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The “Coventry Carol” was performed in Coventry as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from the Gospel of Matthew. This carol presents the Massacre of the Innocents in which Herod orders all male infants in Bethlehem killed. The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother’s lament for her doomed child. It is the only carol that has survived from this play.

The Coventry Carol is a well-known example of a Picardy third. The author is unknown; the oldest known text was written down by Robert Croo in 1534, and the oldest known printing of the melody dates from 1591. There is an alternate setting of the carol by Kenneth Leighton.

Coventry Carol Lyrics

Luly, lulay, Thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, luly, lulay.
Lulay, thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, luly, lulay.

O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling for whom we do sing
Bye, bye, luly, lulay.

Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young to slay.

That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And every mourn and day,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
Bye, bye, luly, lulay