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18 Wheels and no Roses - cover

 

Even though Arthur is, classically, ‘the matter of England’, I’d not really call this part of my ‘Celtica’ pieces. But I’ve sometimes wondered if Arthur really failed Merlin’s riddle all along – and Merlin just had to live with it.

 

Pendragon

I pulled me a sword from a stone, my love  
And I took it in my hand  
And I got me a table round my love  
And I got me a loyal band  
But a sword from a stone is a blade my love  
And it cut me where I stand  

We were bold, we were bright, we were doomed, my love  
And we three were all the same  
And he rode at my side and with you my love  
And I give you two no blame  
For a love is a sword, we were stones my love  
And we fell upon its blade  

I took me the sword, and I think my love  
That I should have took the stone  
And have pulled that stone from the blade my love  
And have let that blade fall down  
For a stone is a thing that will stay my love  
And now I must pass alone  

If you find you a sword in a stone my love  
And you try to draw it free  
Is the blade in the stone for a need my love  
And the stone where it needs to be?  
For a blade in a stone brings no wound my love  
Like the ones it brought we three  

I pulled me a sword from a stone, my love  
And I got me a royal hand  
And I got me a table round my love  
And I got me a wounded friend  
But a sword from a stone is a blade my love  
And it cut us to our end