Coventry Carol
One of my all-time favorite Christmas albums is Loreena McKennitt’s A Winter Garden, released in 1995—the very year I graduated high school.
At that time, I was working part-time mornings at Natural Wonders (while teaching guitar late afternoons and evenings). Natural Wonders was essentially the first mainstream “New Age” store to infiltrate American malls. We sold rain sticks, telescopes, Zen sand gardens, and an endless stream of CDs.
The required background music for the store was a relentless mix of John Tesh, Enya, Yanni, Jim Brickman, and everything Celtic. The volume was constant, and depending on the selection, you didn’t know whether to scream for mercy or simply fall asleep.
Because of this, we tried to play Loreena McKennitt’s music as often as we possibly could. It was dynamically different than anything else in the entire New Age “genre.” Loreena’s work was haunting, serious, and actual artistry—a genuine reprieve from the New Age retail soundscape.
The opening track from A Winter Garden is “Coventry Carol.” This beautiful but somber English Christmas carol carries a rich, dark history dating back to the 16th century. It originated as part of a Coventry play depicting the Christmas story and Nativity. In the play, the carol is a grim lullaby, sung by the mothers of Bethlehem, after King Herod orders the execution of all male infants.
Yes it’s pretty dark—but my ear has always been attracted to these types of haunting compositions. (Jeff Buckley’s “Corpus Christi Carol” is another essential in this vein.)
“Coventry Carol” has been recorded by everyone from Baroque choirs to The Pentatonix. However, none have truly captured the piece’s spirit like Loreena McKennitt’s arrangement. She commandeers this song—in much the same way Jeff Buckley owns “Hallelujah,” or Johnny Cash owns “Hurt.”
My personal rendition of “Coventry Carol” is essentially an instrumental take on her iconic arrangement, simply keyed lower to suit the guitar.
You can find my version of this piece on Spotify and all streaming services:
How to play Coventry Carol | fingerstyle guitar
The guitar tab is arrangement is beautifully written on a single page. I recommend this piece for beginner guitar players and up –as the chord shapes are really easy to play.
Enjoy, the guitar tab is available below:
In accordance with the guitar tab, my song structure looks like this:
Intro, Verse 2x, Chorus
Verse 2x, Chorus, End.
[guitar tab] **Coventry Carol (Ambient Fingerstyle Guitar)
Coventry Carol is played in a Drop D tuning. Your tuning will look like this from low to high: D A D G B E. You’ll then place a capo on the 7th fret.