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1. |
Prologue
01:14
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Lady Margaret, Lady Margaret was sewing at the seam
And she’s put down her thread
When the thought came into her head to run in the woods
For to pluck the roses red, me boys,
For to pluck the roses red.
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2. |
Forbid
06:09
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FORBID (MARGARET/THOMAS)
MARGARET:
Oh, I forbid you maidens all
That wear gold in your hair
To come or go by Carter Hall
For Thomas Lynn is there.
“Oh, why forbid a maiden grown,
With wild and curling hair,
To come and go all on her own
And pluck the roses fair?”
The rose, the rose, the heart always knows
What it wants when it’s laid bare.
With green skirts tucked and wild hair tied
Ignoring what was said
Young Margaret thought to Carter Hall to ride
To pluck the roses red.
She hadn’t pulled a double rose,
A rose both red and green,
When through the briar so thickly grown
A young swain she has seen.
A double rose, the heart knows
What it wants when it is green/keen.
THOMAS:
“Now, Margaret why cut short the bloom
And why the green cane cleave?
And why to Carter Hall would you
Dare come without my leave?”
MARGARET:
“Well, Carter Hall, it is my own,
My daddy gave it to me
So I will come and I will go
And ask for no man’s leave.”
As she gazed on this handsome rogue
The blush in her did rise
A finer man she had never known
Than him with gray-blue eyes.
He took her by her hand so deft
And by the grass-green sleeve,
He laid her down, wild roses on his breath
And never asked her leave.
MARGARET and THOMAS:
The rose, the rose, the heart always knows
How to burn and how to bleed.
The double rose, the blooming heart knows
How to want when it is free.
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3. |
How the Wind
01:33
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How the wind whistling soft through the pines
Seems to clear our Margaret's mind
How the summer lingers fragrant and fair
On her grass-stained gown and wild tangling hair.
How upon her mouth his kiss lingers on
Even as she turns and finds he's gone.
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4. |
Love, Be True
03:39
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LOVE, BE TRUE (MARGARET)
Oh, so it’s come to this: one locked-and-loaded kiss --
I think I love you.
Lost in those deep eyes of gray, surely a girl could stray
In love with you, love with you, love with you.
Deep as a starless sky, longer than monarchs fly
Is my love for you.
So, riddle me something true, some secret no one knew,
And I will love you, I will love you, I will love you.
Blink! Summer has turned to fall; my heart’s stentorian call
Claims love for you,
So see now how the barley sways, I could spend all my days,
Just loving you, loving you, loving you.
Oh, love. Oh, my love. Oh, my love!
Were my love lost at sea, he would return for me
All painted blue,
And I would do the very same, lungs nourished on his name:
O, love, be true! Love, be true! Love, be true.
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5. |
Home
01:46
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HOME
MARGARET:
Four and twenty ladies fair
Were playing at the ball
When Margaret with her hair untied
Came to her father’s hall.
Four and twenty ladies fair
Were playing at the chess
And Margaret stood among them all
Her curling hair a mess.
KING:
Margaret’s father spoke up then
To see his girl so wild,
“Oh, alas, my daughter dear.
I fear you are with child.”
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6. |
An Earthly Knight
04:08
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AN EARTHLY KNIGHT (THE KING/MARGARET)
KING:
The king has been a prisoner
And a prisoner to the throne
With aching heart he’s looked up now
To find his daughter grown.
“What ails you, what ails you, my daughter dear?
For you look so pale,” he said,
“Oh, have you had any sore sickness
Or taken a man to your bed?
“Cast off, cast off your grass-green gown,
And stand naked there before,
So I may know you by your shape
Whether you be a maiden no more.”
MARGARET:
“Well, if I pricked my finger on
A thorn that bit to bone
Would you begrudge the beauty gleaned
For one so long alone?
“And if I go with child,” she said,
“Myself shall bear the blame,
There’s not a knight in all your hall,
That’ll give the babe his name.”
KING:
“Oh, was it with a lord or a duke or a knight?
Or a man of pedigree?
Or was it with one of my serving men?
For hanged he shall be.”
MARGARET:
“Oh would my love were an earthly knight,
As he’s an elfin gray.
