I've been doing much more reading than posting recently, but I've been inspired by some of the recent rewritings of good old songs. So, I thought that I'd post one of my own. The original tune is 'The Old Orange Flute'. For obvious reasons, this becomes a loyalist Sartarite song. I don't know how many know the song, but I recall Makem and Clancy recording it (though the recording probably dates to the sixties). Thanks to Ian for the in/Darjinn and harsh/Tarsh rhymes.
The Old Orlanth Flute
In the city of Boldhome, in the kingdom of Sartar, Where many's the person who's lately made martyr, Loy Guntherson lived, a warrior by trade, And all of us thought him a stout Orlanth's blade.
On Windsday, Storm Season, as it yearly did come, He played with the flute to the sound of the drum, You may talk as you like of the crumhorn or lute, There's none as compared with the old Orlanth flute.
But Loy, the deceiver, he did us all in, He married a Lunar, a bint from Darjinn, Turned Lunar himself, and forsook the old gods, That gave us our freedom, religion and laws.
Now the boys didn't like it, their comments were harsh, And Loy had to flee to the kingdom of Tarsh, He fled with his wife and his fixings to boot, And along with the latter, the old Orlanth flute.
On Wilddays in temple, to atone for past deeds, Said prayers and blessings and did as they pleased, Til after some time, at the priest's own desire, He went with the old flute to play for the choir.
He went with the old flute to play for the mass, But the instrument shivered and cried, "Oh, alas!", And play though he would, though he made a great noise, The instrument whistled 'The Orlanthi Boys'.
Now Loy Guntherson jumped and he upped in a flutter, He threw the old flute in the unholy water, If he thought that this charm would bring some other sound, When he played it again, it played 'Loonies Lie Down'.
And though he might whistle and finger and blow,
To play Lunar music he found it no go,
'Cold Wind over Sartar' it freely would sound,
But one Lunar squeak in it couldn't be found.
At the Council of Priestesses held the next day, They decided to banish the old flute away, They couldn't knock loyalty out of its head, So the Moonmothers knew what to do in its stead.
Oh, the old flute was doomed, and its fate was pathetic, Twas fastened and burnt at the stake as heretic, As the flames round it roared, they heard a strange noise, Twas the instrument whistling 'The Orlanthi Boys'!
There's a couple of songs off a Corries Brothers tape that I also have an eye on. I'll wait to see what reactions to this are like first! BTW, Ian and I have decided that old cowboy songs are obviously Praxian, so various oldies may get a working over. With the stuff coming out, (and maybe more not shared), is there a filking session planned for the next RQ-Con? Sounds like the Convulsion one was great fun. And Nick, can one obtain copies of what you handed round at Convulsion? I'm not the greatest singer, but I like doing it anyway. To be fair, it might help to hand out songbooks ahead of time. Just a thought.
What stuff related to the various Cons in England, the U.S. and Australia is available? I like to get the various Compendia whenever I can. Also, what's this about Nerissa being a Trickster type? Sounds like rewriting to me. I distinctly remember playing her at RQ-Con 1, and she wasn't doing anything dodgy like that then. Mind you, I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Juliana played her 'Stamp Foot' card. If you don't want to clutter up the digest with any of these replies, feel free to e-mail.
Bye for now,
Alison.
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End of Glorantha Digest V3 #117
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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