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This is one of over 600 poems by English writer Cicely Fox Smith, well known for her maritime poetry and song. One correspondent wrote to her as "Capt. Fox Smith" and when she tried to correct him he wrote back "You say you are not a master but you must be a practical seaman. I can always detect the hand of an amateur." He was almost correct. Her spare time was spent roaming wharves and alleys, talking to residents and sailors alike. She listened to and learned from the sailors' tales until she too was able to speak with that authoritative nautical air that pervades her work. Bill's Christmases was first published in Punch in December 1921, and later in Sea Songs and Ballads in 1922. The rhyme scheme and repetitive last line "to drive the cold winter away" has always made me wonder if she intended it for the English Christmas carol tune of the same name, which it suits quite nicely.
lyrics
"Christmas," said Bill, "on Christmas cards, it's winders all aglow,
An' lots o' stuff to eat an' drink an' a good three feet o' snow,
An' a bunch o' bouncin' girls to kiss under the mistletoe.
It’s never so hard on a Christmas card to drive the cold winter away.
Holly an' robin redbreasts too, as rosy as can be,
An' waits an' chimes an' all such gear as you never get at sea,
But it's different things as Christmas means to a ramblin' bloke like me.
to a sailor bloke it ain't no joke to drive the cold winter away.
The first I ever 'ad at sea I was 'ardly more 'n a nipper,
An' I'd took an' signed, bein' young an' green, in a dandy Down-east clipper
With a bullnecked beast of a bucko mate an' a rare tough nut of a skipper.
And all thoughts fled right out of my head to drive the cold winter away.
An' we dined 'andsome, so we did, off biscuits an' salt 'orse,
An' finished up with scraper duff an' sand-an'-canvas sorce,
An' them as growled got seaboot soup by way of an extry course.
for there's nowt like grub from the salt junk tub to drive the cold winter away.
I've 'ad my Christmas 'ere an' there, I've 'ad it up an' down,
I've 'ad it sober on the seas an' drunk in sailor-town,
I've 'ad it where the folks are black an' where the folks are brown,
And them tropic maids in their island glades sure can drive the cold winter away.
And under many a tropic sky an' many a foreign star,
In Perim, Portland, Pernambuck, Malacca, Malabar,
Where the rum bird-'eaded totem poles and the gilded Buddhas are.
And the burning sands of them desert lands will drive the cold winter away.
I've 'ad it froze in Baltic cold an' burned in Red Sea 'eat,
I've 'ad it in a Channel fog as busy as a street,
An' once I 'ad it off the 'Orn, an' that was sure a treat.
Where there's never a coat on any old boat can drive the cold winter away.
I was in the clipper Seabright then — a big ship, 'eavy sparred,
With every sort o' flyin' kite an' a seventy foot mainyard,
An' 'andlin' 'er in a gale of wind, I tell you, it was 'ard!
For there was nary the gloom of an engine room to drive the cold winter away.
We come on deck for the middle watch, an' save us, 'ow it blew!
A night like the devil's ridin'boots, that never a star shone through,
An' the seas they kep' on poopin' 'er till we 'ad to 'eave 'er to.
And we held her there and we said a prayer to drive the cold winter away.
We snugged 'er down, we 'ove 'er to, an' there all night lay she,
With one mainyard arm pointin' to 'eaven an' one to the deeps o' the sea,
Dippin' 'er spars at every roll in the thunderin' foam alee.
and we hung on tight til the morning light should drive the cold winter away.
Till the wind an' sea went down a bit an' the dawn come cold an' grey,
An' we laid aloft an' loosed the sails an' squared the ship away,
An' a chap beside me on the yard says, 'Bill, it's Christmas Day!'"
And I blessed my soul to be safe and whole and to drive the cold winter away.
credits
from Set to the Music,
released July 24, 2021
Cicely Fox-Smith arr. Lynn Noel (air trad.)
Lynn Noel brings traditional song and heritage arts online to create community. Lynn has a voice of striking clarity and
power, equally at home in rhythmic chanteys and flowing ballads.
Lynn is a respected song session leader on both sides of the Atlantic and the producer and host of the Mermaid's Tavern online folk club. She is currently Program Chair of the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA)....more
supported by 4 fans who also own “Bill's Christmases”
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