Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Lighter
Date: 16 Feb 14 - 01:03 PM

Irish, 12th Century, translated by Kuno Meyer around 1895:

                         THE HOSTS OF FAERY

White shields they carry in their hands,
With emblems of pale silver;
With glittering blue swords,
With mighty stout horns,

In well-devised battle array,
Ahead of their fair chieftain
They march amid blue spears,
Pale-visaged, curly-headed bands.

They scatter the battalions of the foe,
They ravage every land they attack,
Splendidly they march to combat,
A swift, distinguished, avenging host!

No wonder though their strength be great:
Sons of queens and kings are one and all;
On their heads are
Beautiful golden-yellow manes.

With smooth comely bodies,
With bright, blue-starred eyes,
With pure crystal teeth,
With thin red lips.

Good they are at man-slaying,
Melodious in the ale-house,
Masterly at making songs,
Skilled at playing fidchell.



"Fidchell" was a game resembling chess.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Eldergirl
Date: 16 Feb 14 - 12:32 PM

Bearheart, sorry for delay, been off-piste for a day or 2.
Lyrics should be in the DT under Brookland Road, I know I found them on there last year, but I have no clicky link i'm afraid, not v good with techie stuff, also unaware of song other than album Hooks and Nets by Woods & Yarwood, early 70s. It might be on YouTube but I haven't looked for it.
Frankie Armstrong singing Tam Lin, yet another variant, best version I know so far.. We caught it on a TV show about 20-odd yrs back, on our little portable cassette recorder.
And I always liked Steeleye's Thomas the Rhymer.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Bearheart
Date: 16 Feb 14 - 01:12 AM

Thanks, Joe!

Very fond of Kipling... Many good "songs" in Puck of Pook's Hill, a fave of my childhood.

Some of my favorite Faery songs:

King Orfeo in the DT    http://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=3415
(sorry, no good at blue clickeys)

I don't think anyone mentioned Elf-Call or 700 Elves (Steeleye Span) or Willie's Lady (Ray Fisher did a wonderful rendition of this), I think they are all in the DT.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Feb 14 - 06:39 PM

Bearheart: I have never heard a tune to "Minepit Shaw". When I want to sing it, I steal the tune from "Queen Eleanor's Confession", which fits pretty well, tho it requires a little textual fiddling.

As I have often remarked, many of Kipling's songs were set to music repeatedly in the music-hall era, and probably most of them acquired at least one tune. It would be a great service to the kipler community if someone would dig them up & publish them. However, I have no idea how I would do so, even if I were in England. (He did garner a few tunes in the US. The best-known tune for "Mandalay" turns out to have been composed in Cincinnati, Ohio!)

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Bearheart
Date: 15 Feb 14 - 09:48 AM

eldergirl do you have a link or lyrics?

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Ged Fox
Date: 15 Feb 14 - 09:45 AM

"Farewell Rewards and Fairies"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMj7O9LZpU8&feature=c4-overview&list=UU7ftjb29J_Baa2Fzcf7lVag

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: GUEST,eldergirl on another computer
Date: 15 Feb 14 - 05:33 AM

Brookland Road, surelye?                                              as sung by Ian Woods and Charley Yarwood, tune P.Bellamy.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Bearheart
Date: 15 Feb 14 - 12:04 AM

Thanks Joe F, though I've not heard that song I could imagine Peter Bellamy singing it. I've never come across it before. Do you have any others to add?

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Feb 14 - 10:12 PM

Kipling's "Pict Song" can be found here. The Picts are a people, not a class, and the song as a whole is not a celebration of them, but a warning against them.

Kipling did write a faery song: The Ballad of Minepit Shaw. It is a sly & skeptical one, tho, full of delicious oxymorons, with a down-to-earth ending.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: Bearheart
Date: 13 Feb 14 - 12:12 AM

thought I would refresh this thread....

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: GUEST, Paul Slade
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 07:40 AM

Ivor Cutler's The Obliging Fairy?

Lyrics
Sample

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: GUEST,Lavengro
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 06:36 AM

As the Fairy thing seems to have been extended to cover things pagan and ethereal how about the following-

The White Hare- Seth Lakeman

Reel in the Flickering Light- As sung by Christy Moore

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: GUEST,MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:00 PM

"Set *to* music by The Tolkien Ensemble".

Also, there are millions of other poems by Tolkien which would fit as being "about fairies" or "of Faery". The Song Of Beren and Lúthien, The Song of Nimrodel, Galadriel's Song of Eldamar, O Elbereth Gilthoniel, The Song of Earendil...

