FAWM: "Tristram and the Shield of Morgan le Fey"

Tristram and the Shield of Morgan le Fey

Liner Notes

Yes, Malory does actually use the term 'Castle of the Hard Rock'. 🤘

Lyrics

What’s that on your shield sir Tristram, What’s that on your shield I say? What’s that on your shield, you bring to the field, At the Castle of Hard Rock today,

My liege I bring this shield to battle, I bring this shield into the fray, I bring this bright shield, I’ll fight and not yield, I carry for Morgan Le Fey,

But what is the meaning sir Tristram, What is the meaning held here, Of the sign of a king And the sign of a queen, And a knight in between them so clear,

My liege I can say not the meaning, My liege I can not break the spell, The shield that I bear, Morgana did share, But its secret she had shrouded well,

The queen she had kenned well the meaning, The queen she was filled with great woe, For the shield showed the tryst, That King Arthur had missed, Her love for Sir Lancelot oh,

But there was a maid in the chamber, A Maid of that Morgan le Fey, King Arthur for he, Dim as he be, She to him the shields secret did say,

And Arthur he flew into anger, And Arthur he fell into grief, He never did guess, The Queen’s unfaithfulness, Or that Lancelot would be loves thief.

Comments

@janeg 10h

I am going to have to reread Malory! It’s been a very long time and I didn’t remember this part. Beautifully done. I too laughed at the dim part.

@tawny249 5d

Oh wow, the lyre really adds to the Arthurian feel of this. Such a cool setup! And I forgot how low you can sing and still sound so natural. Great storytelling, and a classic-sounding ballad melody. I enjoyed this one a lot.

@danielkelly 4d

Thanks for listening @tawny249, congratulations on your album release last year! I'm very happy I spent the time to make this lyre, it has become a well loved instrument.

@philkmills 5d

You create new material that feels as if it should have been around forever. I think it comes from matching words and music so well. Nicely done!

@songmistress 6d

Oh, also... what pick up are you using on your lyre???

@danielkelly 6d

No pick, just long nails.

@songmistress 6d

Excellent to see a fellow lyrist! This is excellent bardic fare. Delicious! 👏🏼👏🏼

@gmcgath 6d

"Dim as he be" made me chuckle. I went looking for the original story (in Morte d'Arthur), which doesn't say the shield has any special meaning beyond being from Morgan. But I haven't chased down all the variants, so I don't know if you're picking up on an existing one or adding a new one. Either way, the variants are a big part of what make the Arthurian stories fun!

@danielkelly 6d

The link in the video description should take you to the chapter in Malory. Not sure if I will stick with that source for the whole month, I find the language fairly dry, so good fodder for inserting some musicality! In Malory the shield has the king and queen with a knight standing on each of their heads (thus my ‘dim’ assertion).