Songs for the Sun’s Day: Soul Cake

Posted on by Catriona McDonald

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry
Any good thing to make us all merry

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
One for Peter, two for Paul
And three for Him that made us all

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry
Any good thing to make us all merry

God bless the master of this house
And the mistress also
And all the little children
That round your table grow

The cattle in your stable
The dogs at your front door
And all that dwell within your gates
We’ll wish you ten times more

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry
Any good thing to make us all merry

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
One for Peter, two for Paul
And three for Him that made us all

Go down into the cellar
And see what you can find
If the barrels are not empty
We’ll hope that you’ll be kind

We’ll hope that you’ll be kind
With your apple and your pear
And we’ll come no more a-soulin’
Till Christmas time next year

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry
Any good thing to make us all merry

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
One for Peter, two for Paul
And three for Him that made us all

The streets are very dirty
Me shoes are very thin
I have a little pocket
To put a penny in

If you haven’t got a penny
A ha’penny will do
If you haven’t got a ha’penny
Then God bless you

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry
Any good thing to make us all merry

A soul cake, a soul cake
Please, good missus, a soul cake
One for Peter, two for Paul
And three for Him that made us all
For Him that made us all
For Him that made us all

10 thoughts on “Songs for the Sun’s Day: Soul Cake”

    1. I loved Sting’s “If on a Winter’s Night…” album to pieces. Full disclosure, I like just about everything he does, but this was just such an interesting mix of songs and styles. Probably my favorite “holiday” album to date (if you can even call it such).

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      1. That *is* a great album. Sting plus early/traditional music; what’s not to like? 😉 I like most of the songs on it, though I do feel a few lag, like “Lo! How a rose…”, for example. But his version of “The Snow it Melts the Soonest is killer.
        My favorite Yule album is the Baltimore Consort’s Bright Day Star (http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Day-Star-Yuletide-Season/dp/B000001QAB), as it features my favorite early music singer, Custer LaRue,and has a great variety of older version of many of the popular carols, most of which are instrumental or don’t have as strong of a Christian overlay.

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        1. Ooo, I’ll certainly have to check out Baltimore Consort, as I’m really liking their sound. Thanks for the recommendation!

          Also, if you’re a fan of early music, have you ever run across Benjamin Bagby? His Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon is to die for.

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          1. Yep, I have his Beowulf, actually. We went to go see him perform it as such when I was in high school 🙂 It was pretty awesome. Wish I could understand anything that he’s saying in it, though. I think I catch one word in twenty.

            I have a Yule Mix I made up last year with a few of the Baltiimore Consort’s songs on it. I can send you a copy, if you like 🙂 I’m a big music pusher.

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          2. I got to see Bagby live in college–in the campus Great Hall building. Between the performer and the setting, he had the entire audience (mostly women) spellbound.

            I’d love to hear your Yule Mix, thank you!

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Published by Catriona McDonald