See him lying on a bed of straw

See him lying on a bed of straw. Michael Perry* (1942-1996). The words and music of this ‘Calypso Carol’ were composed together in 1964 while the writer was training for ordination at Oak Hill College in Southgate, North London. He remembered Peter Hancock, curate of his own Beckenham church, asking ‘How would you like to be born in a cowshed?’; this proved the seed-thought when a final item was needed for the Christmas concert at Christ Church, Cockfosters, London. Its original form (‘See him a-lying…’, with ‘thee/thou’ pronouns, soon modernised) was published in Youth Praise 2 (1969), and proved immediately useful. School and ‘family’ events have repeatedly found it effective,...