#a bards ballad

[ballad-of-a-bard]

I would like to know the names of all the stars in the sky So I may look out into the greatness and smile for I have found companions. I would like to know the stars’ stories So I may look out into the greatness and smile for I have learnt who they are, and I can be close to them though we are so far. I would like to know what makes a star shine, and fall, and burn, and flicker out, and be So I may look out into the greatness and smile for I have understood them.

-Ballad of a Bard

[sangrefae]

this was a part of the endwalker final credits to me

[theoutcastrogue]

Ballads of the Hanged: Swinging from the Gallows Tree

A mixtape of execution ballads and assorted tales of guilt, wrath, terror, and defiance on the gallows, where all men are brothers.

[on spotify]

21 tracks, 1h 15min in full (spotify lacks one song)

I teased this many moons ago, and I finally finished it. No booklet in PDF form (too much hassle), but I got extensive liner notes, which you can also read here, for more pictures and a wider format. Enjoy!

LINER NOTES

1. Hans Zimmer - Hoist The Colours

Heave ho thieves and beggars never shall we die

What a heartbreaking thing to say on the scaffold. But we have to start with theatrics and a drum roll, and our introduction needs no introduction.

2007, from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End OST lyrics: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio music: Hans Zimmer & Gore Verbinski

2. Shirley Collins - Tyburn Tree (Since Laws Were Made)

Next stop, Tyburn: England's most notorious gallows. In The Beggar's Opera, the highwayman Macheath (later also known as Mack the Knife) observes that if they hanged rich criminals like they hang the poor ones, "'twould thin the land". Shirley Jackson subtly changed this to the better.

Since laws were made for ev'ry degree to curb vice in others as well as me, I wonder there's no better company on Tyburn Tree.

But since gold from laws can take out the sting, and if rich men like us were to swing, it would rid the land their numbers to see upon Tyburn Tree.

recorded 1966, released 2002 in Within Sound lyrics: John Gay, from The Beggar's Opera, 1728 music: traditional ("Greensleeves"), 16th century

3. Joan Baez - Long Black Veil

A country ballad about a man falsely accused of murder, who lets himself get dragged to the gallows because he won't reveal his alibi: an affair with his best friend's wife. It's been covered by a million people, here's Baez live.

The scaffold is high, eternity near, She stands in the crowd, she sheds not a tear, But sometimes at night, when the cold winds moan, In a long black veil she cries o'er my bones.

1963, from In Concert Part 2 lyrics & music: Lefty Frizzell, 1959

4. Oscar Isaac with Punch Brothers & Secret Sisters - Hang Me, Oh Hang Me

A poor boy who got "so damn hungry he could hide behind a straw", made his last stand with a rifle and a dagger, and has been all around this world, and is positively done with it.

They put the rope around my neck, they hung me up so high Last words I heard 'em say, won't be long now 'fore you die Hand me, oh hang me, and I'll be dead and gone Wouldn't mind the hanging, but the laying in the grave so long

2015, from Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of "Inside Llewyn Davis", after Oscar Isaac's rendition in Inside Llewyn Davis, 2013, in turn after Dave Van Ronk's rendition in Folksinger, 1962 lyrics & music: traditional American/unclear origin, folk song with various titles (I've Been All Around This World, The Gambler, My Father Was a Gambler, The New Railroad), first recorded by Justis Begley, 1937

5. Chapel Hill - Seven Curses

Cover of a Bob Dylan song, telling us the dark tale of a judge who's about to send a man to the gallows for stealing a horse, promises his daughter he'll show clemency if she agrees to sleep with him, and then reneges on his promise.

The next morning she had awoken to know that the judge had never spoken she saw that hanging branch a-bending she saw her father's body broken These be seven curses for a judge so cruel

2013, from One For The Birds lyrics inspired by Judy Collins's "Anathea" (1963), in turn inspired by the traditional Hungarian ballad "Feher Anna", who curses the judge "thirteen years may be lie bleeding" lyrics & music: Bob Dylan, recorded 1963, released 1991 in The Bootleg Series

6. Ewan MacColl - Go Down Ye Murderers

A song about Timothy Evans, a man accused of murdering his wife and child, which he denied until his last breath. They convicted him and hanged him in 1950. He was 25 years old. Three years later the real murderer, his neighbour John Christie, confessed, and the case played a major role in abolishing capital punishment in the UK.

