Songs about King Arthur

Subject: King Aurthur
From: *Laura*
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 07:53 AM

Does anyone know if there are any songs about King Aurthur? And where I might find them? I've just re-read my very good version of the book, and am interested in the idea of King Aurthur and the Westcountry, and wonder if there are any songs that have the same sort of ideas.

xLx

Subject: RE: King Aurthur
From: pavane
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 07:58 AM

Spell it ARTHUR for more results!

Subject: RE: King Aurthur
From: *Laura*
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 07:59 AM

Yeah i noticed that after I did it - it's one of those words I can never spell. Like necessary (is that right)
oopsy!

xLx

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: *Laura*
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 08:01 AM

there - changed

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: *Laura*
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 08:03 AM

how do I change the title of the thread? properly I mean

Subject: RE: King Aurthur
From: pavane
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 08:04 AM

The only one I can find is not related to Arthur himself, but just 'In good King Arthur's time', about the three thieving rogues (Miller and the Weaver and the little Tailor)

Subject: RE: King Aurthur
From: Ross
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 08:26 AM

How about the musical - Camelot

Richard Harris singing about a cake and never having the recipe again

Oh Nooooooo!!!!!!!!!! Jim Webb song I think

There used to be a brilliant kids cartoon on UK tele with quite a catchy theme tune

I'm giggling now, so I'll have to go

Subject: RE: King Aurthur
From: Turlough
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 09:34 AM

Laura,

well, technically it's not really about Arthur, but Nick Keir wrote a song called "Avalon", it's somewhere in the DT. And there's Jake Walton's "Tristan's Song", which also isn't actually about Arthur himself... There are probably many more songs, but these are the only two that I can think of right now...

T.

P.S. What "very good version of the book" have you read?

Subject: RE: King Aurthur
From: cloudstreet
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 10:35 AM

We sing the theme song from a cartoon called, "Arthur and the Square Knights of the Round Table". A google search for toontracker should take you to it. You can't download the song but it plays when you load the right page. Good fun.

John.

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 11:21 AM

I've written one. (Or mostly written one. I'm still not satisfied with parts of it.) You're probably looking for existing songs though. I have a vague memory of a song by Crosby Stills & Nash about Guinnevere, but one would think there were be some trad-sounding songs as well. One reason I wanted to write a song was the fact that there don't seem to be very many songs about King Arthur or Camelot. Another reason was I really wanted to explore the question of (after Arthur's departure to Avalon) "and THEN what happened?"

2nd verse:
And his knights rode where the four winds blew,
No reason here to stay.
He dreamed a dream and they believed,
But the dream is buried in the clay.
Remembered, yes, by those who lack,
The strength that living it would take,
And Excalibur's, in the cold, cold hands,
Of the Lady of the Lake.

Regarding how to change the thread title, sometimes Admin people see requests in a thread, if they happen to be reading the thread. Other times, you can post a message in the Help Forum - the link's in the banner at the top of each page.

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Turlough
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 11:54 AM

John,

I heard you sing that song at Alcester. Very funny!

T.

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: *Laura*
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 05:22 PM

Monty Python have a song about 'The Nights of the Round Table' - thats a good one!

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: *Laura*
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 05:22 PM

I mean knights! honestly - theres something wrong with my keyboard! not me! hehe

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 05:26 PM

Knights in white satin...LOL

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 05:29 PM

To be serious...if you feed "excalibur" into the lyrics and knowledge search you will come up with something on the thread. Best wishes.

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 06:26 PM

See the "Hunting Song" thread (to which I just posted) for an obscure early Pentangle lyric that's Arthurian in story line, although it doean't mention him by name.

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Susan of DT
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 07:51 PM

There are a few Child ballads with Arthurian overtones, all in the DT:
   Child #29 The Boy and the Mantle
   Child #30 The Marriage of Sir Gawaine
   Child #18 Sir Lionel/Old Bangum

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Hawker
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 08:05 PM

Pete Coe wrote a song called The Wizard Of Aldeley which has a reference to King Arthur in it. I think it is in the DT
Cheers Lucy

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: GUEST,Mr Sooze
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 08:27 AM

Check out the 3 novels by Bernard Cornwall- "Ememy of God"; The Winter King" & "Excaliber".... excellent reading !

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: FIDDLE-4
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 12:21 PM

IF YOU LOOK UP A MAN CALLED ARNOLD BAX
AN ENGLISH CLASSICAL MUSIC COMPOSER.
VERY INTO CELTIC MUSIC AND ARTHURIAN
LEDGEND HE WROTE A THING CALLED TINTAGLE
OR SOME SPELLING LIKE THAT ,,YOU WILL MAYBE
FIND SOME FOLK SONGS CONNECTED TO HIS WORK..

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 04:46 PM

Camelot. Tis a silly place

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: *Laura*
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 05:08 PM

A blessing! A blessing from the lord!

God be Praised!

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Turlough
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 05:24 PM

Yes, of course! Here's a true Arthurian song (although, again, it's not about Arthur himself).

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: The Walrus
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 05:34 PM

I seem to recall a French song:

"Chevaliers de la Table Ronde" (
apologies to any Francophones out there, for the appalling spelling).

