Traditional Welsh, words by Thomas Oliphant · Key of C · Public domain
Opens in the Chord Sheet Maker: transpose to your key, change chords, add strumming patterns, or print a clean copy. No account needed to start.
The melody of Deck the Halls is far older than its English words. It is the Welsh air Nos Galan, "New Year's Eve," a dance tune from the sixteenth century that was sung in Wales with harp accompaniment, the singers improvising verses while the harp answered between lines. Those instrumental answers are exactly where the famous "fa la la" refrains live: they began as the harp's reply, later sung by the whole room.
The Christmas words in English were written by the Scottish musicologist Thomas Oliphant in 1862, originally as "Deck the Hall." His lyric keeps the old carol's best qualities: it is entirely about celebrating (holly, harps, blazing fires, and the turning of the year) and it hands half of every line to the crowd, since nobody needs a lyric sheet to sing fa la la. Melody and words alike are firmly in the public domain.
A brisk, cheerful 4/4 in C. The verses sit on C and G7, and the one spot to practice is the third line's answer phrase, where the fa la las walk through Am, D7, and G7 before the last line resolves home through F. That little chord walk is the song's only trick, and it is a lovely first taste of a moving bass line. Strum lightly and let the room sing the refrains; transpose in the Chord Sheet Maker if C does not fit.
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