Where all deeds are drowned, all swords returned. Avalon.

 

And little the faith I had yet in Arthur,

The Angel campaigner, strong as light,

His sun-bright stars above the wicked forest

Seeming to fade. Rusty the scabbard,

Still magic the sword. And, once more, he came.

I’ve believed too little. I make my Confession.

 

At last I understood. The flincher from spears,

Medraut, was part of Arthur, his shadow,

Chancel and gargoyle had to be cancelled 

Where all deeds are drowned, all swords returned:

Avalon. And I’ll run no more.

I’ve believed too little. I make my Confession.

 

Night and this nunnery will fall. Ravens

Will flock on the gore. Let others keep

A glimmer, a glorious page, of Logres alight

Until the dawn. My confession’s done.

Still my heart waits for hoofbeats.

(Still, my heart waits for hoofbeats…)

On our forthcoming Arthur album "King Arthur and Me- The Opera" , this is a song with tune written and sung by Maz in the role of Gwenhwyfar. Here it is as spoken word in the style of the old Welsh elegies/ eulogies on the death of a beloved lord.

Rosemary Lane

We know nothing about the woman pictured (and in the first frame of the film) except that she was Maz's great grandmother and that she was in service. But it's a very eloquent picture. All the other pictures of people in service - England's largest occupation even at the height of the industrial revolution (higher even than the vast numbers employed in agriculture) - are from the website www.thisvictorianlife.com. The sailor is from bbprivateer.ca . The boy and the girl are childhood pictures of Peacock's Tale the duo you hear playing and singing.

Like many folksongs, this one sounds like multiple stories being told at once, not all of which add up. Such is folk music, the collective tale of ordinary folk. It's even possible to hear a happy ending and no doubt there were some for people like the women pictured but many of course ended like the last word of the song in 'misery'. It doesn't have a miserable feeling though, because it's such a lovely tune. And perhaps because of "I wish that short night had had been seven long years". The song has also had an after-life in folk clubs and bars as a bawdy singalong - there was always that "Maggie Mae" innuendo element to Beatles songs like "A Hard Day's Night" and "I'll Get You (In The End)". But that would sacrifice the human comedy and tragedy. The strongest strain in this folk tale is surely the human sympathy, the social comment and the yearning for a better life. 

Lancelot and the Grail Maiden (the remake)

A most enjoyable collaboration with Bhas Allan who created the visuals for our atmospheric ballad. Lancelot and th Grail Maiden is about how the desperately grail-seeking but never quite finding Lancelot was seduced by the Grail Maiden (aided by the magic of Morgan le Fay who made her look like Guinevere) and thereby bore his son Galahad, who would replace his father as Arthur's Best Knight, find the Grail and thereby fructify the Wasteland. And that, Ron, is the paradox of our entire post-lapsarian exisence.

‘Come hither, Captain,’ the Grail Maiden sighs,
‘Thither away with me
To the rich wooded valley and holy well
My Waste Land dies to be.

‘Look! into the burning wilderness sun
Above the shadeless tree,
The high hawk of summer, hovering still,
The shadow of what will be:

‘The Shadowless One who waits above
To be born to you and me,
A Knight of Truth out of traitor arms
And infidelity.

‘Galahad the Pure, God-armed and winged
To bless our impurity
Unbearably born to steal your quest
And all of your shining glory.

‘Come hither, Captain,’ the Grail Maiden sighs,
And turns him a face so free:
His forbidden love, the queen of his dreams,
The end of all Chivalry.’

A faithless false knight in a failing light 
Fallen under a spell to see/ be
A Knight of Truth out of traitor arms
And infidelity.

Says he, ‘My heart is set on the grail
And wholly raised above!’
Says she, ‘It’s broken, and half is set
On your true adulterous love.’

‘I am her champion, she is my king’s,
I am their faithful knight!’
‘The Grail can’t be had for half a heart,
You can have that queen tonight.

‘Whisper my name, any name you like,
Any lover you want me to be,
A night of Truth in my traitor arms
And in fidelity.’

‘Come hither, Captain,’ the Grail Maiden sighs,
‘Thither away with me
To the rich wooded valley and holy well
My Waste Land dies to be.

 

 

She look'd so lovely, as she sway'd 
           The rein with dainty finger-tips, 
A man had given all other bliss, 
And all his worldly worth for this, 
To waste his whole heart in one kiss 
           Upon her perfect lips