A Seed Library song Words and music: Glasgow seed community, arr. Jane Lewis This song emerged from a songwriting workshop which I facilitated together with Glasgow Seed Library in autumn 2024. Intro chorus Tune A Sow, tend, gather, return (x4) (round in 4 parts 2x) Tune B (after part 1 of the round has sung […]
Neighbouring Orchard Wassail
By the Neighbouring Orchard community and friends, arr. Jane Lewis This song emerged from two songwriting workshops that I facilitated as part of Art Walk Porty Neighbouring Orchard Project in the autumn of 2025 and was first sung at the Neighbouring Orchard Walking Wassail on 24th January 2026. Intro: Blossom to blossom, tree to tree […]
Wassail the Worm
2024 A Transforming the soil enriching the earth, Slow and steady, slow and steady, Underground farmers working below, Helping the plants to grow Wassail the worm (x2), wassail the wassail the worm Recycling the leaves and draining the land, Slow and steady, slow and steady, Tunnelling down right into the ground, Moving without a sound […]
Give Thanks to the Wood Wide Web: A Wassail Waltz for the Fungi
Jane Lewis 2022 With thanks to Merlin Sheldrake Mycelial networks under my feet, Give thanks to the wood wide web Sustaining all life and the apples we eat, Give thanks to the wood wide web So waltz with the hyphae, tip and strand, Give thanks to the wood wide web Unmakers and makers of the […]
Portobello Lockdown Blues Wassail 2021
Music: Jane Lewis; Words: Jane Garven, Cath Norman, Mary Jane Elton, Tessa Haring, Roz Mackenzie, Diana Cairns, Franny and Peter Wraith, Jane Lewis, For 2021 When the mould of loneliness has blackened your walls and your bricks are crumbling with grief When your door is rubbed raw by absent friends, and you can’t see how […]
What is the history of apple wassailing?
The word wassail comes from the Anglo-Saxon toast Wæs þu hæl, meaning “be thou hale” — “be in good health”. There are two different types of wassail – the house-visiting wassail and the orchard-visiting or apple wassail. The house-visiting wassail, also known as caroling, is the practice of going door-to-door singing Christmas carols. Apple wassailing […]
Coventry Wassail
Trad, arr. Jane Lewis Oh apple, apple tree, We have come to wassail thee Will you bear some fruit for me When the season changes?
Donkey field Community Orchard Canon 2011
The idea of setting Tallis Canon to names of apples grown in an orchard came from my friend Camilla Cancantata – a great community musician and prolific song writer living in Knighton. Apples have beautiful and evocative names and I enjoyed playing about with the varieties grown at The Donkeyfield Community Orchard in Portobello, Edinburgh, […]
Stand Fast Root 2020
Words: 19th century Sussex Music: Jane Lewis Stand fast root, Bear well top, Pray the God send us a howling good crop, Ev’ry twig apples big, Ev’ry bough, apples now This song works as a 5 part round – or you can sing it in fewer parts if you like! Tune: As a 5 part […]
Wassail Round the Branches Bare 2017
Root and shoot and bud and berry Apple, pear and plum and cherry, Friends and neighbours let’s be merry Wassail round the branches bare, Oh wassail round the branches bare, Oh wassail round the branches Robin Redbreast fluffed and free, Perching on the feasting tree, May there be fruit for you and me Wassail etc […]