Past Three O’Clock

Note from the arranger

The melody of this lively carol dates from at least the 17th century, as it appears (in a slightly varied form) in a supplement to the third edition of Playford’s Dancing Master (1657). If you own the modern compiled edition by Jeremy Barlow, it’s number 163, “The Waits.”

The delightfully Christmassy lyrics we know today were written by George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934) and first published in 1924. The refrain, “Past three o’clock, and a cold frosty morning,” is based on the traditional call of the London night watchmen. The diarist Samuel Pepys commented in 1660 on hearing such a call around one o’clock in the morning, where he wrote: “I staid up till the bell-man came by with his bell just under my window as I was writing of this very line, and cried, ‘Past one of the clock, and a cold, frosty, windy morning.’”

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