WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT
Nahum Tate
Tate (1652-1715) was born in Dublin. Apart from this carol, his most famous creation, Tate is remembered for his libretto for Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and for the many ‘improved’ happy endings he provided for a number of Shakespeare’s tragedies. He also compiled a metrical version of the Psalms. Tate became Poet Laureate in 1692.
While shepherds watched their flocks by night, All seated on the ground, The angel of the Lord came down, And glory shone around.Anon. While shepherds washed their socks at night
All seated round the tub
A bar of Sunlight soap came down
And they began to scrub!”
And…While shepherds watched the box at night All tuned to ITV The angel of the Lord came down And changed to BBC.
While shepherds washed their socks by night All watching MTV
The Angel of the Lord came down
and switched to BBC
and switched to BBC