Dominion of the Sword - alfstone and orh cover Martin Carthy

[alfstone]

According to

http://mainlynorfolk.info/martin.carthy/songs/thedominionofthesword.html:

This is an old ballad written in the 17th century; it was published in 1686 in the Loyal Garland. The text is included in the Project Gutenberg's eText The Cavalier Songs and Ballads of England from 1642 to 1684, edited by Charles Mackay (1997).

Martin Carthy wrote current words for the song and recorded it for his 1988 album, Right of Passage; it was re-released in 1993 on Rigs of the Time: The Best of Martin Carthy and in 2003 on The Definitive Collection. A BBC live recording from September 1988 was published on the album The Kershaw Sessions. Martin Carthy commented in original album's sleeve notes:

    "A long time ago I came across The Dominion of the Sword in a Penguin anthology of War Poetry, and the longer I have known it the better it's got. It was written in 1649 by an anonymous pamphleteer and with the removal of verses or lines particular to that time becomes a reflection of the propaganda lie currently being touted for all it's worth (again) that violence or the threat of it will get you nowhere. The tune is adapted from a Breton pipe tune called Ar Ch'akouz (The Leper)".

Dominion of the Sword (trad., new lyrics by Martin Carthy)

Lay by your pleading, law lies a-bleeding
Burn all your studies down, and throw away your reading
Small power the word has, and can afford us
Not half so much privilege as the sword does

It'll the foster the master, plaster disaster
This'll make a servant quickly greater than the master
Ventures, enters, seeks and it centres
Ever the upper hand, never a dissenter

Kruger, Krugerrand-a, whither do you wander?
Gone to the suborning of Hastings Banda
Kruger, Krugerrand-a, tear you all asunder
Beira to Luanda, Gabarone to Nyanga

Talks of small things, it sets up all things
This'll master money, though money masters all things
It is not season to talk of reason
Never call it loyal when the sword says treason

Balm for the worrier, the whaler, the furrier
This'll get the measure of a Rainbow Warrior
Incognito, come and sink a Rainbow
President will never know, I should bloody coco

Subtle deceiver, turns calm to fever
See the pilgrim flay the unbeliever
It'll make a lay man, preach and to pray man
It'll make a Lord of him that was but a drayman

Conquers the crown too, grave and the gown too
Set you up a province, but it'll pull it down too
No gospel can guide it, no law decide it
In church or state, till the sword sanctified it

Take books, rent 'em, who can invent 'em?
When that the sword says there'll be no argumentum
Blood that is spilt, sir, has gained all the guilt, sir
Thus have you seen me run my sword up to the hilt, sir

Going to James and myself, this is by far the most difficult song I've ever asked him to sing  

...in fact probably for this reason the vocal .wav file he sent me back was called "phew.wav"  

So...thanks a lot, James!  

IMO one of the most interesting lyrics I've ever listened to. Even if it was composed five centuries ago, it seems to me an universal song.

Guitar tuning:

DGDGGD

lots of added noises: several Roland VG-99 and Roland GR-55 patches, driven by a Godin Freeway SA. Percussion: a patch from Kontakt library, again driven by the same Freeway through an Axon AX-50 USB

Enjoy!  

Alfredo

[cuthbert]

Wow!!

Huge production values, Alfredo - I loved the mix of instruments (almost reminded me of a hurdy-gurdy) along with the droney guitar chords - and the split vocal panning completely drew me in. May have been difficult to sing Jim, but you made it sound easy.

Great, great collab, fellas. Stunner!

[64Guitars]

[chunk]

Great collab guys. Now how about The Hunting Of The Cutty Wren. A real nice Christmas tune.

[Hilary]

Now how about The Hunting Of The Cutty Wren. A real nice Christmas tune.

Now that's a great song! - great collab guys, it's nice to hear something a bit different.

[Geir]

That was rather amazing wasn't it ?

WOW !

I love the arrangement here Alfredo, a great soundscape you've created.

That must have been hard to sing indeed, I tried to sing along but couldn't fit all the words in Well done James!

[Oldrottenhead]

i couldn't fit the words in in one go either so i sang two lines at a time and with a lot of takes. how the hell martin mcarthy does it and plays guitar at same time amazes me.

[Hilary]

i couldn't fit the words in in one go either so i sang two lines at a time and with a lot of takes.

I thought so - well done Mr Versatile