Another upcoming song

[avevale_intelligencer]

From Journey To Conservatoire, chapter twelve, this is Child 44.2:

“He looked out in his scarlet robe
From his tower strong and high
And she came riding along the way
As black as the midnight sky, saying...

CHORUS
Bide, wizard, bide,
There’s nowhere you can hide.
I’ll claim your tower and your words of power
And put down all your pride.

She said ‘Well you dress, you sorcerer,
All in your robes of flame,
But come tomorrow at this same time
You’ll kneel to me in shame.’

‘Away, away, you coal black witch,
You think you are so strong
As to take from me the words of power
I’ve held in trust so long.

‘I would rather die in a ditch,’ said he,
‘Or the wheel my body break,
Than a dusky, lusty, coal black witch
My tower from me should take.’

But she said...
CHORUS

(instrumental, change up a gear)

“He’s locked his tower with a word of power
And down the road he fled
She's set the spur to her milk-white steed
And after him she sped, singing...
CHORUS

And he became an architect
Raised buildings tall and sound
And she became a demo girl
And razed them to the ground, singing...
CHORUS

And he became a minstrel gay
And strolled from town to town
And she became a folklorist
And wrote all his ditties down, saying...
CHORUS

And he became a farmer
With a fine fair crop of wheat
And she became a tax gatherer
And all that crop did eat, singing...
CHORUS

And he became an actor
On the stage he did present
And she became his agent
And took her ten per cent, saying...
CHORUS

And he became a huntsman
And sought her as his prey
And she became a saboteur
And chased his pack away, shouting...
CHORUS

And he became a banker
In a bank too big to fail
And she became an auditor
And had him sent to jail, saying...
CHORUS

And he became an oilman
With many a fracking well
And she became a tectonic fault
And his wells all went to hell, and she said...
CHORUS

He became a media baron
With a fund of comforting lies
And she became an activist
And opened the people's eyes, saying...
CHORUS

He became a politician
And fostered hate and fear
And she became a prostitute
And ended his career, singing...
CHORUS

And he became a rich old man
All in a hospital bed
And she became a kindly nurse
And soon they both were wed.”

(instrumental, change down again)

“He said 'Long and long our road has been
And the chase both far and wide,
But I grow weary with the years
And now I fain would bide.

'Take thou my tower and my book of power
I need them both no more.
I'd rather have my coal black witch
Than aught I had before.'

She laughed and leant across the bed
Turned off his life support.
'I am not thine, thou arrogant swine,
And I have all that I sought.

For countless years ye men have dealt
With women thus and so
And if you ever wondered how it felt--
Well, wizard, now you know.'”

“Who sneaked those last two verses in there?” Tollain demanded.
“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” Kaichang said, regarding the canopy over her head piously.
“That’s it,” Orville said. “Ruin the happy ending.”
“That was the happy ending,” Kaichang said.

Comments

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

*adores*

[seticat.livejournal.com]

Music! There must be music!

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

There will be, but with ballads it's hard to avoid unconscious plagiarism. I'm trying to stop this one welding itself to Steeleye Span's song about King Henry at the moment.

As soon as I have tunes there will be links to scratch recordings of this and all the songs from Journey To Conservatoire on Gestalt's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/gestalttheband) and in a post here as well, for those who don't FB.

And thank you!

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

(the song) Oh yeah!!!

"Music"? As soon as I saw "Bide, wizard, bide" it was singing itself in my head. That's not plagiarism, it's the oral tradition.

[batyatoon]

*applauds!*