Yet I’d not trade my own true love
No matter what you say.
“The steed that my fey love rides on
Is swifter than the wind.
With silver it is shod before,
And/with burnished gold behind.”
KING:
“My dear, in Carter Hall there grows,
An herb that spurns the sun.
So, Maggie, hasten to the briar,
And do what must be done.”
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7. |
A Sharp-Tongued Knight
01:57
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A SHARP-TONGUED KNIGHT (A KNIGHT/MARGARET)
KNIGHT:
Slung o’er the wall
Of her father’s hall
When Margaret passed by,
A sharp-tongued knight
At the first sight
Of her smiled.
Looking down
On her grass-stained gown
His gaze did fall,
And up spoke he,
“Margaret, for thee
We will be blamed all. Be blamed all.”
MARGARET:
“O, hold your tongue,
You must be drunk
To think I’d let this fly.
“And rest assured,
You’ve my word,
That with you I’d never lie. Never lie.”
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8. |
Fortune's Fool
06:55
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FORTUNE’S FOOL/HIS NAME (MARGARET)
O a day, a day in the merry month of May,
I went out on a day.
Fortune’s fool, I went out though I didn’t know the way,
I didn’t know the way.
Ooooh.
Where’s he gone? My love with the eyes of blue and gray.
He’s gone out on a day.
Seasons come and seasons so quickly blow away,
I cannot make them stay.
Ooooh.
I’m untried, I know not of men and their cruel ways,
Or how to make them stay,
How to love, my fingers all slick with slipping days,
I cannot, cannot make them stay.
Ooooh.
O, a moment – my heart leapt, I blushed to meet his gaze.
Now everything has changed.
The hemlocks shiver, the cold scotch broom, it bends and waves,
And I don’t know his name.
His name!
O, his smile – and I thought, sure, to have one taste,
But twice the pledge was paid.
When I awoke and turned for to ask of my love his name,
I found the forest changed.
The forest changed!
Still sweet blooms the hawthorn, and sweet still, O the gorse does remain.
It’s only I have changed.
Still sweet sings the woodlark. More sweet, still, the nightingale’s refrain,
And I have ears in vain.
Ears in vain!
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9. |
A Double Rose
05:48
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A DOUBLE ROSE (MARGARET)
All the flowers of the field fade
As we age, they say
But this fire, kindled in the briar –
His eyes blue-gray.
Oh, the blush from the bloom falls
All too soon, so they say,
And the wild love of childhood
Slips away.
With the love of a gold knight,
Every cold night would burn (on and on)
And the flush of the rose’s touch
Could return.
Sure, the nightingale’s sweet song
Is all but gone by now.
But I heard something of the bird
When he lay me down.
If my love were an earthly knight
In his armor gray, shining silver day,
If he rode on a stallion white
I would never stray if I knew he’d stay
If the truth of his touch were right
Flowers fade, they say, eyes of blue and gray,
I would hold him all through the night
Bathed in brimming day – my heart he’ll betray.
If my love were an earthly knight,
Eyes of blue and gray; it will fade they say.
With his shield and his claymore bright
I would make him stay past the dawning day.
All the flowers of the field fade
As we age, it’s true.
And the prick of the rose bleeds quick
But when it’s through, it fades too.
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10. |
Nightingale
02:42
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NIGHTINGALE (A Nightingale)
I have heard you sigh with love and grief --
A willowisp, your breath is wandering palely in the eaves.
I have seen his heart weighed down with weeds,
With strangled love for her who holds the cards and all the keys.
He is not for you, it’s not to be. He isn’t free.
The path to him is fraught, he isn’t free.
oooooo
Tangled is the web we tend to weave,
The lovely, gilded, longing lies we make ourselves believe.
He’d love you well if only he were free; he isn’t free.
The path is clogged with thorns, it’s not to be.
His heart’s not free.
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11. |
Forbid #2
00:49
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FORBID #2 (MARGARET)
With green skirts tucked and wild hair tied
Young Margaret did speed
Into the briar to find among the thorns
An herb to make her bleed.
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12. |
Wormwood
04:33
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WORMWOOD (MARGARET)
O, it’s bitter grows the wormwood gray
And cheerless is the springing thyme
For my own true love came home today
Home to a bed that isn’t mine.
