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REBELLION LYRICS
"A Tragedy In Steel" (2002)
1. Introduction
2. Disdaining Fortune
3. The Prophecy
4. Husbandry In Heaven
5. The Dead Arise
6. Evil Speaks
7. Letters Of Blood
8. Revenge
9. Claws Of Madness
10. Demons Rising
11. Die With Harness On Your Back
1. Introduction
At the beginning of the play, we look upon Macbeth as a shining hero. On behalf of his king, Duncan, he has just defeated the traitor Macdonwald, quelling high treason and subversion, safeguarding the rule of the king, so Scotland can look forward to a new era of peace. On their way from the battlefield the commanders Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches, who foretell the warriors promising prophecies: To Macbeth they predict the Thanehood of Glamis and of Cawdor - and eventually even the crown of Scotland, to Banquo, oil the other hand, that he would be father of a line of Kings.
Macbeth is already the Thane of Glamis, and out of gratitude the king soon bestows the Thanehood of Cawdor upon him. So the fulfilment of the last prediction seems to be close at hand. Only King Duncan himself stands in the way of Macbcth's aroused ambitions. It seems like a stroke of fate when the grateful king arrives as a guest at the castle of the Thane of Glamis and Cawdor to express his profound gratitude to this outstanding warrior. Unlike Macbeth, who feels covetous but hesitant, his wife is prepared to act. She spurs on her husband, encouraging him to seize this supposed opportunity of fate like a man. Macbeth stabs the defenceless king in his sleep, and with the help of his wife he succeeds in casting suspicion upon the king's guards. Rut while the majority of the Scottish noblemen do not dare to question his story, Malcolm, the king's son, escapes to England with a number of faithful followers. Among them is Macduff, next to Macbeth one of Scotland's most influential Thanes.
Macbeth, the king's murderer, is crowned King of Scotland soon afterwards but the fruits from his deed taste sour. Macbeth can neither enjoy his status nor his power as the ruling king for even a single moment. Worry and anxiety are casting dark shadows on his life. .After all, as the witches have predicted, Banquo would be the forefathers of a new line of kings - for the childless Macbeth a source of constant threat and fear. Before long, he hires assassins to kill Banquo, the supposed father of kings and only other person who knows about the witches' prophecies. But the admonishing ghost of the murdered Banquo appears in front of Macbeth's eyes at a banquet. From this point on, it becomes apparent to what extent Macbeth has already succumbed to madness and is being pursued by the ghosts of his murdered victims.
Again Macbeth seeks out the witches to ask them about his future. They assure him that no man of woman born would ever be a threat for him, yet Macbeth should beware of Macduff, whom he can only conquer through violence.
Macbeth feels encouraged by the witches' predictions and sets about "clearing up" among his supposed enemies. In his growing madness, he turns from a murderer into a tyrant, and the whole country moans and suffers under the strokes of his raging terror. Macduff, the Thane of Fife, is still in England, and since the tyrant is unable to get hold of him he resolves to destroy the castle of the alleged traitor, giving his wife, children and servants to the sword.
But while Macbeth seeks safety in destruction and bloodshed, his lady's strength of mind begins to falter; walking in her sleep, she constantly tries to wash invisible blood from her hands - the blood of the murdered King Duncan. Lady Macbeth dies finally as a victim of her own madness, of her feelings of guilt. The tyrant himself suffers from increasing madness and deep depressions so much so that he can hardly mourn the death of his wife. He begins to realise that all his efforts and killings will neither bring him happiness nor satisfaction. Yet, on the strength of the witches' predictions, he still believes himself deceptively safe, drawing from them the strength to prepare for the impending battle. Under the leadership of Duncan's son Malcolm and Macduff, the English and many Scots have united and arc marching on Macbeth's seat, Dunsinane, with a powerful army. Faced with these superior troops the tyrant's men flee from him, until he finally finds himself alone. Still being convinced of his own invincibility Macbeth awaits the onslaught of the enemy troops. Caught in a deadly combat with Macduff, Macbeth finds out that his opponent was cut from his mother's womb and was therefore not born by a woman. Only then he realises that he has fallen victim to the witches' prank. Realising the full extent of his delusion, he comes to his senses and understands that his own death is imminent. Yet he does not attempt to flee but faces the battle with Macduff and is finally slain.
