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Lyke Wake Dirge

from Seven Star Green by Rebsie Fairholm

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about

This is an example of what might have happened if electric guitars had been around in medieval times.

The Lyke Wake Dirge is an extremely ancient 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. Most of what you hear in this version is the work of Dick Langford.

It's a very English vision of purgatory, in which the soul has to walk across moorland covered in gorse bushes, with or without socks.

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

glossary:
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

credits

from Seven Star Green, released August 1, 2009
(traditional, arranged by Dick Langford, Rebsie Fairholm and Daniel Staniforth)

Rebsie: voices
Daniel: classical guitar ambience
Dick: guitars, bass, percussion, effects, everything else

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about

Rebsie Fairholm image

Rebsie Fairholm Cheltenham, UK

Haunting psych-folk inspired by the English landscape and the spirits of the ancestors. I play 12-string guitar, harp, piano, cornamuse, whistle and whatever else comes to hand. Now working full time with Marvin B Naylor.

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