Song of Chivalry

Video version

It took me so many years to get around to putting a tune to this that it had already been published twice as a poem…

There is a different version of this song on 'Tears of Morning': this one uses a guitar strung for Nashville tuning, which emphasises the archaic feel to the lyric. (Actually, it’s not in standard Nashville: it’s tuned to the high-strung equivalent of DADGAD.) However, the essential story has been repeated time and time again over the years. Wars are fought and won for the benefit of the ruling classes, not the people who most suffer the consequences of the fighting.

If you want to learn more about Nashville tuning, you might find this book of interest.

When the lord returned to his sheets of silk
And his gentle lady of musk and milk
The minstrels sang in the gallery
Their songs of slaughter and chivalry

The rafters roared with laughter and boasting
Goblets were raised and drained in toasting
The heroes of Crécy and Azincourt
Or the madness of some Holy War

The hawk is at rest on the gauntlet once more
Savage of eye, and bloody of claw
Famine and fever are all the yield
Of the burnt-out barns and wasted fields

The sun grins coldly through the trees
The children shiver, the widows grieve
And beg their bread at the monastery door
Tell me, then, who won the war?