"The Old Man From The Barrow"

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First, the finished picture!






Now the quandary.

[Poll #2041001]

Finally, the beautiful songs.

Old Man from the Barrow, The music: Heather Alexander
lyrics: Philip R. Obermarck

The Old Man from the Barrow
came to sing for me last night.
He stood outside my window
when the moon was full and bright.
His face was hard as diamond;
his eyes were cold as ice.
His voice was like a bond
that gripped me in a vise.

CHORUS:
And he sang to me
of the stars overhead,
of his home underground.
And he'd come to be wed,
though I heard not a sound
as he sang to me.

He trod upon the crystals
of the newly forming frost.
With each step I felt a thrill
and I knew I was lost.
Bathed within the moonlight,
his coat of verdigris.
I knew I could not fight
for he had come for me.

The Old Man from the Barrow
will return again tonight.
As the icy wind does blow,
we'll perform the ancient rite;
for what's bred within the bone
is revealed in the flesh.
Had my ancestors known
or could this be their wish?


Wedding Dance
Lyrics © 1996 by Catherine Faber
melody by Catherine Faber and Arlene Hills,
based on "Old Man From the Barrow" by Heather Alexander

Jenny wouldn't tell me why she lay awake last night,

But I saw her wide eyes glisten in the candle's gauzy light;

When I felt her body tremble to the pounding of her heart,

I reached to touch her shoulder, and I heard the music start.

I sat right up in bed and flung the window shutter wide

My sister's flesh was icy as she shivered at my side

The chestnut cast a shadow as I'd often seen before

But I saw Jenny's eyes and she saw something more--

Chorus:
There is something by the chestnut tree that from the barrow came;

It is singing to my sister, it is courting her by name.

She says that she must marry him the night he comes again;

I'll be rolled in flour and fried before he'll have our Jen!

The flute's my only sweetheart; if this spirit fey and fell

Thinks that music is his power, he may find it's mine as well.

So I told her "Courage Jenny, for I think we have a chance;

Though I cannot stop the wedding, let me play the wedding dance."

It was an eerie wedding night, with no one there to see

A shadow, and a shadow, and my sister there, and me

And when the words were spoken and the spirit turned away,

I lifted flute to lip, and I began to play.

Instrumental break: 
flute plays jig melody then chorus melody, as singer lilts

The flute spoke air and dancing; it was all that I could hear,

And the starry sky above us made an icy chandelier

My sister took the hand of someone almost in my view

And drew him, half against his will, till he was dancing too.

Jenny stepped and swirled with a shadow in the gloom

Leading out the dancing, as they must as bride and groom

And shadow doubled shadow, till apparent to my glance,

The kinsmen of the groom were come to join the dance.

I play their dance for hours in the melody entwined

Till Jenny's passing feet are leaving tracks of blood behind.

I see I have accomplished all I hoped I would achieve;

They are captive to the dance, and while I play they cannot leave.

But I cannot play forever here beneath the freezing skies

My arms are made of lead, my hair is hanging in my eyes

My fingers start to falter and to lose their strength and grace

And the look of terror deepens on my sister's face--

(extended instrumental break here)
should sound like flutist is tiring, stumbling, but never quite losing it, always managing to twist it back into a tune--medley of snatches of various dance tunes; bodhran to keep beat going

I force my hands to melody; I know I must prevail

For but a dozen minutes now--the sky is growing pale.

The sun puts forth his finger as a soul in terror moans

And the groom and all the wedding guests are only standing stones...

Jenny crumples suddenly and all my strength is done

And we laugh and cry together and we bless the rising sun

And turn to eye the barrow, for the treasure it may hold--

For Jen's the Master's widow, heir to all his gold!