What song did the "Mother of Folk" say her grandmother would often sing on Twelfth Night?
Brightest and Best "Brightest and Best" (occasionally rendered by its first line, "Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning") is a Christian hymn written in 1811 by the Anglican bishop Reginald Heber to be sung at the feast of Epiphany. It appeared in Heber's widow's compilation of hymns entitled "Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Service of the Church Year" in 1827. It can be sung to a number of tunes, including "Morning Star" by James P. Harding, "Epiphany" by Joseph Thrupp, and "Star in the East" by William Walker. It appears in "The Lutheran Hymnal", and appeared in the 1966 Methodist hymnal. It has been recorded by a number of artists, including Glen Campbell, Joanne Hogg and Kathy Mattea (on her album "Good News"). The Kentucky traditional singer Jean Ritchie often sang this and told of her childhood memory of her grandmother sitting by the fire and singing it quietly to herself on Twelfth Night; the Library of Congress collected it from her in 1951.
The Rattlin' Bog "The Rattlin' Bog" is an Irish folk song about a bog on the grounds of Collon Monastery, Collon, Co Louth in the Boyne Valley, specifically in the woodlands of Collon Scout Campsite. This location has resulted in the song's popularity around the scouting campfire throughout Ireland. Legend says that the hole itself mystically breathes and consumes all manner of things. The adjective "rattlin'" means "splendid" in the context of this song. It is a cumulative song, similar to "The Twelve Days of Christmas", as it has a list at the end of each verse which grows throughout the piece. In some performances of the song, the speed is constantly increased, in the same way that "The Sailor's Hornpipe" is sometimes played. There is some variation in how the lyrics are documented. Some versions record the first word of the chorus as either "Oh" or "Ho" or just "O" followed by the second word as either "ro" or "row".