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Description
This is an example of what might have happened if electric guitars had been around in medieval times. The musical setting here is entirely the work of Dick Langford, to whom many many thanks.
The Lyke Wake Dirge is a very old song about the soul's journey through purgatory. The words are in an archaic dialect from the north of England. "Lyke wake" means "corpse watch", and it was meant to be sung by those who kept vigil over a body before burial. It's a passing-over song for the newly departed to guide them through the first stages of the afterlife, but also a warning to the living about the importance of being a nice person while you're still here.
It's a very English vision of purgatory - where the soul has to walk across moorland covered in gorse bushes, with or without socks.
I knew Dick had a great talent and creative imagination for this sort of thing but I was still blown away by what he came up with.
Thanks Dick, you're a star.
Rebsie: voices
Dick: guitars, bass, percussion, effects, everything else
© 2007 Rebsie Fairholm/Dick Langford
The Lyke Wake Dirge is a very old song about the soul's journey through purgatory. The words are in an archaic dialect from the north of England. "Lyke wake" means "corpse watch", and it was meant to be sung by those who kept vigil over a body before burial. It's a passing-over song for the newly departed to guide them through the first stages of the afterlife, but also a warning to the living about the importance of being a nice person while you're still here.
It's a very English vision of purgatory - where the soul has to walk across moorland covered in gorse bushes, with or without socks.
I knew Dick had a great talent and creative imagination for this sort of thing but I was still blown away by what he came up with.
Thanks Dick, you're a star.
Rebsie: voices
Dick: guitars, bass, percussion, effects, everything else
© 2007 Rebsie Fairholm/Dick Langford
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Lyrics
This ae nighte, this ae nighte
Any nighte and alle
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte
And Christe receive thy saule
When thou from hence away art past
Any nighte and alle
To Whinny-muir thou com'st at last
And Christe receive thy saule
If ever thou gavest hosen or shoon
Any nighte and alle
Then sit thee down and put them on
And Christe receive thy saule
But if hosen or shoon thou ne'er gav'st nane
Any nighte and alle
The whinnes will prick thee to thy bare bane
And Christe receive thy saule
When thou from hence away art past
Any nighte and alle
To Brig o' Dread thou com'st at last
And Christe receive thy saule
If ever thou gavest meat or drink
Any nighte and alle
The fires will never make thee shrink
And Christe receive thy saule
But if meat or drink thou ne'er gav'st nane
Any nighte and alle
The fires will burn thee to thy bare bane
And Christe receive thy saule
This ae nighte, this ae nighte
Any nighte and alle
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte
And Christe receive thy saule
this ae nighte = this one night
fleet = floor or hearth
Whinny-muir = moorland covered with nasty prickly spiky stuff
hosen and shoon = socks and shoes (useful for crossing prickly spiky moorland)
whinnes = gorse spikes
bane = bone
Brig = bridge
Any nighte and alle
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte
And Christe receive thy saule
When thou from hence away art past
Any nighte and alle
To Whinny-muir thou com'st at last
And Christe receive thy saule
If ever thou gavest hosen or shoon
Any nighte and alle
Then sit thee down and put them on
And Christe receive thy saule
But if hosen or shoon thou ne'er gav'st nane
Any nighte and alle
The whinnes will prick thee to thy bare bane
And Christe receive thy saule
When thou from hence away art past
Any nighte and alle
To Brig o' Dread thou com'st at last
And Christe receive thy saule
If ever thou gavest meat or drink
Any nighte and alle
The fires will never make thee shrink
And Christe receive thy saule
But if meat or drink thou ne'er gav'st nane
Any nighte and alle
The fires will burn thee to thy bare bane
And Christe receive thy saule
This ae nighte, this ae nighte
Any nighte and alle
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte
And Christe receive thy saule
this ae nighte = this one night
fleet = floor or hearth
Whinny-muir = moorland covered with nasty prickly spiky stuff
hosen and shoon = socks and shoes (useful for crossing prickly spiky moorland)
whinnes = gorse spikes
bane = bone
Brig = bridge
Feter
Impressive tastey style .actualy if there s a real
thirst for a kind of new music to be explore is
exactly what you and Dick have done here .these
precious songs must be sung again with the sence of
this time .Dick you are a SUPER star .Rebsie this is
absolutly one of your specilay songs ever (after Geordie):~)
and The Oak and The Ash :-P
just a revisit of the steeleyed span ..!
thank you for sharing such gem here !!!