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AMORPHIS LYRICS
"Story: 10th Anniversary" (2000 Best of/Compilation)
1. Black Winter Day
2. Against Widows
3. Tuonela
4. Grail's Mysteries
5. The Castaway
6. My Kantele
7. The Way
8. The Brother-Slayer
9. The Orphan
10. Exile of the Sons of Uisliu
11. On Rich and Poor
12. Divinity
13. The Gathering
14. Drowned Maid
15. Summer's End
16. Cares (live)
1. Black Winter Day
This is how the lucky feel
How the blessed think
Like daybreak in spring
The sun on a spring morning
But how do I feel
In my gloomy depths?
Like the flat brink of a cloud
Like a dark night in autumn
A black winter day
No, darker than that
Gloomier than an autumn night
2. Against Widows
The Devil weds a widow
Death another’s leftovers
Better to lie on a willows
Rest on alder boughs
Than upon a widow’s pillow
Sweeter the side of a fence
Than a widow’s flank
Softer the side of a grove
Than a widow’s beside is
The Devil weds a widow
The grave one twice wed
A widow’s hand is rougher
Than a dry spruce bought
With which she strikes the playful
Grabs the one who laughs
A widow has had her games
And spent a merry evening
3. Tuonela
Sorrow is my bread
And tears I drink as wine
Oblivion my happiness
Ground under teeth of time
For cold be the stone
When frost be devoured the land
Consolation is no gift
Of winter's icy hand
Upon a crust of snow
I'll lay my broken frame
What steel and iron won't take
I'll give in winter's name
No good a sullen soul no use a simple knave
No groom for brides of plaited hair
This man old and lame
If only I could breathe
To see the sun of may
but still longer are the nights than days
As I wither away
Came the man of crown
With sound of war drums beat
Said no sword arm's strong enough
Without my two good feet
But not overlooked am I
In eyes of the maid I'll wed
I'll reap the crops of Tuonela
My bride's wealth in death
4. Grail's Mysteries
I shall have a son
Out of Cornwall shall he come
That shall be a wild boar
Bristled with steel...
He shall be a man most brave and
Noble in thought
Thou shall kneel for him
For every man shall humble
In front of our lord
I stood upon the sand of the sea
And the great wind told me to carry on
He shall once know the secret
Of the Holy Grail
And so was the coronation made
And there was he,
Sworn unto his lords and the commons
To be true king
5. The Castaway
A bird flew out of Lapland
An eagle from the North East
One wing ruffled the water
And the other swept the sky
It's tail skimmed the sea
It flutters, it glides
It looks, it turns round
"Why, man are you in the sea
Fellow, among the billows?"
6. My Kantele
Truly they lie, they talk utter nonsense
Who say that music reckon that the kantele
Was fashioned by a god
Out of a great pike’s shoulders
From a water-dog’s hooked bones:
It was made from the grief
Moulded from sorrow
Its belly out of hard days
Its soundboard from endless woes
Its strings gatheret from torments
And its pegs from other ills
So it not play, will not rejoice at all
Music will not play to please
Give off the right sort of joy
For it was fashioned from cares
Moulded from sorrow.
7. The Way
I shall have a son
Out of Cornwall shall he come
That shall be a wild boar
Bristled with steel...
He shall be a man most brave and
Noble in thought
Thou shall kneel for him
For every man shall humble
In front of our lord
I stood upon the sand of the sea
And the great wind told me to carry on
He shall once know the secret
Of the Holy Grail
And so was the coronation made
And there was he,
Sworn unto his lords and the commons
To be true king
8. The Brother-Slayer
Where have you been, where have you been
my son, my merry son?
On the seashore, on the seashore
mother, my darling one.
And what have you been doing there
my son, my merry son?
I have been watering my horse
mother, my darling one.
Why is there blood upon your feet
my son, my merry son?
My horse stamped with its iron shoe
mother, my darling one.
Why there is blood upon your sword
my son, my merry son?
I have stabbed my brother to death
mother, my darling one.
What now of you, where will you go
my son, my wretched son?
To other lands to foreign lands
my dame, my darling one.
When will you be returning home
my son, my wretched son?
When all the world to judgement comes
my dame, my darling one.
9. The Orphan
The calloo’s spirits are low
Swimming on the chill water
But the orphan’s are lower
Walking down the village street.
The sparrow’s belly is chill
Sitting on the icy bough
But my belly is more chill
As I step from glade to glade.
The dove’s heart is cold
As it pecks the village rick
But I’m colder still
As I drink the icy water
10. Exile of the Sons of Uisliu
A wave the sound of Noisiu's voice
His singing was ever sweet...
Noisiu's grave has now been made
And the accompaniment was mournful
For him I poured out - hero of heroes,
The deadly drink that killed him
Dear his short shining hair
A handsome man, even very beautiful
Dear the grey eyes that women loved
Fierce they were foes
11. On Rich and Poor
Old folk remember
And those today learn
How before their time
Life was different here:
Without the sun people lived
Groped about without the moon
With candles sowing was done
Planting performed with torches.
At the time we lived
Without the sunshine
Who had covered up our sun
And who had hidden our moon?
Without the moonlight stumbled
With our fists fumbled the land
With ourhands we sought out roads
With hands roads, with fingers swamps
We could not live without sun
Nor manage without moonlight;
Who would seek out the sun
Who spy out the moon?
Who else if not God
The one son of God?
12. Divinity
Last day brings the grace
For bearers of forbidden name
Step into five fold mace
As son as father in a frame
Someday fire wipes the rain
Fears are frozen tears whisper
Things that no one hears
Cry now, cry now for me again
Tomorrows pride and pain
Why you kneel before my name
Crushing my belief
And make shape to my relief
For who you set your prayers
I can't hear them anyway
13. The Gathering
As I sense their steel
As I see the mighty one
As we all gather once again
The gods of war summon us...
Summon us
North wind blows to our valley
Men with ships, with swords, with honour
Their horses between flames
Their dogs eating enemy childs
Our heavenly father, what is this mortality
Do you see my mortal agony
Look, I see the shield up high
This must be the sign from my lord
This can be my death - sentence
What a fine day to die
Taste of blood comes up high
Wind blows hard, our men fall...
One by one
This oath claims me
I must bleed for my generation
Strong is the enemy
Strong is my sword
The hammer is rising
I feel their cold steel
Now when I leave this world
I shall open the mighty oaken gate
And we all shall gather once again
14. Drowned Maid
I went to wash at the shore
I went to bathe in the sea
And there I, a hen, was lost
I, a bird
Untimely died
Let not my brother
Ever in this world
Water his war-horse
Upon the seashore!
Waters of the sea
So much blood of mine
Fishes of the sea
So much flesh of mine
Such the death of the young maid
End of the fair little hen
15. Summer's End
I went to wash at the shore
I went to bathe in the sea
And there I, a hen, was lost
I, a bird
Untimely died
Let not my brother
Ever in this world
Water his war-horse
Upon the seashore!
Waters of the sea
So much blood of mine
Fishes of the sea
So much flesh of mine
Such the death of the young maid
End of the fair little hen
16. Cares (live)
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