Hi. My name is Paul and this is my first post on Mudcat.

I live in North Wales and I'm a folk singer and songwriter. Recently I wrote a song concerned with the preparation of the dead for burial called Song of The Bones. I am familiar with The Shaking of the Sheets and The Lyke Wake Dirge and also recently came across the wonderful Doleful Dance of Death performed by the Remnant Kings.

I read a piece on the latter by Ian Pittaway (here: http://earlymusicmuse.com/lyke-wake-dirge/) and I have become interested in educating myself about this area of folk music. Clearly, there are lots of folk songs connected to death but there is something intimate and hidden about music from the preparation for burial.

You will find a copy of my lyric at the bottom to give you an idea of the sort of thing I mean.

It's a very general question about a very specific thing but I wonder if Mudcat might help guide my future searches. Any and all ideas or thoughts gratefully received.

Song of the Bones

Dance to- the song of the bones
We all- die on our own.
Torn from our mothers- cruelly hurled
here to eat- the sins of the world

Sister! Hold out your hand
Cut me- down where I hang
Wrap me up in my resting shroud
Wind me- around and around.

Mother! Hold out your hand.
Comb my dead hair- strand by strand.
Draw for me- a bath from the well.
Cry for me a final farewell.

Dance to- the song of the bones
We all- die on our own.
Torn from our mothers- cruelly hurled
here to eat- the sins of the world

Brother! Hold out your hand.
Cut me- a womb in the land.
Once more take me away from the pain.
Lay me out by my grave in the rain.

Father! Hold out your hand.
Lay me down in the soil of the strand.
and sing for me your sweet lullaby.
Wash my soul with the tears that you cry.

Dance to- the song of the bones
We all- die on our own.
Torn from our mothers- cruelly hurled
here to eat- the sins of the world