Warlock and Blunt wrote the carol to finance an "immortal carouse" (a heavy bout of drinking) over Christmas in 1927.
[2][3] The poet and journalist Bruce Blunt told the story behind the creation of "Bethlehem Down" in a letter to Gerald Cockshott, dated 1943.
[2][5] Whilst on a night-time walk between two pubs—The Plough in Bishops Sutton and The Anchor in Ropley[6]—Blunt thought up the words to "Bethlehem Down".
[18] Chromaticism is used throughout the piece,[17] one example being the Tudor-styled flattened sevenths which populate the melody;[3] Ian Alfred Copley writes that this is a common recurring motif in Warlock's music.
[15] It features more complex harmony than the SATB version with additional counterpoint, differences in texture, and a passage linking penultimate and final verses—reminiscent of Warlock's other carol, Corpus Christi.
Copley describes the motif as "desolate",[19] and Smith writes that the accompaniment as a whole "highlights the inherent sadness of Blunt's poem".
When He is King they will clothe Him in grave-sheets, Myrrh for embalming, and wood for a crown, He that lies now in the white arms of Mary Sleeping so lightly on Bethlehem Down.
Here He has peace and a short while for dreaming, Close-huddled oxen to keep Him from cold, Mary for love, and for lullaby music Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.
Smith writes that "Bethlehem Down" is "surely the finest of all [Warlock's] choral works"[3] and a rare example of a modern carol which captures the essence of the genre.
[21] Music journalist Alexandra Coghlan writes that the piece is Warlock's "unquestioned carol masterpiece",[22] and is particularly impressive given the fact its creation arose from the simple need for money and alcohol.