Through Blood By Thunder

Ugh, while I appreciate Disposition_987 posting all these Bathory lyrics as it gives a place to discuss these works, I only wish the weren't so full of errors. In this one especially (one of my favorites off of Twilight... haha, it seems like I say that about just every song, "this is one of my favorites off of xx"), but in these lyrics I see that there is an entire line missing from the opening excerpt. I love that excerpt and it is actually probably one of my features from this song because it is a very powerful reminder of the mortality and fragility, not just of humans themselves, but of the very world in which we live.

In fact, I find a lot of errors in this version, but these errors seem persistent throughout lyrical sources across the web and some may just be due to my misunderstanding of them, or maybe even original misprints by Black Mark (it wouldn't be the first time... believe me!). Anyways, I've always interpreted the opening as follows:

For as long as the grass grows For as long as the stream flows And the sun shines down unto us...

Only they who walk the clouds know For how long the winds blow And the sky is blue above us

I think in the original version he actually has the fourth line a little different, with a subject/verb disagreement to preserve the rhyming scheme from the previous lines, but I like to think of it as this above, because it still works lyrically and also works grammatically.

As for the remainder of the song, I've got to agree with Chard121, it is absolutely about a man following the god's of his forefathers as opposed to that which has gained dominance through force and more underhanded means. Now (and I've discussed it in my commentary for several songs already, but as always, it is a very prevalent and prominent theme in Quorthon's lyrics) one of my favorite things about this song is the emphasis on the ability of man to follow his will, with the gods helping or hindering him on his path as may be ordained through their own will. That is evident from the very first line, which along with the opening excerpt, makes this song an instant favorite for me.

From then on the rest of the song as Chard stated, is about following the tenets of the Asatru religion. Obvious references include the one-eyed god (Odin), his ravens (Huginn, Muninn), and the tree of fate (Yggdrasil?). I'm actually a little bit confused due to my own ignorance on that last part. If anyone could help me with it I'd appreciate it. I've never been very certain of just how fatalistic the Asatru philosophy is - I always assumed that it wasn't because of the seeming emphasis on the random nature of how gods and man can act. Even in this song there seem to be contradictions, examples include the opening line:

"O, I am a man and I hold in my hand my fate"

and the following lines:

"So I will not fail to ride down the trail long time destined for me long before I was born"

And of course the previously mentioned line involving this "tree of fate", which I am unaware of the nature of. Of course, I've always been interested in ancient religion and if anyone knows more about the role of fate and pre-destiny in Asatru, I'd love to hear more about it. In the meantime, I still love this song, even if it does seem to possibly contradict itself in a couple of places. I myself have never really been able to decide if I believe in fate or not, but I think that I do at least believe that we're all born to a certain "range" of fates, if that makes sense. Perhaps within this range we can exercise our free will and decide our own fate, but I think it is mostly decided by the kind of person that each of us is (e.g. our personality). Who can say whether that is decided when you're born or not?

This is getting a bit heavy now, so I will leave it at that.

Hail the hordes.