The rope was fixed around his neck, and the washer behind his ear And the prison bell was tolling but Tim Evans did not hear Sayin' go down, you murderer, go down

They sent Tim Evans to the drop for a crime he didn't do It was Christy was the murderer, and the judge and jury too Sayin' go down, you murderers, go down

1956, from Bad Lads and Hard Cases: British Ballads Of Crime And Criminals lyrics & music: Ewan MacColl

7. Jennifer Lawrence - The Hanging Tree

One of the stranger things that can happen at the hanging tree is camaraderie. "On the gallows tree, all men are brothers", to quote A Feast for Crows, and when the state murders, then in defiance, an execution ballad can become a protest song. Many have in real life, this one is fiction, from The Hunger Games. Wisely, the director asked the composer for a simple tune, nothing elaborate, something that could be "sung by one person or by a thousand people".

Are you, are you coming to the tree? Wear a necklace of rope side by side with me Strange things have happened here, no stranger would it be If we met at midnight in the hanging tree

2014, from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 OST lyrics: Suzanne Collins music: James Newton Howard

8. Let's Play Dead - Heaven and Hell

A fairly traditional execution ballad written recently for the series Harlots. Margaret Wells sings it to herself for consolation and courage, as she sits alone in a cell, waiting to get dragged to the gallows.

I'm no more a sinner than any man here I'm no less a saint than the priest at god's ear But now I am snared, they will punish me well With a ladder to heaven and a rope down to hell

2018, from the single Heaven and Hell, for Harlots Season 2 Episode 7 lyrics & music: Let's Play Dead

9. Odetta - Gallows Pole

Probably the most well-known execution ballad of the 20th century, thanks to several iconic renditions. This one remains my favourite.

Hangman, hangman, slack your rope, slack it for a while I think I see my father coming, riding many a mile Papa did you bring me silver, did you bring me gold? Or did you come to see me hanging by the gallows pole?

1960, from At Carnegie Hall lyrics & music: traditional (Child 95 / Roud 144), known under many other titles ("Hangman", "The Maid freed From the Gallows", "The Prickle-Holly Bush"); this version is directly influenced by Lead Belly's "Gallis Pole" (1930s), and they both informed Led Zeppelin's 1970 version

10. Johnny Cash - 25 Minutes to Go

Peak gallows humour, uproariously funny and defiant, and somehow still conveying the terror of a man who's about to die and emphatically doesn't want to. Performed live at Folsom Prison.

Then the sheriff said boy I'm gonna watch you die, 19 minutes to go So I laughed in his face and I spit in his eye, 18 minutes to go Now here comes the preacher for to save my soul, 13 minutes to go And he's talking about burning but I'm so cold, 12 minutes to go

1968, from At Folsom Prison lyrics & music: Shel Silverstein, from his 1962 album Inside Folk Songs

11. Johnny Cash - Sam Hall

A classic execution ballad with many versions (see here for its complicated history), some of which are stoic and dignified, and others humorous. But this one brims with rage. Sam Hall will not be repenting on the gallows, and he'll see you all in hell.

My name it is Sam Hall and I hate you one and all And I hate you one and all, damn your eyes

2002, from American IV: The Man Comes Around lyrics & music: : traditional, 18th century broadside ballad, Roud 369

12. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Up Jumped the Devil

A song about a man doomed from the start to play the villain’s part, and the origin of this blog’s #swinging from the gallows tree tag.

Who's that hanging from the gallow tree? His eyes are hollow but he looks like me Who's that swinging from the gallow tree? Up jumped the Devil and he took my soul from me

1999, from Tender Prey lyrics: Nick Cave music: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

13. NOT ON SPOTIFY: Dead Rat Orchestra - The Black Procession

This ballad imagines a sinister procession of 20 criminals (black tradesmen brought up in hell!), each with their own specialty (it's mostly thieves of some sort), on the way to the gallows. The last and worst of them is the thief-catcher, and if one of them is innocent, they'll all go free. But of course none of them are. It's written in thieves' cant (lyrics and more context here), and the chorus means: "Look well, listen well, see where they are dragged, up to the gallows where they are hanged."

Toure you well; hark you well, see where they are rubb’d, Up to the nubbing cheat where they are nubb’d.

