A little radio play…

…never does me any harm. Those of you with musical ears might suffer a bit though.

Anyway, ‘The Folk Club‘ is playing my ‘Song of Chivalry’ in the ‘Here we are’ section of their upcoming show, along with tracks from Ezra Biggs and Ann Radcliffe.

Here’s where you’re in danger of hearing it:

Also available as a single on Bandcamp. As always, you don’t have to buy it hear it! There’s another version here, where the guitar accompaniment is in Nashville tuning.

When M’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?

Motherless Child (demo)

Slide guitar version of the well-known spiritual (Sometimes I feel like a) Motherless Child. [Roud 10072] Probably from the Civil War era or earlier. Arranged and adapted…

I don’t sing it, but a common first verse is:

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child x2
A long, long way from my home

Not to be confused with Motherless Children or the blues Motherless Child or several more recent songs.

Or: