I'm posting the lyrics to the songs by The Mountain Goats (below), but I also want to ask a few questions and get some reactions and ruminations:
What are your reactions to these songs, especially in their content and connection to the Anglo-Saxons and their culture, as well as Beowulf (in the case of "Grendel's Mother")?
Where else are their connections and intersections of the medieval and popular music--a la Bob Dylan, etc.--that we can point to and discuss? Any thoughts on these intersections? I would hazard a guess that this whole idea connects to our discussions of neomedievalism (such as medieval concepts in postmodern popular literature and movies), but what other reactions and thoughts might you have about these? Furthermore, what sort of concepts do these musical connections to the Middle Ages present about oral transmission, oral art, and poetry in culture? Any thoughts are welcome!
Here are the lyrics by The Mountain Goats:
The Anglo-Saxons
[Spoken:] "We'd like to dedicate this song to our friends, the former inhabitants of the British isles!"Grendel's Mother
[Sung:] They used to paint their bodies blue,
A couple of them might be distantly related to you.
According to Caesar they shaved their entire bodies,
Except for the upper lip and the head.
Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons!
Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons!
A sub-literate bunch of guys,
Though some sources say otherwise.
Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons!
Yeah, they were men on a mission,
Preserving their poetry by oral tradition.
Yeah, oral tradition is all you get
Until Saint Augustine brought in the alphabet.
Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons!
Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons!
In 1065 they were ragin',
But 1066 brought the Norman Invasion.
Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons!
The cave mouth shines
By pure force of will.
I look down on the world
From the top of this lonesome hill.
And you can run, and run some more
From here all the way to Singapore,
But I will carry you home in my teeth.
In the great hall you drink red wine,
You chew meat off the bone.
I beat down the new path to the castle,
I come naked and alone.
I laid my son on the bier; I burned the wreath,
Fire overhead, water underneath.
You can stand up, or you can run,
You and I both know what you've done,
And I will carry you home.
I will carry you home.
I will carry you home in my teeth.
3 comments:
I need to hear the music to form a real impression, but the first part of the Anglo-Saxon song has serious problems. The Romans came into contact with the Celts--the various tribes of the Britons and the Picts. The shaving and painting were all pre-A-S. That's a pretty serious historical lapse, to my way of thinking.
bodies blue?
that's *PICTS*!
aaaargh... what pain...
and how could any source ever configure anglo-saxons as sub-literate?
the grendel's mum one is cool :)
The liner notes for "Ghana" (the compilation record on which The Anglo-Saxons most recently appears) also address this pressing issue: "I blush with shame every time I hear it: the liberties this lyric takes with matters of historical record are inexcusable. The Picts painted their bodies blue, not the Anglo-Saxons. The Romans, visiting England with a view to expanding the empire, took note of this unusual practice. Centuries later, a singer in California would note that 'Yeah, the Picts!' didn't have the same ring to it as 'Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons!' One hopes, perhaps vainly, that the 'all you'd get/alphabet' rhyme offsets the glaring inaccuracies at play here."
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