I. Heorot's plea and Grendel's awakening
Midnight suns bid moors farewell, retreats from charging dusk
Mountain echo, curfews bell, signal ending tasks
They place their faith in oaken doors, cower in candlelight
The panic seeps through bloodstained floors as Grendel stalks the night
Earth rim walker seeks his meals
Prepare the funeral pyres
The shaper's songs no longer heal the fear
Within their eyes, their eyes
Wooden figures, pagan gods, stare blindly cross the sea
Appeal for help from ocean fogs, for saviour born of dreams
They know their lives are forfeit now, priestly head they bow in shame
They cannot face the trembling crowd that flinch in Grendel's name
Earth rim walker seeks his meals
Prepare the funeral pyres
The shaper's songs no longer heal the fear
Within their eyes, their eyes
As Grendel leaves his mossy home beneath the stagnant mere
Along the forest path he roams to Hrothgar's hall so clear
He knows that victory is secured, his charm will testify
His claws will drip with mortal blood as moonbeams haunt the sky
Earth rim walker seeks his meals
Prepare the funeral pyres
The shaper's songs no longer heal the fear
Within their eyes, their eyes
II. Grendel's Journey
Silken membranes span his path, fingerprints in dew
Denizens of twilight lands humbly beg him through
Mother nature's bastard child shunned by leaf and stream
An alien in an alien land seeks solace within dreams
The shaper's lies his poisoned tongue malign with mocking harp
Beguiling queen her innocence offends his icy heart
III. Lurker at the Threshold
Hounds freeze in silence bewitched by the reptile spell
Sulphurous essence pervades round the grassy dell
Heorot awaits him like lamb to the butcher's knife
Stellular heavens ignore even children's cries
Screams are his music, lightning his guide
Raping the darkness, death by his side
Chants rise in terror, free round the oaken beams
Flickering firelight portraying the grisly scene
Warriors advance, prepare for the nightmare foe
Futile their sacrifice as even their hearts must know
Heroes delusion, with feet in the grave
Lurker at the threshold, he cares not for the brave, he cares not for the brave
So you thought that your bolts and your locks would keep me out
You should have known better after all this time
You're gonna pay in blood for all your vicious slander
With your ugly pale skins and your putrid blue eyes
Why should I feel pity when you kill your own and feel no shame
God's on my side, sure as hell, I'm gonna take no blame
I'm gonna take no blame, I'm gonna take no blame
So you say you believe in all of Mother Nature's laws
You lust for gold with your sharpened knives
Oh when your hoards are gathered and your enemies left to rot
You pray with your bloodstained hands at the feet of your pagan gods
Then you try to place the killer's blade in my hand
You call for justice and distort the truth
Well I've had enough of all your pretty pretty speeches
Receive your punishment, Expose your throats to my righteous claws
And let the blood flow, and let the blood flow, flow, flow, flow.
"The song is quite faithful to the original. "
Except that in this version, Grendel is the protagonist, not Beowulf. In that way, it's more like Gardner's treatment than the original epic.
Interveiw's at the time said this is exactly where the song came from, reading Gardner's book.
Interveiw's at the time said this is exactly where the song came from, reading Gardner's book.
Fish has admitted that this song was almost directly copied from genesis' epic Suppers Ready.
Yes, it's almost as if they used Supper's Ready as a template on this, to prove to themselves that they could write in this style. It was never played live after their very early days (I first saw them on the Fugazi tour and I've never seen it performed) and it was very much consigned to their past. That said, I still bloody love it and it gets regular airings, usually in the car where only I can hear it.
Yes, it's almost as if they used Supper's Ready as a template on this, to prove to themselves that they could write in this style. It was never played live after their very early days (I first saw them on the Fugazi tour and I've never seen it performed) and it was very much consigned to their past. That said, I still bloody love it and it gets regular airings, usually in the car where only I can hear it.
It is, of course, a reworking of Beowulf from Grendel's point of view, very much portraying Heorot and his cronies...
It is, of course, a reworking of Beowulf from Grendel's point of view, very much portraying Heorot and his cronies as the bad guys and Grendel almost as some kind of avenging angel.
based on an old poem. I think grendal was a mythical creature
@2steps Yes it’s based on John Gardner’s Grendel, a book fish read on tour in the early ’silmarillion’ days.
@2steps Yes it’s based on John Gardner’s Grendel, a book fish read on tour in the early ’silmarillion’ days.
The original Grendel was a monster in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. Descendant of Cain, mere-dweller, and with the meanest mother around, he was the hero Beowulf's first foe in the work.
The song is quite faithful to the original.
Life as in good and in evil\nSuperior warriors for the "good".\nThough insane evil resides in the fair of manhood.\nDespite bravery the souls that died for nothing, this evil kills.\n\nThe mythical or political war over eons, our latest military war toys an orchestra of slaughterry. Now see our last warriors of many generations, the most deadly of humankind. This beast is even more deadly it is like a cancer it lives within politics, it ignores the brave, no respect, no morals, it kills.its the nature of the beast.\n\nIt turns out though that it was this beast, who was the good purity, who didn\'t believe in politics in false gods, his power derived from suppression can\'t be ignored or silenced, it\'s victorious against states. No king can kill this beast, because the beast is the servant of the nation, its people.\n\nPeople stand up against politics in the name of justice.