Hey ho, nobody home, Meat nor drink nor money have I none
Yet shall we be merry, Hey ho, nobody home.
Hey Ho, nobody home.

Soal, a soal, a soal cake, please good missus a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum, a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry,
One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him who made us all.

God bless the master of this house, and the mistress also
And all the little children that round your table grow.
The cattle in your stable and the dog by your front door
And all that dwell within your gates we wish you ten times more.

Soal, a soal, a soal cake, please good missus a soal cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum, a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry,
One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him who made us all.

Go down into the cellar and see what you can find
If the barrels are not empty we hope you will be kind
We hope you will be kind with your apple and strawber'
For we'll come no more a 'soalin' till this time next year.

Soal, a soal, a soal cake, please good missus a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum, a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry,
One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him who made us all.

The streets are very dirty, my shoes are very thin.
I have a little pocket to put a penny in.
If you haven't got a penny, a ha' penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha' penny then God bless you.

Soal, a soal, a soal cake, please good missus a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum, a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry,
One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him who made us all.

Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood each other now embrace..
This holy tide of Christmas of beauty and of grace,
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.


Lyrics submitted by pieligero

A Soalin' song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment

    i'm pretty sure that, in all cases, it is "soul" and "soulin'," not "soal"

    scheisseon May 26, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I have the song also in a PPM song book, and it's definitely "soal" and "soalin". Also, if you hear the live version, Peter explains the meaning of a'soalin', saying that is "beg from house to house in Christmas".

    pieligeroon May 28, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    alright then. i have the live version, and this is not said... but there's probalby more than one live version. thank you for clearing that up. (although it is definitely a "soul cake" and you have both "soul cake" and "soal cake" written) i'm sorry for the mistake.

    scheisseon May 28, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Thank you for the information. Greetings from Spain!

    pieligeroon May 29, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    takeourword.com/Issue020.html

    If you follow this link, it describes this song as one sung on All Hallow's Eve, the last day of the Celtic year to collect "soul cakes" to honor the dead. And the Christmas connection came much later. At least according to this source.

    BillieDon November 17, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Link(s)

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_cake It seems that soul cake is a cake traditionally made for All Souls' Day (2 November), but has also come to be associated with the preceding two days.

    But I'm not sure anybody still souls (or soals) these days.

    flashgon December 15, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Really love this song: sang it as summer camp, elementary school music class, and it was in my beginner guitar book. Though the characters in the lyrics are in times of crisis, the song gives me hope when I am feeling flustered and bleak. You know art is powerful when it can lift your spirits

    River Wolfon June 14, 2014   Link

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