O the wormwood grows a bitter silver-gray
But bitterer am I
O I would I could make my love stay
With poses sweet and garlands fine
But the lily blooms but for a day
So too did his brief love decline
O the wormwood grows a bitter silver-gray
But bitterer am I
O he swore he never would betray
Me when he kissed me in the thyme
But the truth’s a bed wherein I cannot lay
He’s someone’s love but he’s not mine.
O the wormwood grows a bitter silver-gray
But bitterer am I
So it’s fare thee well, love, and a day
My heart remains among the thyme
For my own true love came home today
To arms he loves far more than mine.
O the wormwood grows a bitter silver-gray
But bitterer am I.
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13. |
Forbid #3
01:58
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FORBID #3
THOMAS:
She had not pulled a double rose
Her fingers thorn-picked sore
‘Til Thomas Lin in on the west wind blows,
Saying, “Maggie, pull no more.
“Oh, why do you uproot the roses still
And why the green cane break,
And why come you to Carter Hall to kill
The baby we did make?”
MARGARET:
“Oh, tell me, Tom, and tell me true
If mortal man you be.
For something in your eyes of mingled blue
Strikes fear inside of me.”
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14. |
Rhymer
03:17
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RHYMER (THOMAS)
Oh, Margaret, Margaret, don’t turn away,
Though strange is my tale to tell.
As I rode out on the First of May,
It’s from my own spooked horse I fell.
Her mantle was of the velvet deep,
Her skirts of the greenest silk,
The Queen of Faerie, she caught me,
In arms as smooth and as white as milk.
“Harp and carp, Thomas Lynn,” she bade,
“Oh, harp and carp,” said she.
“And if you dare to kiss my lips,
Your body hale shall belong to me.”
Oh, Maggie, I kissed her bitter lips,
All under the grafted tree.
With sharpened smile she did sigh and say,
“True Thomas, now you must go with me.”
As she mounted her palfrey
As she reached for me
How could I turn away?
As she said, “True Thomas, this
Is the price for one kiss:
Seven years away.
All under the elf tree.
Seven sweet years in Faerie
Sour now, so tear me
Down from my horse of white.
As we troop through the briar,
Halloween’s thirst requires
Blood sacrifice.
At the mirk and midnight hour
At the height of their power
The folk will ride.
Those that would their true love win
At Miles Cross hidden
In the brambles must bide.
All under the elf tree. Hold me tight.
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15. |
Thomas Lynn Theme
01:08
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Oh, Thomas Lynn, Thomas Lynn, Thomas Lynn...
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16. |
I Remember
03:23
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I REMEMBER (THOMAS/MARGARET)
MARGARET:
I recall the pull of your dark gaze, and
I recall the scrape of callused palm on mine.
Oh, it’s a long time.
I recall your lazy sun-soaked smile, and
I recall your kisses sweet as Muscat wine.
Oh, it’s a long time.
THOMAS:
I recall the feathered hemlock shade, and
I recall your close breath quickening with mine.
Lo, it’s a long time.
MARGARET:
I recall the whispering beechen green,
The swoon, the fall, the crushed perfume of eglantine.
Love, it’s a long time.
THOMAS:
And I remember, the way the loosetrife waved in
Flushed September, the days diffused with sweet Scotch pine.
Love, it’s a long time.
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17. |
Threnody
04:08
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THRENODY (THOMAS)
All the flowers of the fringed field fade
But could a dwindling rose be saved
For a winter?
Blinking poppies beat their last hurrah,
Their roots kissed in the pale scrimshaw
Of the weevils
But they will love.
Slain, the ivy reaching for the sky
Whose sinew will mollify
The moths of winter.
Soiled, the promise shivers on its stalk
The impulse flickers and is lost.
Oh, it’s lost.
But I will love.
Sweet, the honeysuckle’s fragrant swoon,
The dogwood days of guileless June
Pleasure fleeting.
Yet the woodlark’s warbling threnody
Cuts me deep but cannot be
A true parting.
For we will love.
And as the summer’s breathless cavalcade
Sweeps by, could a rose be saved
For a moment?
