Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden

Subject: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: Jeep man
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:36 PM

I would like to hear the melody to this song. It is a Norwegian or
Swedish folk song. Jim

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 01:51 AM

Hi, Jim - I guess that the preferred spelling is "Land of Oden," although I would have thought otherwise. there is a recording of the song on this page. Not a professional job, but fun to listen to.

I found only one CD recording of the song, on the "World Without Love" album by Peter and Gordon. Remember them? The song is credited to "Travis" - Merle Travis, I wonder? It was also recorded by "Barry and Barry" (Barry McGuire and Barry Kane). BMI lists songs named "Land of Oden" by Ronald Shipman, by Barry McGuire & Henry Van Loon, and by Peter Asher and WALLER GORDON TRUEMAN RIVIERE, whoever they are. (Oh, DUH....Peter & Gordon were Peter Asher and Gordon Waller)

Note the crosslink up top to the other thread on this song. Several versions of the lyrics are posted there. The song seems to turn up in a lot of Boy Scout songbooks, but not in the official Scout books. somebody in the other thread linked the song to Donovan - it does sound like a Donovan song to me. I found somethere that the Land of Oden was the capital of Old Finland, so there apparently is a Scandanavian link. I also saw somewhere that this is an English translation of an Austrian folk song. So, go figure.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 09:40 PM

Anybody know anything else about this song? Seems like it was recorded by a number of 1960's folkies, but I haven't found it in one single songbook.
No background information, and no tune.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: mack/misophist
Date: 09 Nov 02 - 09:57 PM

Mr Offer,

Thanks loads for the link. There's some fun stuff there.

I suspect 'Oden' is modern. I seem to connect the mountain, bird, etc with Idries Shah or some one similar.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: Jeep man
Date: 09 Nov 02 - 11:09 PM

A friend of mine performs this song and does it very well. The chords are G am bm am etc. I don't remember the tune but I will try to get him to put it in a form Mudcatters can understand. Thanks to all. Jeep

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From:
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 06:20 AM

I can remember the song being sung at a coffee house, also called the Land of Odin, in La Mesa, California in the mid-60's as a kind of theme song. Remember the tune too, but I'm no musician.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: Little Robyn
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 01:55 PM

Wasn't that a P,P & M song?
Ask Mary.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 06:09 PM

You know, it has been a number of years, and we still don't have a definitive transcription of this song. I've mean to buy a "folkie" recording from Peter & Gordon, but I haven't found a really good CD of just the folkie stuff. It's also on a Collectors' Choice reissue of an Elektra album by the Travelers 3.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 07:55 PM

On the Barry & Barry album cited above, the words are credited to Van Loon. Van Loon was Heinrik Van Loon who wrote a popular history of the world, "The Story of Mankind", sometime before 1953. I remember reading the poem Land of Odin as the epigram (epigraph?) at the beginning of the book. I note the date 1953 because I was in Jr. High School at the time, and was subsequently a History major in university. Barry McGuire, the first Barry or the second Barry, is credited with the arrangement. On the Travellers 3 album, they take credit for the arrangement. Go figger!--John

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 08:04 PM

Joe Offer, after I posted, I read more closely your post of 6:09. I'm thrilled to find there is a CD of Travelers 3 performances. I'll look for it; is it recent? Several of us in my posse were sort of groupies of theirs, before the term groupie was coined.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN/Oden
From: GUEST,kassy61
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 07:54 PM

cHECK THIS OUT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBywa_sZgj0&fmt=18

Subject: RE: Tune Req: LAND OF ODIN/Oden
From: GUEST,Lock and Key
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 07:56 PM

Land Of Oden
In the land of Oden,
there lies a mountain,
Ten thousand miles, in the air
From edge to edge
This mountain measures,
Ten thousand miles square

A little bird comes a winging
Once every thousand years or so
Sharpens its beak on teh mountain
And then he swiftly flies away

And when this mountain
has worn away
that in eternity will be
But one single day.