2015, from Tyburnia: A Radical History Of 600 Years Of Public Execution lyrics: from The Triumph of Wit by J. Shirley, 1688 music: Robin Alderton, Daniel Merrill & Nathaniel Robin Mann

14. John Harle & Marc Almond - The Tyburn Tree

And where does the Black Procession lead? To Tyburn, of course. The dark gothic side of Marc Almond.

The Tyburn Tree, I weep for thee, blood in the roots 'Tis not a tree with bark and leaves of spring awakening 'Tis not a tree with blossom and fruit, 'tis not a tree No boughs to bend beneath the unruly breath of winter No memories of woods warmed by spring's sweet touch 'Tis not a tree — take a ride to Tyburn and dance the last jig

2014, from The Tyburn Tree (Dark London) lyrics: Marc Almond music: John Harle

15. CocoRosie - Gallows

Speaking of dark and gothic.

They took him to the gallows, he fought them all the way though And when they asked us how we knew his name We died just before him, our eyes are in the flowers Our hands are in the branches, our voices in the breezes And our screaming is in his screaming

2010, from Grey Oceans lyrics & music: Sierra Rose Casady & Bianca Leilani Casady

16. The Tiger Lillies - Hang Tomorrow

In their Two Penny Opera, the pioneers of dark cabaret reimagine Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, and take all the suaveness out of Mack the Knife. Here they also take all the fight out of him. What's even left? A pathetic empty husk, a bastard (let's not forget that Brecht's MacHeath is no rogue with a heart of gold, he's a horrible man) who can't even be intriguing. How disturbingly pedestrian.

So here I am in jail again, oh god it stinks of piss I've been in here since I was young, so I can reminisce It's looking rather grim this time, it's looking rather bad But if I swing tomorrow in some ways I'll be glad

2001, from Two Penny Opera lyrics & music: Martyn Jacques

17. Tom Hollander - Ballad In Which MacHeath Begs All Mens' Forgiveness

In The Threepenny Opera, Mack the Knife stands on the scaffold and asks for pity. No point being judgmental now, that he's about to die. He morbidly describes how his dead body will end up, and then he lashes out at everyone, cops and criminals (same difference), while still begging them all for forgiveness. Very VERY sarcastically. The ballad's concept is borrowed from François Villon (see below), and this translation is unusually bold (honorific, see here and here for other translations and context).

You crooked cops with your Mercedes, your mobile phones, your trendy jackets, your cuts from drugs and dice and ladies, your Scotland Yard protection rackets.

Let heaven smash your fucking faces, slash you and let the blood run free and break you in a thousand places. I've pardoned you. You pardon me.

1994, from The Threepenny Opera - Donmar Warehouse Original Cast lyrics: Bertolt Brecht 1928, loosely inspired by François Villon's "Ballad of the Hanged" c. 1489, translated by Jeremy Sams 1994 music: Kurt Weill 1928

18. Saga de Ragnar Lodbrock - Ballade des pendus

And here's the OG Ballad of the Hanged, written in the 15th century by the OG poète maudit, François Villon (translation here). It paints an indelible picture of strung up corpses swaying in the wind, decaying, pecked by birds, ravaged by the elements and time. And crucially, it's in the first person. The hanged speak, begging their fellow-humans for pity, and god for forgiveness.

Frères humains, qui après nous vivez, N'ayez les cœurs contre nous endurcis, Car, si pitié de nous pauvres avez, Dieu en aura plus tôt de vous mercis. Vous nous voyez ci attachés, cinq, six: Quant à la chair, que trop avons nourrie, Elle est piéça dévorée et pourrie, Et nous, les os, devenons cendre et poudre. De notre mal personne ne s'en rie; Mais priez Dieu que tous nous veuille absoudre!

recorded 1979, released 1999 in the Saga de Ragnar Lodbrock reissue lyrics: François Villon, c. 1489 music: Saga de Ragnar Lodbrock

19. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat

Honorary inclusion, a song not about hanging: the mercy seat is the electric chair. But the lyrics are a punch and this is a torrent of a song, a whirlwind, a masterpiece, a 7-minute cynic snarl. So it couldn't possibly get left out of this compilation.

