Song of the Month

Join us each month in song!

The first “S” in CDSS stands for “song”—specifically the participatory singing that happens at pub sings, song circles, and other community singing events. To celebrate that part of our mission, we offer our volunteer-curated Song of the Month to help broaden your repertoire of traditional (and traditional-inspired) songs. Learn a song each month and share it with your own communities!

Lorraine Hammond started Song of the Month in 2016, and Judy Cook has been curating its songs since 2017. Thank you Judy and Lorraine!

Submit a Song of the Month

Have a favorite song that works at pub sings, song circles, and other community singing events? We’d love to share it!

Submit a Song

Note: Many of these old songs should be looked at as “fairy tales for adults” in that they often address very strong, and sometimes scary, subject matter. They allow us to deal with difficult situations and emotions with the distance afforded by putting it in a song. They are cautionary tales, and had their use as such.

This month’s song:

March 2026: Come All You Worthy Christians
(Also known as The Lodsworth Carol)
Submitted by Denise and Stuart Savage

This song was collected from Henry Hills, a farmer from Lodsworth—a village between the towns of Midhurst and Petworth in the county of West Sussex in southern England. It was collected by Percy Merrick in 1901, when Henry was 91 years old. It appeared in the English Folk Song Journal, Vol. 1 No. 3, which is entirely devoted to Henry Hills material.

Interestingly, Stuart was born in Petworth, which is only 3 miles from Lodsworth. To add further interest, we have added a dotted note to some of the crotchets in our recording. We have also added one of Henry’s “toasts” at the end of the song.

Listen to Denise and Stuart’s recording of “Come All You Worthy Christians:”

Download the sheet music for “Come All You Worthy Christians.”

Lyrics

The time it will soon come when parted we all must be.
The only thing that doth remain is enjoying our misery.
Where (? for) we must all an account give, both great as well as small:
Remember, all good people, that God has made us all.

Oh! Job he was a patient man, and a rich man in the East;
How he was brought to poverty! His sorrows did increase;
He bore it with great patience, and never did repine;
He always trusted in the Lord, and soon got rich again.

Come, all you worthy Christians that dwell within this land,
Don’t spend your time in rioting: remember you’re but man.
Be watchful of your latter end; be ready when you’re called.
There’s many a changes in the world, some rises and some fall.

Though poor, I am contented, no riches do I crave;
For they are all but vanity on this side of the grave.
Although many roll in riches, their glass will soon run out;
No riches they brought in this world, nor none can they take out.

Denise and Stuart Savage became involved in the folk music revival in the 1960s whilst in their late teens. They have performed in various group combinations, now as a duo with English concertina accompaniment. They visited the USA in 2002 and again in 2004, when they were lucky enough to perform in a number of house concerts from Washington, DC to Vermont. A summary of their Henry Hills presentation can be found online at the Sussex Traditions website.