Song facts
- Original key
- F major
- Type
- Christmas carol
- Music
- Traditional Welsh (Nos Galan) (traditional)
- Original lyrics
- Thomas Oliphant (died 1873)
- First published
- 1862
Public-domain songs · Christmas carol instrumental
Deck the Halls
Play the Deck the Halls instrumental in the original key of F major, or from 3 semitones lower to 2 higher. Made by MR Maker from a public-domain score.
Last reviewed:
Backing track by key
The original key is F major. If it sits too high or too low for your voice, try the shifted versions and pick the one you can sing comfortably.
3 semitones lower (D major)
2 semitones lower (E♭ major)
Original key (F major)
2 semitones higher (G major)
About this song
The melody is Nos Galan, a Welsh tune for New Year's Eve first printed in Edward Jones's Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards (1794). The English words are by the Scottish lyricist Thomas Oliphant, for decades honorary secretary of London's Madrigal Society, who wrote them for John Thomas's Welsh Melodies collection in 1862; an American variant followed in 1877. The tune moves in an AABA shape. Hymnary.org lists NOS GALAN in E-flat major, and 1940s carol books print it in F major.
Rights
The melody is in the public domain (first published 1862). MR Maker made this accompaniment from a public-domain score. It contains no lyrics, translations or third-party recordings.
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