And the mercy seat is awaiting, and I think my head is burning And in a way I'm yearning to be done with all this measuring of proof An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (a life for a life and a truth for a truth) And anyway I told the truth, and I'm not afraid to die (and I'm afraid I told a lie)

1999, from Tender Prey lyrics & music: Nick Cave

20. Graveyard Train - Ballad For Beelzebub

And after? Welcome to Hell, ladies and gents, and bards. (Bards are rogues, too.) The Graveyard Train play a kind of Southern Gothic (but very southern, they're Australian), and here they entertain the thought of a band that ends up in hell and has to keep playing, without end, for an audience that can't hear. What a bleak prospect.

Well the air on the stage is burning our lungs And we're all going deaf from the beating drums And you can't see a thing for all the blood and the sweat in our eyes

Well we played till we died, and now we're all dead But the Man says we got to get up there again And you can't come down till the brimstone turns to ice

2008, from The Serpent And The Crow lyrics & music: Graveyard Train

21. Samuel Kim feat. Colm R. McGuinness - Hoist the Colours

Yo ho, all together Hoist the colours high Heave ho, thieves and beggars

But we won't end in hell. The only acceptable ending to this compilation is the triumphant version (wait for it) of its beginning: a pirate's end. Traditionally the gibbet, yes, but also the ghost ship that still sails, the ripple that still travels, and the story that still gets told.

Did I stutter the first time?

NEVER SHALL WE DIE

[mikoyote]

A completely Out of Context DnD Animatic

[bhaal-battle-beer-bard]

꧁༺ 𝓐𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓷 ༻꧂

Bardcore aesthetic

Bard book aesthetic version of my ballad

✫☼☾☁ 𝝖S𝝩𝝖Ɍ𝝞𝝤𝝢 ☁☾☼✫

[ballad-of-elgado]

The reference for Link in my MonHun x LOZ crossover au is done!! Some things are subject to change, as always, as I build him and his story.

-> Support me on Kofi!

Most of this ref done thanks to MHRS, poses, refs, etc, to make my life easier, and changing things I needed changed. It probably would've taken way longer than a day if I had done the reference parts from scratch.

I wanted him to have kind of a bard-trader-hunter kinda vibe, being a hunting horn main and all (though he has a wide variety of weapons at his disposal). I think the dignified set really helps? Maybe expect more armor sets though? I'm not entirely sure. It completely depends on what styles I discover as I experiment in rise and older games. I know for a fact that Zelda's design is gonna be more iceborne-inspired tho.

His first impression is usually rather sour, he doesn't ever talk all that much and his resting face doesn't help his case. Getting to know him though, he's a bit of a gremlin and rather eccentric behind the scenes.

[redfish-blu]

It’s not over until the Mockingjay sings

Part 1

[judasiskariot]

WIP SUNDAY

Got tagged by @anacdoce ❤️😘 Thanks for thinking of me.

Well I decided to share some of my bardic stuff again. My work on the Astarion ballad is not over yet. It will be a long journey/search!

I tag: @pinkberrytea and @alpydk

[greengrowsthelaurel]

I want to make dnd one shots loosely based on folk ballads. current list includes but is not limited to:

-tam lin

-outlandish knight/lady isabel and the elf knight

- thomas the rhymer

-maid on the shore

-famous flower of serving men (idk there’s enough mystical shit happening here and also a good amount of murder that i feel there is potential)

[ikebo-simp]

My 6reeze headcanons

Kazuha and Venti are the songwriters

I mean... Kazuha is a poet and Venti's a bard, they have to be good with words

They're romantic saps and it shows in their songs (Listen to 6reeze playlists and you'll get it)

I think Aether and Xiao would be more in charge of the melody?

Yes the other two could do it (Kazuha's leaf and Venti's lyre) but Aether's constantly humming a tune that no one knows and Xiao has song ideas that Aether does

They kinda work together to get unique songs each time

Scara is the rapper

Take one look at this boy and tell me he couldn't rap

Heizou is main dancer

He's a phys catalyst, the boy can kick and I bet he'd be really good at dancing

Other things:

Scara is most definitely the baby of the group (and the others tease him for it)

Venti's the leader and oldest

Kazuha likes to do live streams and show their fans around their routine

Aether often seen wearing a apron because he forgets to take it off after cooking

Heizou can breakdance and is really flexible, he likes showing off and freaking people out by bending backwards and putting his head through his legs, (like Inosuke from Demon Slayer)

Xiao manages their Twitter the most and snarks people on accident

A/N I keep wanting to write 4nemo also tagging this was kinda pain

Thanks for Reading

[vamprisms]

i hope they paid the guy who did the music for baldur's gate 3 a hundred billion dollars

[ballad-of-a-bard]

I would like to learn to love myself.