W

Subject: Lyr Add: ARTHUR (Rick Wakeman)
From: Rasener
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 05:42 PM

How about this one


Rick Wakeman
» Arthur

WHOSO PULLETH OUT THIS
SWORD FROM THIS STONE
AND ANVIL, IS THE TRUE-
BORN KING OF ALL BRITAIN
Upon a New Year's day
A host of knights did pray
That from the anvil one could draw the sword.
As each knight took his turn
They found the anvil, held it firm;
None worthy of a future King and Lord.
Sir Kay the bravest knight
Appeared to try his might
He dreamed of being King, as all the rest
To Arthur Sir Kay called to search
And bring for him a sword
In earnest Arthur set about his quest.
A churchyard in the wood
The sword and anvil stood
And Arthur drew the sword out of the stone
The anvil now defeated
His quest for the sword completed
A sword that was to place him on the throne
A sword that was to place him on the throne.
Sir Hector and Sir Kay saw the sword
And knelt to pray
Then gently took it from young Arthur's hand
They marvelled at his quest
Proclaiming to the rest
Arthur is the King of all this land
Arthur the King of all this land.

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Turlough
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 05:46 PM

Oh yes! That's a nice one... What was the chorus again? "Goutons voir, oui oui oui, goutons voir, non non non, goutons voir, si le vin est bon..."

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: kendall
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 07:19 PM

How about Dave Mallett's song, "Arthur"?
Jeri that gives me goose flesh! Finish it.

Subject: ADD: MORTE D'ARTHUR (Anne Lister)
From: Barbara
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 07:44 PM

^^MORTE D'ARTHUR
(Anne Lister copyright 1995)

After the battle the daylight faded
Darkness fell, not a word was spoken
I stood by the king awhile and waited
The sword in his hand, like his heart, was broken
And what did he say but to throw the sword away
Throw it in the water that ever runs deep
What did he say but to throw the sword away
And then, he said, then he could sleep.

By the lakeside the seabirds were calling
I stood by the water with the sword in my hand
And all around me the shadows were falling
Darkness fell on all the green land
And what could I do but to walk back to the king
The broken sword hanging more heavy than gold
But how could I throw the sword into the lake?
May God forgive me the lies that I told.

Again he looked at me, his eyes as dark as pain
told me to take the sword to the lake
Told me to throw it till it flew home again
Told me to be sure and make no mistake
And down by the lakeside once more the seabirds called
The still waters lying as heavy as death
But I took the sword and threw it towards the sky
And as it fell I heard a soft sighing breath.

(BREAK)
In the lake rose an arm clothed in samite
In the lake rose an arm clothed in white
The hand caught the sword and waved it three times round
And darkness fell, darker than midnight.


When I reached the battlefield the king was no longer there
I ran to the cliff top and looked to the sea
A ship on the water with sails of silver
And four ladies standing their backs turned to me
And Arthur between them, sailing to Avalon
The coastline of Albion slowly turned black
And I walked homewards into the darkness
To wait for the day when the king will come back.

For there's no end now to my story
There's no end to the tale that I've told
The hand caught the sword and waved it three times round
The time will come when the dark will turn gold.

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: delphinium
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 09:58 PM

There's Maddy Prior's CD "Arthur the King" - with a song cycle about the historical King Arthur. Lyrics and notes here.

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 04 - 12:54 AM

Laura,

There are a number of Arthurian cognates in legends of many regions of Europe and the Mediterranean, some as far away as India. Adonis, Attis, Osiris are three who get mention in scholarly works by James Frazer and Jessie Weston. The stories of Parzival/Parsival/Parsifal (also called Perceval, other variants are Percyvelle and Perlesvaus--this last one yeilds some good and very old information, I think) all contributed to or benefitted from the legend of Arthur and the Green Knight and the Holy Grail. You may recognize the name Parsifal because of Wagner's opera. These are all popular and related stories.

There is lots of old poetry that can be adapted to song, and probably songs transcribed as poetry in the many books referred to in Weston's wonderful little book From Ritual to Romance.

Arthur is a spinoff of a fertility legend, as are the others. The waters, the wasteland, the grail are all part of that. There is tons of stuff if you do some searches, but I wouldn't suggest Google for this, though you'll possibly scratch the surface. I suggest you go to a large library with books or large online fee (scholarly) databases where you can search on some of these terms. Find the OLD version of The Golden Bough (the one that is in many volumes). And find a copy of Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance. I just thumbed through it and found many exerpts from Medieval poetry. If you look up her book on The Green Knight I think you'll find even more. She quotes a lot of Mallory, though she also disagrees with many of his conclusions. I am in passing familiar with the Green Knight book, but haven't read it. I think it contains a lot of material in poetical form.

In addition to Frazer and Weston, James Campbell has written about the Arthurian legend and no doubt has an extensive bibliography. There are many scholars more modern than these three, some who have put slightly different readings on the primary materials in question. My work with this was in English Lit where I was working with early 20th century authors, so I wasn't pursing the more modern scholarship, but it's out there.

I hope this helps.

SRS

Subject: RE: King Arthur
From: *Laura*
Date: 18 Aug 04 - 01:29 PM

Cheers I will - thanks a lot.

xLx