[4] The first known publication of the song's current version was in 1928 in the Oxford Book of Carols;[5] however, earlier versions of the song had been published, including, but not limited to, publications in 1838,[6] 1857,[7] and 1868[2] by William Chappell, Robert Bell, and William Henry Husk respectively.
In the book, Sharp wrote: The first six stanzas in the text are those that Mr. [William] Bayliss [of Buckland] gave me; they are printed without any alteration.
[12]Through the years, there have been, and to a lesser extent still are, many different variations of the lyrics, chorus, and number of stanzas sung, depending on historical time period, geographic location, arrangement, and individual circumstance.
[13] However the currently used version of the tune is documented to have existed at least several hundred years ago.
The sheet music from Husk's 1868 book, which contains the farthest-back reference of it being sung (to the 1790s), resembles today's,[2] and in the oldest known sheet music publication, from an 1813 piece in England's Times Telescope, the tune resembles today's.
The folklorist James Madison Carpenter made several audio recordings of the song in Gloucestershire in the early 1930s, which can be heard online via the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website.
[15] Many other audio recordings were made of Gloucestershire residents singing wassailing songs in the second half of the twentieth century.
[18] Blur recorded a version which was given away as a free 7" by a man dressed as Santa Claus at their Christmas gig at the Hibernian Club in Fulham, London on 15 December 1992.
[19] Canadian folk/world music singer/composer Loreena McKennitt released the song on her 2008 Christmas album A Midwinter Night's Dream.
Canadian folk trio Trilogy (Eileen McGann, Cathy Miller, and David K.) included the song on the 1996 recording of their touring production, "2000 Years of Christmas".
Below are the ten present-day, most commonly heard stanzas of lyrics, as originally published in the Oxford Book of Carols.
Here's to our cow, and to her long tail, God send our master us never may fail Of a cup of good beer: I pray you draw near, And our jolly wassail it's then you shall hear.