Would you teach me? No? Well, okay… that's okay…

I will teach myself.

Only I cannot. I do not know how. I am not sure I will ever.

I would like to learn how to love myself.

-Ballad of a Bard

[honorarypines]

Lucy Gray is the most bard-coded character from non-D&D media in ever

[topperscumslut]

it’s funny to me that half of the songs on my album (and honestly some of the best ones) focus on parallels and comparing the people from my life that the songs are about to pop culture figures, either celebrities, fictional characters, or historical figures

so here’s basically the cheat code to half of my album, what the songs mean, who and what they’re about, and what i reference in the lyrics

No One Like You is still prolly the most insane song I’ve ever written, it’s about hooking up with my ex from high school and EVERYTHING, down to the title, is a reference to him playing Gaston in high school theatre

Sycophant is about me cutting off my ex best friend, and was written around the release of the TBOSAS, wherein nearly the entire song is a metaphor that also fits the roles of Sejanus Plinth and Coriolanus Snow as well as me and her, respectively

Crowned Hearts was largely inspired by a real family that survived the Titanic that I’d learned about after having recently visited the Titanic museum and getting randomly assigned the boarding pass of the wife/mother, only to find out she shared my birthday and died in my hometown in the same hospital i was born in, that she’d been a member of the local theatre AND the country club I’d gone to with my high school ex, and had a very similar personality and interests to me. Crowned Hearts is about my at the time recent ex who helped me find her (and her son’s) grave, after we broke up i then proceeded to WRITE this song in 45 minutes flat AT her grave, wherein her and her first husband who she survived the Titanic with represented us, with the new guy i was starting to fall for that i worked with representing her second husband, who she also worked with

and finally, Torture Me is about a night i spent with my situationship/friend/fwb/failed talking stage (the aforementioned coworker), and verse 2 is almost entirely about how we happened to only watch Matthew Lillard movies together AND how he looked like Matthew Lillard when he was younger, making Matthew a sort of inside joke of ours (not in a making fun of him way, just constantly joking about how funny it was how relevant he was to our friendship) and a HUGE motif of this guy ANY TIME, no matter how subtly, i mention Matthew Lillard in a song

(also my latest song, Best for Last, which isn’t part of my debut album cuz it’s doesn’t fit in the Heart of a Siren, Soul of a Bard vibe and/or timeline, is ENTIRELY based on the Matthew Lillard motif and is actually ABOUT me meeting Matthew and titled after something he said to me personally, and about growing apart from this former situationship. definitely a deep cut, im really excited about this one.)

[drowningparty]

What do you MEAN Orpheus has no rizz have you seen him?! he's adorable every word that falls out of his mouth is cutting and brilliant and he can serenade you eternally these people are fools it's not you it's them babe never change

[bhaal-battle-beer-bard]

꧁༺𝓐𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓷༻꧂

Astarion joyless like the waning crescent moon

Alone in the night

Hiding in the dark

Astarion sounds like a psalm in the darkness

Don’t get lost in the shadows

Don’t weep in the dark

Find the light, for you in the night

Astarion pale like the stars in the sky

On a moonless night

Heart caught on the depth of the darkness

Won’t you search for light?

Astarion sounds like a psalm in the darkness

Don’t get lost in the shadows

Don’t weep in the dark

Find the light, for you in the night

Astarion haunting my heart and soul

Like the wind whispering in my ear

Forever

Only a shadow stray in the night

Black as midnight

Astarion sounds like a psalm in the darkness

Don’t get lost in the shadows

Don’t weep in the dark

Find the light, for you in the night

Astarion searching for right in the night

Let me be your sunlight

Don’t give up hope in your heart

I wish I can shine bright like daylight in your eyes

Astarion sounds like a psalm in the darkness

Don’t get lost in the shadows

Don’t weep in the dark

Find the light, for you in the night

Astarion let me be your light

Shine like the sun so bright

Astarion make it through the night

I want to be your daylight

Astarion shine bright, let me be your light

a/n:Yeah I am still working on the perfect song/ballad for Astarion. Maybe one day I will record the songs for you; because what use do have songs posted here, when you don't know the rhythm and melody from my head to which I wrote it to. Maybe there is a hobby musician who would like to do this with me.