This unusual song was a feature of the 60s and 70s folk revival - a real show stopper and something of a curiosity. But underneath it lies a thousand years of European folklore, and a further thousand years of vivid theology.
So, my friends, we're going on a metaphysical journey to the underworld. Have you been charitable in your life? Did you give a cow to the poor, or 'hosen and shoon' to a beggar? Did you judge rightly? Have you been moving your neighbours' boundary stones? Better take stock, because the journey is long and dangerous.
We're going over the thorny moor and the high Gjallarbrui; we're glimpsing heaven and hell and as for the final judgement, we've got a ringside seat. There are angels and ghosts and, surprisingly, gossip.
This is a song that has to be experienced rather than studied, so follow me. We're going to have a weird time.
Music
L’Homme Arme, 15th Century song by Johannes Regis
Sainte Nicholas, 12th Century song by Godric of Finchale
Marglit og Targjei Risvollo, traditional Norwegian song
Draumkvedet, traditional Norwegian ballad
Chiamando, un’astorella, 14th Century Italian song
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence is based on the Cherubic Hymn in the Orthodox Christian tradition and dates back to least 275 AD. The English translation from Greek was made by Gerard Moultie and set to a traditional French tune, Picardy.
The Lyke Wake Dirge (traditional version)
The Lyke Wake Dirge, tune by Harold Boulton, arranged by Malcolm Lawson
The Lyke Wake Dirge, set to the 14th Century song Ad Mortem Festinamus
References
Mainly Norfolk: The Lyke Wake Dirge (Roud 8194; TYG 85) (mainlynorfolk.info)
Draumkvedet in translation: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/draumkvedet-dream-poem.html
Harald Foss - Draumkvedet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k7ne8YMIIs
Gardiner, E. (2021). Visions of Heaven and Hell: A Monastic Literature. The Downside Review, 139(1), 24-43. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0012580621997061#body-ref-fn107-0012580621997061
Isaacson, Lanae H. “‘Draumkvædet:’ The Structural Study of an Oral Variant.” Jahrbuch Für Volksliedforschung, vol. 25, 1980, pp. 51–66. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/849056. Accessed 31 Oct. 2023
Carlsen, C (2012) Old Norse Visions of the Afterlife (PhD Thesis, University of Oxford) https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9b3b8518-912e-4425-8748-dea135e695d0/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=THESIS02&type_of_work=Thesis
John Aubrey’s Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme https://archive.org/details/remainesgentili01aubrgoog
Dante’s Divine Comedy: https://www.owleyes.org/text/dantes-inferno/read/canto-13
The Lyke-Wake Dirge: the revival of an Elizabethan song of the afterlife
https://earlymusicmuse.com/lyke-wake-dirge/
Hurdy Gurdy sample, battle sounds, stormy ambience and various owls from FreeSound