In the land of Oden,
There lies a mountain
Ten thousand miles in the air
In the air
In the air.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: GUEST,lynnt
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 06:48 PM

I believe the lyrics are (as I learned them at Echo Hill Camp):

In the Land of Oden, of Oden
There stands a mountain, a mountain
Ten thousand miles in the air

From edge to edge, edge to edge
That mountain measures, it measures
Ten thousand miles square

Once every million years, a million
A bird comes winging, comes winging
Sharpens its beak
And quickly disappears, and quickly disappears

And when that mountain, that mountain
It wears away, away
Then will eternity be
one single day, will be one single day

Repeat first verse.

Thanks for the chords,

Lynn

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 08:01 PM

'People from Hawick call themselves "Teries", after a traditional song which includes the line "Teribus ye teri odin".'

I believe it's the town motto, and originally meant "Land of Death, and Land of Odin" (Tir y bas a tir y Odin) in Ancient British, though why the British should be talking about Norse gods escapes me.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: Nathan in Texas
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 08:39 PM

I have it on vinyl by the Travelers Three on a Surrey album "Star Folk Volume 4." Credited to "Shipman" New Music BMI.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 05:50 PM

How nice that a pleasant thread as this should be resurrected once again. I managed to find the van Loon source at Project Guttenberg. History of Mankind ends about 1920, so I surmise it was published first not long after that. You will note by the epigram(ph) that it refers to a Norse (in the broad sense) origin.

"HIGH Up in the North in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock. It is a hundred miles high and a hundred miles wide. Once every thousand years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak.

"When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by."

God I love the Mudcat!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 07 Aug 13 - 05:04 PM

there is legend that goes with the song, which actually has two verses, one about the bird sharpening his/her beak on the mountain, and one where in the little bird dips hos/her beak in a river.anyway, the legend goes that there was a wise old king with no heirs, and so he held a contest to find his heir. all the lords and such lined up, and at the end of the line was a little girl. as the day went on,she was told to go home, but she stayed. at the end of the day, the little girl reached the entry. the guard was about to send her away, but the king allowed her in. she was required to answer three questions. the first quest goes along to the line of "how many drops of water are there in the world." the little girl asks for paper and pen, and draws dots all over th paper til you can no longer see the paper. the king is please with this and asks her the next question, which is along the tune of "How many stars are in the sky?" she again asks for paper and pen, doing the same, and the king is please with her answer. the last question, is "How long is eternity?" after thinking, she responds with the song.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: GUEST,Tom Scali
Date: 18 Jul 15 - 11:49 AM

In 1963, The Town Criers Folk Group, of which I was a member, recorded the song for the AVA label which was owned by Fred Astaire. To my knowledge, the record was never released. One of the group's member Ken Mansfield, open The Land Of Oden folk house in La Mesa Ca. Ken Mansfield went on to have a remarkable career in the music business working with the Beatles, Waylen Jennings and many others.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: Don Firth
Date: 18 Jul 15 - 03:45 PM

Odin is the "boss god" in Nordic and Germanic mythology. The "Big Kahuna."   He rules over such places as Valhalla, a sort of "heaven" analogy, where everybody sits around enjoying themselves by drinking mead, and swapping tales of glory. Warrior maidens, riding flying horses, fly over battlefields and when they see a warrior die bravely in battle, they pick him up and carry him to Valhalla. These warrior maidens are called Valkyries.

Richard Wagner's "The Ring of the Niebelungen," four operas in series, deals with the machinations of Odin ("Wotan" in German) and his twelve Valkyrie daughters, particularly Brunnhilda, who, on one occasion, disobeys him. All of the Valkyries are Wotan's daughters, the offspring of he and Erda, the earth goddess--although Wotan's wife is Freya, the goddess of Spring.   These four operas run about twenty hours altogether. My wife and I attended Seattle Opera's "Ring Festival," all four operas within one week and wound up with our ears glowing, but badly rump-sprung!

Norse myth is a rich field that heavily influenced Germanic mythology (hence, Wagner's interest), and leaked over into Celtic myth.

The mountain in "The Land of Odin" would probably be somewhere near Valhalla, which one enters either by being carried there by a Valkyrie or by crossing over a Rainbow Bridge….