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery / Fairy / Fairies
From: GUEST,MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 06:44 PM

For those who don't know:

Nargothrond and Gondolin= two Elven realms which existed in the First Age of Arda/Middle-earth.

Subject: Lyr Add: SONG OF DURIN (Tolkien/Reiff/Hall)
From: GUEST,MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 06:41 PM

This is about dwarves, which can be considered a type of fairy:
SONG OF DURIN
(by J.R.R. Tolkien from The Fellowship of The Ring). Set by music by the Tolkien Ensemble

1. The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone,
When Durin woke and woke alone.
He named the nameless hills and dells,
He drank from yet untasted wells,
He stooped and looked in Mirrormere,
And saw a crown of stars appear
As gems upon a silver thread,
Above the shadow of his head.

2. The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In Elder Days before the fall
Of mighty kings in Nargothrond*
And Gondolin*, who now beyond
The Western Seas have passed away,
The world was fair in Durin's Day.

3. A king he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn,
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night,
There shone for ever fair and bright.

4. There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote,
There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;
The delver mined, the mason built.
There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
And metal wrought like fishes' mail,
Buckler and corset, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in hoard.

5. Unwearied then were Durin's folk;
Beneath the mountains music woke:
The harpers harped, the minstrels sang,
And at the gates the trumpets rang.

6. The world is grey, the mountains old,
The forge's fire is ashen-cold;
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls;
The darkness dwells in Durin's halls:
The shadow lies upon his tomb
In Moria, in Khazad-dûm.
But still the sunken stars appear
In dark and windless Mirrormere.
There lies his crown in water deep
Till Durin wakes again from sleep.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Cluin
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:56 PM

;)

Yeah, here's another near miss, Strupag. "Loch Tay Boat Song". Same author--Harold Bolton.

"...and the songs the faerie sing are the songs she sings at milking..."

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Strupag
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 07:04 PM

The Skye Boat Song. That was about a Ferry but they've built a bridge now

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Bearheart
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 08:19 PM

Great thread! Have been collecting magical ballads for a long time. That thread on The Twa Magicians also very helpful!

Bekki

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Cluin
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 08:09 PM

Did O'Carolan really pen those lyrics?

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: GUEST,Julia
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 05:49 PM

Me- again! What about all the riddle songs= wouldn't the be considered Faery Fare?

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: GUEST,julia
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 04:43 PM

Here are some more form my personal list
THE MERMAID / OUR GALLANT SHIP
REYNARDINE
THE GAY GREEN GOWN
BERRY DHONE
THE GREAT SELCHIE
THE DAEMON LOVER
MOLLY BAWN
FALSE KNIGHT ON THE ROAD
ALISON GROSS
GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY

Subject: Lyr Add: SI BHEAG SI MHOR
From: GUEST,julia
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 03:28 PM

Here are lyrics to Si Bheag Si Mhor attributed to Turlough O'Carolan, blind harper circa late 1600's- died in 1735
Supposedly his first song,refers to a local legend about a battle between two fairy hills

SI BHEAG SI MHOR

1. Long long ago in this ancient land
A battle took place where two hills now stand
And on the plain there lay the slain
For neither the battle was won.
So the bard did sing of these fairy hills
Where bloom the white flowers and daffodils
One big one small Si Bheag Si Mhor
And never the battle is won.

2.Beneath these hills great heroes lie
Of the Red Branch Knights and their ancient foe
In still of night the immortals fight
But never the battle is won.
And so the harper was told these fairy tales
Of these fairy hills of the ancient Gaels
One big one small Si Bheag Si Mhor
And never the battle is won.

3.'Twas after the battle the prophet foretold
No rest would be found for these warriors bold
Till they unite and fight one common foe
And then would the battle be won.
So then the harper wrote of these fairy hills
Where bloom the white flowers and daffodils
One big one small Si Bheag Si Mhor
And never the battle is won.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Cluin
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 03:27 AM

The lyrics to Lui Collins' "White Seal Maid" were actually written by Jane Yolen. It was a poem from her book Neptune Rising. Someone showed it to Lui who was caught by them. So she set the words to music and recorded it on her "There's a Light" album.

Another one with Faerie elements is called "The Twa Magicians" (covered in this thread). It's similar to the whole Taliesin tale where, in his former incarnation as Gwion Bach, he flees the otherworld sorceress Ceridwen by changing into several different forms. She changes into different pursuing forms as well and catches him... though the aim was quite different in that story than in the song.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 30 May 01 - 01:30 PM

Richard Thompson eh? Cool... I've only ever heard Fairport Convention do it... but any song where a raven turns back into a girl is faerie enough in my book...

