Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Music Lyrics Explained Ten. We're
still continuing with some Christmas carols and this Christmas Carol that a
very famous one is called "Deck the Halls. " Okay. Let's start. Even
with the title 'deck' means to decorate something. So for Christmas you want to
put up a lot of decorations or someplace with a lot of parties that you're going to
have a party. So to deck something means to decorate it. Sometimes you might feel
like somebody's all decked out you know, when they're dressed up too. So we see deck
the halls. All right, and you know like usual we're
going to read the lyrics and I'm going to explain them as I go over it. So
here's how it starts. Deck the halls with boughs of holly.
All right. So that means decorate. Decorate the halls with boughs. These are tree
branches. You know, you often see that you know a lot of Christmas wreaths and
trees a lot of this stuff is used for Christmas decorations. So Holly , Holly a
bush or tree with dark green leaves. You know with sharp points and they might even
have some berries on them as well. All right. So deck the halls with boughs of
holly. And then now this is the chorus which really doesn't have much of a
meaning but it kind of goes nice in between each line. Which is just fa la,la
la, la, la, la, la , la.. You know, it sounds nice but it has no meaning. It's a lot of la, la.
Okay. Let's start again. Deck the halls with boughs of holly fa
la la la la la la. 'Tis the season to be jolly. All right.
'T is is Old English. They actually spell it with an apostrophe T IS, but it means 'it
is' in Old English. So t'is the season the season, like the Christmas season. To be
jolly. Jolly of course you know friendly happy. We often use the word jolly we
often use the word jolly with Saint Nick, Santa Claus you know, jolly st. Nick or
jolly Santa Claus. He looks happy all the time. So we often use jolly with that
All right. So tis the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la la la la. Don we now
our gay apparel. all right This sounds a little weird. Well , don we still use don it's
a little formal today, but it usually means to wear something especially
clothing. It could be a hat . It could be accessories. Accessories so we don something. Don
we now. So now we are wearing. Don we now our gay apparel. Okay it sounds a little
strange. Anytime you read stories or books from like about a hundred years
ago or back further gay was very, very commonly used to simply mean happy or
excited. To be honest we don't hear this use very much anymore. Obviously because
you know gay is probably mostly used to mean homosexual. Today so you don't
really hear many people say I'm so gay today because it the , the people will not
think happy anymore. We don't use it for happy that much anymore. But this is, this
is actually an old Christmas Carol. This was originally written in the 16th
century it was a Welsh one and then I think there was a Scottish musician who
put the English lyrics to it in the in the 1700s. And then it was even kind
of redone for the one we had today the original one you have a lot of drinking
in it and this one doesn't have any drinking in it. So but anyway let me
continue, Don we now our gay apparel. Well apparel still means clothes. We
mostly use it in a business sense today. You know I'm buying like high-class
clothes or wholesaling them So that's what they say here. Don we now our gay
apparel falala lalala. Troll the ancient Yuletide Carol . All right. So there's a
little bit old use of troll. We have a lot of meanings for troll today. But this
one we don't hear as much. Toll here can means speak or recite quickly. So speak
the words. Say them quickly. So when they say troll the ancient, ancient you know
very old Yuletide. All right. Yuletide that meant the period from December 24th
to January 6th. So that was kind of like the Christmas season You know in former
times. So they used to refer to it as Yuletide. So troll the ancient Yuletide
Carol. And carol the same meaning today, like Christmas Carol. Christmas song and
then of course, it continues with fa la la la la la la la la.
See the blazing Yule before us. All right. So see the blazing, blazing means you know
very bright. Yule. Yule also is in reference you know like Yuletide. Before us.
In front of us. You know the the season. in the Christmas season. La la la la la
la la. Strike the harp and join the chorus. all right. Harp you know that the old
musical instrument that really big one with the wooden frame and it had a ... So a
musical instrument consisting of a row of strings with a big , you know, round of
wooden frames you've seen in the old times people played it with the strings
a really really large instrument. so they say strike. It means hit , you know. You
know. Just play it. Play, play the harp so strike the harp and join the
chorus. well join in singing, singing the chorus. The chorus here is fa la la la la
la la la. all right And then we continue. Follow me in merry measure.
All right. Well follow me, you know, follow my words
Merry, merry again means happy. Just like we still say. Merry Christmas, Happy or
lively Measure means a step or action that you take. We often use measures to
mean step or action. So follow me in merry measure. Fa la la la la la la la .
While I'll tell you of Yuletide treasure. So yeah. When I tell you of you know, the
season, the treasure about the season. Th nice things about this
Christmas season. falala lalala la la la. Fat away the old year passes. All right. So
the old year. The, the year before. Because it's the end of the year. S it does
seem like that as each year goes by, that the years seem to go quicker. So fast
away the old year passes. The year is passed, it's almost over.
Because it's always the end of the year when this song is being sung. Falala
lalala . Hail the New Year lads and lasses. All right. Hail means , you know to
praise or say publicly how good something is. Lads, yeah we still
sometimes hear I think the British use it more than Americans but we do hear it
to mean a young boy or young man. Yeah so hail the new year lads and lasses. Lasses was
the same way to mean a girl or a young woman a lass. Yeah you hear this in a lot
of the you know old old stories or Shakespeare stories something like that.
We still sometimes might hear it even in our modern English lad and lass.
Again, falala la la la . Okay. Sing we joyous all together.
All right . So we're all singing you know very happy joyous, causing happy feelings
We're all full of joy, very happy. Sing we joyous all together. All together in a
group. You know falala lalala lalala . Heedless of the wind and weather. All right. heedless
means well , we're well , normally we often tell you to heed advice or heed
warning. So maybe if the weather is bad you know people say, stay home. Don't go
out, but even though the weather might be bad at this time people still go
out. They want to party. They want to sing. so heedless of the the wind and weather.
Yeah basically, fa la la la la lalala. And that's how the song ends. and this is
another very common Christmas Carol we here. Every year repeated many many times
even a lot of native speakers might not know all the meanings of the words because
some of these, ome of the uses are a little bit old here.
But anyway it's still a fun Christmas song that you hear repeated a lot. Anyway
I hope you got it. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye