Lullay, Thou little tiny Child
By by, lully, lullay.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By by, lully, lullay.

O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day.
This poor youngling for whom we sing
By by, lully, lullay.
Herod the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day.
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.

That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever morn and day,
For Thy parting neither say nor sing
By by, lully, lullay

Info from Central Valley Christian School
MIDI source and sequencer unknown

The Coventry Carol, with its well-known 'Lully, lullay' refrain,
correctly speaking, is not a Christmas carol because the words refer
to Jesus as an infant, and are not concerned with the birth itself.
However, in practice it has been sung at christmas through several
centuries, so we present it on the CVC Christmas pages. This
Renaissance carol is named after the city of Coventry, England. The
15th Century Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, which was performed
in Coventry, depicted Herod's slaughter of the innocent children. It
was told in lyrics.

The author of this old 16th Century English carol is unknown. The carol
was one of the main forms of popular music in medieval Europe. In both
words and melodies carols always retained an unsophisticated manner.
In early medieval days this tradition was largely oral, only being
committed to manuscript in the 15th century. Therefore, an old carol
like "Lullay" offers us a rare opportunity to understand what most
weighed on the minds of the less educated people in the past...since
they did not write their feelings down. It seems that for everyone,
both high and low, most concerns were religious. There are some carols
about drinking and fighting, but the majority are associated with the
leading religious feasts of the year, and most of those refer to
Christmas. The Coventry Carol certainly falls into that category.
These older carols all contain a refrain. Presumably this would have
been sung by everybody, while the verses were sung by the person who
had thought them up in the first place. The refrain would have been
repeated after each verse as you see in this carol. Lullay: I saw -
one of the very earliest extant polyphonic carols - describes in old
English what Mary sang to her child. "Lully, lullay, lully, lullay,"
are not common words in the English language today. In the 1400's and
into the 1500's, however, lully and lullay were common slang words
meaning " I saw, I saw!". If they seem strange to you, think of some
of the strange slang words that we have today. Though the words are no
longer used, the hymn endures. ....Bill Drennon