Alison... ummm... lemme look around and see if I have an MP3 of The White Seal Maiden... I may... I don't think I do... Keep in touch and keep bugging me to find it!

;-)

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Noreen
Date: 30 May 01 - 12:00 PM

?Banshees are female? This doesn't preclude a girl falling in love with one of course...

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Wavestar
Date: 30 May 01 - 11:53 AM

Oh, oh! _Banshee_. recorded by The Flash Girls, lyrics by Neil Gaiman. If anyone wants them I'll post them - a very haunting story of a girl who falls in love with a banshee.

-J

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Peg
Date: 30 May 01 - 11:41 AM

Thanks Lynn T for those lyrics and links! I would love to get all the lyrics to this song, have been fascinated by it for years...

Peg

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Naemanson
Date: 30 May 01 - 08:48 AM

Crazy Man Michael was written by Richard Thompson. Not sure if it could be considered faerie.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: GUEST,Lynn T
Date: 30 May 01 - 08:47 AM

I can throw some light in:

The song with "we are the little folk, we" is Kipling's Pict Song, tune by Bob Esty of Clam Chowder: not faerie at all, but bitter and enduring; the gist is that the peasantry though downtrodden will always outlast the conquering nobility. I can remember a few fragments: "We are the little folk, we, too little to love or to hate, but give us some time and you'll see how we can tear down the state" and "Mistletoe killing an oak, rats gnawing cable in two, (missing line), how they must love what they do." and "You -- you will die of the shame!"

But there's a wonderful Ferie song nobody has mentioned yet. Clam Chowder also does Kathy Sobansky's setting of Poul Anderson's "Queen of Air and Darkness" from the short story of the same name; the Ranger Arvid encounters the Queen of the Faeries one evening on his way home to his own lady; when he refuses to go with her, she curses him to hopeless mortality: "Your dull and foolish woman, treat kindly as you can, and live your days in longing, set free to be a man" with the chorus "The dance weaves under the firethorn". Great song, especially in Kathy's clear soprano, backed by harp, bass and hammered dulcimer. While they've done it for years and it's on earlier recordings, it's also included on their latest CD, just released. The Clams have a website; please pardon my ignorance about formatting matters.

http://members.aol.com/sirharper/chowder/index.htm

Lynn

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Jenny S
Date: 30 May 01 - 07:36 AM

The words for two more Seal/Silkie songs can be found at: http://bardofavalon.ifrance.com/bardofavalon/Singer/SealSongs.html .

J

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: alison
Date: 29 May 01 - 11:15 PM

clinton.. you got the tune for the selkie one?

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Mad Tom
Date: 29 May 01 - 10:56 PM

THE GOLD RING - I only know of it as an Irish fiddle tune, but I gather it had something to do with a leprechaun trading a tune for a golden ring.

That story about THE FAERY'S HORNPIPE sounds like it has the same roots as the CROSSROADS BLUES

SHEEBEG AND SHEEMORE or SHI BEG, SHI MOHR- by O'Carolan. Nice air, but ever heard of any lyrics though.

THE WEE WEE MAN - It's in the DT.

THE BANSHEE and THE LILTING BANSHEE - I forget if they're the same.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 29 May 01 - 08:17 PM

Thanks for the info.  Presumably that means that they did use the set-dance tune (example  Here ); it's a pity that they didn't bother to do the whole thing, though.  Mind, the full poem would have been harder to fit to a tune for which it was never intended!  I do hope that they credited Allingham, and that the omission was just on the part of whoever transcribed it from their record.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Hollowfox
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:20 PM

Well, Malcolm, the Irish Rovers was a Canadian band as I recall, out of Calgary, I think, but I think they were all emegree's from Ireland. The tune they used was the only one I've ever heard named King of the Fairies, and played by many performers. Since I can't hum the tune in a posting, and I can't read music, I'll just have to check my recordings at home tonight and post some examples so we have some common point of reference. (Whaddaya mean, librarians are obsessive?)*g*

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 29 May 01 - 04:01 PM

The title is The Fairies.  In the DT:

King of the Faeries  An incomplete text with the wrong title, wrongly described as "traditional", and the well-known author uncredited.

In the Forum (amongst quite a few discussions):

Lyr Req: King Of The Faeries  In this thread I posted the full text of William Allingham's poem.  Bits of it are regularly posted here, so it seemed sensible to get it out of the way, and to correct the fanciful spelling; Allingham used the usual "fairies".

