East of Agamemnon (Widsith's Song)

This fourth verse, and a tune, are my contribution to the first song in Silverlock, by John Myers Myers. For copyright reasons I can't print the first three verses here; if you don't know them, for heaven's sake get the book!

Note: In the Ace reissue, the word "a" is missing from line 3, making hash of sense and scansion: it should begin "Good and ill wear each a mask".

The music is written in A minor; these guitar chords work well with it. (I capo up 2, into B minor, to suit my vocal range; your mileage may vary.) Each line here corresponds to one line of the song and four measures of music; each chord symbol or dot is one measure, or four beats. A dot means to repeat the previous chord (as in Rise Up Singing).

          Am .  Em Am
          Dm G  Am . 
          Am .  Em Am
          Em Am G  Am
          Dm .  Am . 
          Dm .  E7 . 
          Am .  Dm Am

East of Shandon Silverlock were murder, storm, and dread,
Westward lay no country that he knew.
A man should have a taste for life, unless his soul is dead;
He came on board to save his skin, but found a purpose too.

He would plumb the depths and climb the heights, and ride the River's flow,
But he gripped the oar before him and never thought to slow
When Brodir made him bend his back and row, ho, ho!