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The Lady and the Well

from Goshawk by Carole Pegg & Radik Tülüsh

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about

This song was inspired by the experience of watching the dawn rise from Glastonbury Tor. Chalice Well, which lies at the foot of the Tor and is now a multi-faith shrine, is said in oral tradition to have been used for human sacrifice.

lyrics

The lady she sits on the side of the hill,
Watching the mist rise o’er the rhines from the sea,
Surrounded by silence, she made for the tower,
To the gods of old, she made her plea:
‘Oh, bring me a lad with hair like the sun,
And face as fair as an apple on a tree,
Oh, bring me a lord, with rings on his fingers,
In a year and a day, I will give him to thee.

The mist it did rise ‘til it swirled at her feet,
And she seemed on an island in the middle of the sea,
Above her the sky, endlessly reaching,
Beneath her no sign of the land could she see.
Then a silvery shaft shattered the gloom,
Filling a niche in the side of the well,
Showing a sluice that held back the water,
Trembling, she heard the sound of a bell.

Slowly, slowly, the mist it did clear,
‘Til in the distance a lad she spied,
Velvet his eyes and hair like the sun,
Three ladies in white were at his side,
The lad appeared to be in a dream,
As smiling he told her of her charms,
The days slid by as they laughed in the heather,
With teazles in her hair, she tumbled in his arms.

She told of the thorn that would blossom in winter,
They laughed in the ferns and the leaves as they fell,
But sometimes at night along the road from the marshes,
The black mounds of peat seemed like an army from hell.
She watched with alarm the approaching midsummer,
Laughed at her fears as the mist it did rise,
Searched in vain for her love that was missing,
Saw the silver beam come from the skies.

Running and tripping she came to the well side,
The night was black as any crow,
The sluice was pulled, the well it was full,
The three white ladies sat in a row.
With trembling fingers she tore at the water,
Tried to hold back the icy flow,
Then watching she saw her fair face did wrinkle,
And her hair turn the colour of muddy snow.

The lady she sits on the side of the hill,
She stares at the sun, counts the stars in her pain,
She waits for the mist to rise over the rhines,
She waits for the bell to sound, once again.

credits

from Goshawk, track released July 7, 2014
Carole Pegg: Words and Melody
Carole Pegg: vocals, fiddle, demchik Buddhist finger cymbals
Radik Tülüsh: dünggür shamanic drum; kargyraa throat-singing
Richard Partridge: bowed double bass
Dan Wilde: acoustic guitar
Ken Hill: 1973 fender bass

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Goshawk Cambridge, UK

Carole Pegg was lead singer and fiddler with pioneering folk-rock band Mr Fox with an acclaimed solo singer-songwriter album Carolanne Pegg. Radik Tülüsh, was the former wild fiddler with Tuvan band Yat-kha. He is currently a member of Tuvan band Huun-Huur-Tu and has made two solo albums. ... more

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