Don Firth

P. S. My guess is that J. R. R. Tolkien was strongly influenced by the Norse tales, particularly the same one that fascinated Wagner—the magical ring that grants wishes, that everyone covets, and that eventually destroys its possessor…. Just a guess, but the similarities are strikingly compelling.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 18 Jul 15 - 04:25 PM

Before people start believing new myths: this story has nothing to do with Odin. Its source is probably Grimm's Tales (1819), whose editors attribute it to a Bavarian collector.

Notably, the mountain is far away, but on the solid ground of 19th century physics: it has three dimensions and is made of diamond, by then known to be the hardest mineral in existence.

Nevertheless, we hear the ancient universal tradition of riddle stories.

The song by an American songwriter falls somewhat short of that. "Ten thousand miles square" sounds wrong altogether, for sake of rhyme. Worse, a supernatural setting is chosen, thus the point is missed.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 18 Jul 15 - 06:16 PM

i have traced my ancestry back through norwegian and danish kings and queens to odin. apparently he is thought by some to be a real person, who wanted people to believe he was a god. anyway, if it is on ancestry.com it is good enough for me..

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: Don Firth
Date: 18 Jul 15 - 06:40 PM

Why, then, GUEST,Grishka, does the song start out "In the Land of Odin..."?

It is conceivable that whoever wrote the song knew the Grimm's fairy tale story, but didn't know diddly-squat about Norse legends in which the god Odin looms large.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 18 Jul 15 - 10:39 PM

there was traffic back and forth between at least islands of scotland and norway. norwegians became scots kings. of course there were viking invaders of england. a lot of at least northern scots had norman ancestry which means norsemen back further. hawick seems to be a border town...there is no great reason they would not have heard of odin, if indeed the song is about odin and people do not agree about that from what i am reading. someone took the war cry Teribus ye teri odin if indeed that is it and wrote the song way after.

Anyway, more power to them. In my genealogy stuff one thing that truly shocks me is how many ancestors I have who were killed at Flodden..and this is not from searching..it is just from people putting that information next to the death date usually..or after 10 or so i got to recognize that date. it was both sides, english and scots. i would guess i have found 12 to 15 so far and until i took my dna test did not know i had one speck of scottish history..which actually barely shows in my dna but scandinavian does..

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 19 Jul 15 - 03:36 AM

Good question, Don Firth (18 Jul 15 - 06:40 PM). As pointed out by previous posters, the immediate source was Hendrik Willem van Loon's History of Mankind (1922):

High in the North in a land called Svithjod there is a mountain. It is a hundred miles long and a hundred miles high and once every thousand years a little bird comes to this mountain to sharpen its beak. When the mountain has thus been worn away a single day of eternity will have passed.

The Grimms' Pomerania is replaced by Svithjod (Svíþjóð) = Sweden, a country which had annexed Pomerania in the 17th century. The gist is "a land far away, but known by the intended readers to exist for real" (- American children may have associated Pomerania with dogs).

In the YouTube linked by GUEST,kassy61 (08 Jun 09 - 07:54 PM), the name of the songwriter is mentioned, who seems to be responsible for the skyward transposition of the scene, thus the real sinner.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Land of Odin/Oden
From: GUEST,Allan Conn
Date: 19 Jul 15 - 05:17 AM

The Borders area is not far from what was the Danelaw plus not far from the Norse and Norse-Hiberno settlements in north-east England and south-east Scotland. Plus of course there was an Anglo-Saxon presence which must have retained some memory of paganism.There is bound to have been cross-over with the underlying British base population!Nicolaisen's "Scottish Place Names" gives maps showing that Norse names are very common in Dumfries and Galloway as well as Cumbria. They are less common further east in Roxburghshire but they are still present and place names and their origin are listed in the "Place Names Of Roxburghshire" by the Hawick Archaelogical Society too. Not just in the west of the county around Hawick but even further east around Kelso where I am. I don't think it has been proved that "Teribus y Teriodin" has the meaning as stated but it is perhaps the most likely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxNZXJkU6Ns