A band called "The Irish Rovers" (from which I assume they were American) set it to music years ago, but nobody, so far as I can remember, has ever told us what tune they used.  Some have assumed, from the new title they gave it, that it was the set-dance King of the Fairies, but there seems to be some doubt.  Does anybody actually remember?

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 May 01 - 01:53 PM

Correct refrain:

Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen We daren't go a-hunting for fear of little men Wee folk, good folk, trouping all together green jacket, red cap, and white owl's feather.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 May 01 - 01:52 PM

Tull *is* folk, to me!

Has anyone put Up The Airy Mountain to music? I don't know the author, but here is as much of the peom as I recall:>p>Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen
We daren't go a-hunting for fear of little men
Wee folk, good folk, trouping all together
green jacket, red cap, and white owl's feather.

They stole little Bridget for seven years long
When she came back down again, all her friends were gone
They took her lightly back, between the night and morrow
They thought she was fast asleep but she was dead with sorrow
They have kept her ever since, deep within the lake
On a bed of flagweed, watching till she wakes.

Up the airy mountain...

Sigh, such a sad, sad poem, but then, that's the Little Poeple for you.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE SEAL MAID
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 29 May 01 - 01:38 PM

it's called "The Ballad of the White Seal Maid", and it's on her CD There's A Light...

check out luicollins.com for more...

THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE SEAL MAID

There's a fisherman sitting alone on the land
His hands are his craft His boat is his art
A fisherman sitting alone on the land
A rock A hard rock in his heart

There's a selkie maid swimming alone in the bay
Her eyes are the seals Her heart is the sea
A selkie maid swimming alone in the bay
A pure white seal maiden is she

She comes to the shore and she sheds her sealskin
She dances on the sand Dances under the moon
Her hair falls in waves down upon her white skin
And only the sea hears the tune

Then standing the fisherman takes her sealskin
Staking his claim to a wife from the sea
He raises his hand holding up the white skin
Says, "Now you must come home with me"

Oh weeping she goes and still weeping she stays
Her hands are her craft Her babes are her art
A year and a year and a year more she stays
A rock A cold rock in her heart

But what is this hid in the fisherman's bag
It smells of the ocean It feels like the sea
A bonny white sealskin closed up in the bag
And never a tear more cries she

Good-bye to the house and good-bye to the shore
Good-bye to the babes that I never could claim
But never a thought to the man left on shore
For selkie's my nature and name

She puts on her skin and dives back in the sea
The fisherman's cries fall on water-deaf ears
She swims in her sealskin away out to sea
And the fisherman drowns in his tears

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 29 May 01 - 01:32 PM

Oh oh oh!!!

I just though of another.... t'was Hfox's post above reminded me...

Lui Collins does a great A capella song, "The Fisherman and the Selkie"... or maybe it's called the "Sealmaid"... I'll check her web page to find out!

But it's BRILLIANT!

And well, with a voice like Lui's, how can ya go wrong eh?!?!?!?!?!

;-)

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Hollowfox
Date: 29 May 01 - 01:17 PM

Peg, "We are the Little Folk" is a musical setting for Rudyard Kipling's "The Picts' Song" (in the book Rewards and Fairies, a book I recommend to anybody interested in this thread). The tune may be by Peter Bellamy, bit I can't check that until I get home from work.
Amergin, a good few of Meg Davis's songs on the subject can be found on "Captain Jack and the Mermaid". Again, I can post recording label info, etc, tomorrow, if you like.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 28 May 01 - 05:56 PM

That's where I get ALL my tull lyrics from.. Cup Of Wonder...

Umm... let's see...

The Tull version of John Barleycorn is on A Little Light Music
Jack-In-The-Green is track 2 on Songs From The Wood
Mayhem, Maybe and Kelpie are from the 20 Years boxed set
DunRinglil is on Stormwatch
Heavy Horses, while being an exquisit album, has nothng so overtly faerie, unless one is willing to count Weathercock... Which I guess I'd be willing to do as well...

Peg's article is here if you want that sort of stuff as well...

Then when you're done with Tull, continue on to check out Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and a few of the other progressive folk rock bands... plenty of them have 'otherworldly' inspirations...

;-)

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Peg
Date: 28 May 01 - 05:30 PM

well thanks for those Tull songs Clinton.

Most of the best songs along these lines are contained within Songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses, and Stormwatch...soem of the later albums have environmental themes as well...

I actually wrote an article on this at www.cupofwonder.com "Love From the Fields: The Pagan Imagery of Britain in the Songs of Ian Anderson"

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: RichM
Date: 28 May 01 - 05:04 PM

hmm...I was never a Jethro Tull fan...not because I disliked the music, but I was a *folkie* then-don'tchaknow-but I am interested in fairy-inspired music...
any particulars about what albums, cd's I can hear these?

