This Christmas song was first published in Bramley and Stainer's collection called The Oxford Book of Carols from in 1871, though its text appeared some 20 or so years earlier. The quaint word in the title, wassailing, has a Saxon derivation and means good health. The melody is a traditional English one, traceable to Yorkshire, the once-large northern county now broken into three counties. This song is also known under other titles, including, simply, The Wassail Song. The melody has an easygoing, chipper character that some might assert is more appropriate for a drinking song than a Christmas carol. Its text, too, while Yuletide-like in spirit, is more a celebration of New Year's Day than of Christmas: "And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year." Not that the music or words are somehow less worthy, for the melody is catchy, effervescent, and brimming with an English folk-ish spirit, and the words are joyous and sincere in their simplicity. This is another relatively neglected carol, then, that most fanciers of Christmas music will find strongly appealing. ~ Robert Cummings, All Music Guide