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18. |
Lady Margaret's Dream
02:41
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LADY MARGARET’S DREAM
Lady Margaret, Lady Margaret was sewing at the seam
And she’s all dressed in black
When the thought came into her head to run into the woods
To pull flowers to flower her hat
So she hoisted up her petticoats a bit above her knee
And so nimbly she’s run o’er the ground
Until she came to the merry green woods
And she’s pulled the branches down, down
Oh, she’s pulled those branches down
Wake up, wake up, the night is Halloween
And the Elfin Court does ride
And if you would your true love win
At Miles Cross you must bide
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19. |
A Cold Bed
04:09
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A COLD BED (MARGARET)
How the night seems so wide
And he’s out there without me
Would he were by my side
On my neck, stirring breath --
How the night moves like ink
Is he drowning in the shadows?
And would I with him sink?
Oh, I dare not to think –
How the night’s painted red,
How it reeks of his roses,
Turning o’er all he said
Tossing in my/a cold bed
How the nights tastes of rot.
I can feel him beside me
In the briar where he caught
Caught my cold mouth with his.
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20. |
Halloween Intro
02:09
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HALLOWEEN INTRO
It’s on the night of Halloween
The faery folk do ride
And she that would her true love win
At Miles Cross she must bide.
It’s at the mirk and midnight hour
She heard the bridles ring
And Margaret was as glad at that
As any earthly thing, my love.
O as any earthly thing.
First let past the horses black
And then the horses brown
She bolted to the milk-white steed
And pulled young Thomas down, my love.
Oh, she pulled young Thomas down.
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21. |
Halloween
03:35
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HALLOWEEN (Margaret)
Oh, God, he’s handsome, you know.
Yeah, you’re stricken.
No, hold him fast, don’t let go,
Feel him quicken.
And his hand on my –
Yes, feel him shift, here’s the test:
Trousers tattered.
Press, hip-to-hip, chest-to-chest,
Heartbeats scatter, shard and shatter.
And the pines shiver slow,
But they won’t let him go,
No they won’t let him go.
There, feel his skin sprout with hair,
Haunches rippling,
Your fear crippling.
Bare, scaled skin snake-smooth, a dare:
Fingers slipping,
Oh, he’s slipping . . .
And the pines shiver slow
But I can’t let him go,
No, I can’t let him go.
Turn, as his skin smokes and burns,
Your hands blacken
But don’t slacken.
Churn, as your lover returns
In the bracken,
In the bracken.
Oh, the pines shiver slow,
But I won’t let him go,
No, I won’t let him go!
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22. |
Forbid #4
01:21
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FORBID #4
MARGARET:
And when they turned him in her arms
To her dear Thomas Lynn
She cloaked him in her green mantle
To shield him from the wind.
QUEENE:
Up then spoke the Faerie Queen
With fire on her breath,
“May she who stole my Thomas Lynn
Meet an untimely death!”
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23. |
Queene
03:17
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QUEENE (Faerie Queene)
Woe upon you, usurper-bride
Some ill-death may you face;
You’ve robbed me of my brightest knight
And flaunted your disgrace.
Had I but known, Thomas Lynn, my love,
That what she did, she could,
I would have taken out your eyes
And put in eyes of wood.
Had I but known, Thomas Lynn, my pain,
Before I journeyed home,
I would have taken out your heart
And put in one of stone.
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24. |
Never Loved
03:59
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NEVER LOVED
MARGARET:
So, the wind turns bad,
I bow and break with each whisper --
O, but you. I have never loved you
More than I do tonight.
THOMAS:
So, the world’s gone mad –
This bitter taste – but there’s beauty
Sown with rue. I have never loved you
More than I do tonight.
BOTH:
Hold on to love. Hold on to what is right, what is right.
Hold on, my love, tonight, tonight, tonight.
MARGARET:
How can one be sad,
When all it takes is one fevered
Glance from you? I have never loved you
More than I do tonight, tonight, tonight.
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25. |
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Oh, Thomas Lynn, Thomas Lynn, Thomas Lynn...
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Molly Pinto Madigan Salem, Massachusetts
Singer. Songstress. Poet. Novelist. Lover of roses, ballads, ballroom dancing, and beaches, where she spends her time indulging her mermaid nature.
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