Rich

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: CamiSu
Date: 28 May 01 - 04:38 PM

Great songs, Clinton! I especially like the Jack-in-the-Green one. Thanks.

-J

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Jenny S
Date: 28 May 01 - 02:10 PM

There's a lot of info about songs of faery in the book "Folklore in the English and Scottish Ballads - Ghosts, Magic, Witches, Fairies, the Otherworld" by Lowry Charles Wimberly. Published by Dover 486-21388-9.

Jenny

Subject: Lyr Add: DUN RINGILL
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 28 May 01 - 01:08 PM

this is a song aobut a faerie place if not the folk themselves

DUN RINGILL

Clear light on a slick palm
as I mis-deal the day
Slip the night from a shaved pack
make a marked card play
Call twilight hours down
from a heaven home
high above the highest bidder
for the good Lord's throne
In the wee hours I'll meet you
down by Dun Ringill
oh, and we'll watch the old gods play
by Dun Ringill

We'll wait in stone circles
`til the force comes through
lines joint in faint discord
and the stormwatch brews
a concert of kings
as the white sea snaps
at the heels of a soft prayer
whispered
In the wee hours I'll meet you
down by Dun Ringill
oh, and I'll take you quickly
by Dun Ringill.

Subject: Lyr Add: KELPIE^^
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 28 May 01 - 01:03 PM

Another Tull song...

KELPIE

There was a warm wind with the high tide on the south of the hill.
When a young girl went a-walking and I followed with a will.
"Good day to you, my fine young lady, with your lips so sweetly full.
May I help you comb your long hair, sweep it from that brow so cool?''
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.

Well I'm a man when I'm feeling the urge to step ashore.
So I may charm you not alarm you. Tell you all fine things, and more.
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.

Say goodbye to all your dear kin for they hate to see you go
in your young prime, to this place of mine in the still loch far below.
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.

Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.

Subject: Lyr Add: MAYHEM, MAYBE^^
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 28 May 01 - 01:02 PM

Or this one...

MAYHEM, MAYBE

When we're working nights, the village round
the old church becomes scary town.
All curtained windows and bolted doors
but never a eye to see
as us fairy folks sweep from the hill.
Never caught us and never will.
Pulling roses and daffodils
mayhem in the high degree.

The blacksmith chased us all to ground.
They searched all night we were never found.
The tinker boys and the sheriff's men
shaking the tallest tree.
And we sat and watched the women hide.
Laughed so much we split our sides.
Scattered horses that they would ride
mayhem in the high degree.

We crossed through fields of midnight green
often heard but seldom seen.
Tore along hedges,stripping leaves
no-one could quite agree
whether we came from north or south.
We stole the screams from out their mouths
and go where no man would allow
mayhem in the high degree.

Like scaly carp and feathered swan
to nature's world we do belong.
We ride the thin winds of the night
and set dark spirits free.
We terrify the mare and foal.
The fox stood still and far too bold.
So we strung him up, brush neatly folded;
mayhem, maybe.

Subject: Lyr Add: JACK-IN-THE-GREEN
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 28 May 01 - 12:50 PM

A lot of faerie tales tend toward the personification of nature, so maybe John Barleycorn could fit as well eh?

Theres alsot some really good folkie kinda progressive rock songs from Jethro Tull that are faerie inspired...

JACK-IN-THE-GREEN

Have you seen Jack-In-The-Green?
With his long tail hanging down.
He quietly sits under every tree
in the folds of his velvet gown.
He drinks from the empty acorn cup
the dew that dawn sweetly bestows.
And taps his cane upon the ground
signals the snowdrops it's time to grow.

It's no fun being Jack-In-The-Green
no place to dance, no time for song.
He wears the colours of the summer soldier
carries the green flag all the winter long.

Jack, do you never sleep
does the green still run deep in your heart?
Or will these changing times,
motorways, powerlines,
keep us apart?
Well, I don't think so
I saw some grass growing through the pavements today.

The rowan, the oak and the holly tree
are the charges left for you to groom.
Each blade of grass whispers Jack-In-The-Green.
Oh Jack, please help me through my winter's night.
And we are the berries on the holly tree.
Oh, the mistlethrush is coming.
Jack, put out the light.

Subject: RE: Songs of Faery
From: Peg
Date: 28 May 01 - 12:16 AM

I don't think the Lady of Shallott was a fairy; but a mortal woman under a curse...

She is also mythically similar to Morgan le Fay, though, in her devotion to Lancelot...so the theme is kind of there...