   (vocals)
• Emily Portman (vocals)
• Lauren McCormick (vocals)

Also:

• Martin Brinsford (percussion) (on 4,8,13 and 16)
• Alice Kinloch (trombone, tuba) (on 4,8,11,13 and 16)
• James Killingsworth (bass, cello) (on 4, and 13)
• Tom Allan (trumpets) (on 4,8,11,13 and 16)
• Oliver Knight
  Oliver Knight (musician)
  Oliver Knight is a singer/songwriter/sound engineer from the UK. He is son to folk singer/songwriter Lal Waterson and George Knight. He is brother and stage partner to folk musician Marry Waterson.- Early Life :...
  
   (cello) (on 4,8,11,13 and 16)

Track listing

1. "New Year Carol - Residue" (Traditional) (2:57)

   The meaning of the title "Residue" is unknown.

2. "Sugar Wassail
   Wassail
   The word Wassail refers to several related traditions; first and foremost wassailing is an ancient southern English tradition that is performed with the intention of ensuring a good crop of cider apples for the next year's harvest...
   
   " (Trad) (2:12)

   From Rev Broadwood's collection

3. "St George" (John Kirkpatrick) (2:50)

   Kirkpatrick's song is similar to words in the Mummer's Play

4. "May Song" (Trad) (2:44)

   From Fred Hamer's collection, combining the "Night Song" and the "Day Song" into one.

5. "Christ Made a Trance" (Trad) (2:32)

   Solo from Martin Carthy. A grim Passiontide vision of Christ's pain

6. "When Jesus Wept The Falling Tear" (W Billings) (2:24)

   Sung as a round.

7. "Cherry Tree Carol" (Trad) (4:20)

   A song for Epiphany.

8. "Reaphook and Sickle" (Trad) (2:48)

   A song for the end of harvest

9. "Jack Frost" (Mike Waterson
   Mike Waterson
   Michael Waterson was an English writer, songwriter and folk singer.Waterson was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. He is best known as a member of The Watersons, with his sisters Lal Waterson and Norma Waterson and his brother-in-law Martin Carthy...
   
   ) (4:33)

   Eliza sings lead. A description of a frosty scene

10. "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" (Trad) (5:17)

    From Yorkshire, but not the familiar tune.

11. "On Christmas Day It Happened So" (Trad) (2:43)

    From Hamer's "Garners Gay". Sung by Tim van Eyken. A ploughman is punished for ploughing on Christmas Day.

12. "Time to Remembered the Poor" (M Lolley (?)) (4:40)

    A poetic plea for charity.

13. "Jacobstowe Wassail" (Trad) (2:50)

    A Wassail song from the Devon village of Jacobstowe

    Jacobstowe

    Jacobstowe is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district of Devon in England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 118. The village is on the River Okement, about 5 miles north of Okehampton.-Trivia:...

    
    , from the Baring-Gould collection.

14. "Awake Awake" (Trad) (4:06)

    Not the same song as the one by Steelye Span.

15. "Diadem" (Traditional) (3:28)

    From Yorkshire. Christ portrayed as a king.

16. "Jolly Old Hawk" (Traditional) (2:51)

    A Somerset carol from The Twelve Days of Christmas

    The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)

    "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol that enumerates a series of increasingly grand gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas. Although first published in England in 1780, textual evidence may indicate the song is French in origin...

    
    family of songs.

17. "Gloryland (Baptist hymn)" (Sankey) (3:40)

    A flowing, soaring description of heaven.