Let the Story begin...
[Narrator:]
As we know man does not walk the earth alone
but is surrounded by strange creatures and spirits.
Some of these may sometimes try to lure man into their own influence...
for their own entertainment...
and to steal away the most precious gem dwelling in each of us... our soul.
Man may choose the path he follows, but its direction may at times:
not be what it seems...
This tale is about one of the most valiant heroes that ever walked the Scottish soil.
It tells his glorious deeds, his hopes, his ambitions, his rise...
and his fall... yet it does not start with its protagonist... rather with its demons...
[First Witch:] When shall we three meet again, in thunder lightning or in rain
[Second Witch:] When the Hurlyburly 's done, when the battles lost and won
[Third witch:] That will be ere the set of sun
[First Witch:] Where the place?
[Second Witch:] Upon the heath.
[Third Witch:] There to meet with Macbeth
2. Disdaining Fortune
Hail Hail Hail Macbeth
[Macbeth:]
Macdonwald I 'II take your head and hold it to the sky
[1]
Brothers look down in the valley
The traitors are strong their numbers are great
here we are we won't surrender
Fight for glory or meet our fate
[2]
Macbeth traitor know my name
I will take your head in shame
I kill those who do betray
Come now come and make my day
[Ref.:]
For my King and for Scotland into battle I ride
Disdaining Fortune
Brothers march at my side
King Duncan you rule all hail to thy name
Disdaining fortune
For Scotland's fame
[3]
Into battle anger in my brain
I fight like a madman insane
Like a lion feasting on the prey
I will just take your life away
[4]
I bathe in your reeking wounds
I slay bloody life too soon
I drink blood of enemies
I kill in perfect harmony
[The Witches:]
The weird sisters hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about,
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again to make up nine.
Peace! The charm's wound up.
3. The Prophecy
[1]
We ride all alone from the battlefield
The rebels beaten they had to yield
Banquo and I we silently ride
Brothers in arms side by side
[2]
There s a fog which falls on the weary soul
It engulfs our souls as we head for home
The lands we pass we ve never seen
Clad in a twilight like a dream
[3]
Out of the shade three women rise
Appear in features that please the eye
How can such grace walk the earth
Can it be of human birth
[4]
Their eyes glowing with unearthly light
Shining like diamonds in the falling night
They hail our names as we greet
Their voices sound like music sweet
[Bridge:]
A Prophecy for great ambitions
A promise weaved in gold
Evil speaks a pleasant language
The Evil speak a pleasant language
A Prophecy is told
[Ref.:]
Hail Hail Hail Macbeth
Thane of Claims and Cawdor
and Master of death
All Hail Macbeth we greet thee with laughter
Hail Macbeth thou shalt be king hereafter
[5]
We bid them stay as they did turn
More about our fate to learn
Too sweet did their visions sound
To ambitious men for glory bound
[6]
They turned to Banquo and hailed his name
Revealing to him the greatest fame
My brother listened pleased and well
To the promises they had to tell
[Ref.:]
Hail Banquo hail to thee
Lesser than Macbeth yet greater thou It be
Father of a line of kings to come
Hail to Banquo the chosen one
[Narrator:]
Macbeth the Thane of Glamis has won a great victory,
beating the rebels in a fierce battle he did a great service to his King
and his country As King Duncan gains knowledge of this he decides to reward
the most noble deeds of his greatest warrior.
He bestons the Thanehood of Cawdor on Macbeth
To express his gratitude even further Duncans decides to visit Macbeth and to celebrate
the victory together with its honourable protagonist.
Naught does the king know about the witches prophecies
and the ambitions of the Thane of Glamis and Cawdor Naught does he fear
as he in best spirits approaches the stronghold of Macbeth.
4. Husbandry In Heaven
[Prologue]
[Lady Macbeth:]
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty
Come to my woman's breasts, make thick my blood
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers,
Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark To cry "Hold, hold'"
[Macbeth:]
We still have judgement here, that we but teach Bloody instructions which, being taught, return To plague th' inventor. This even-handed justice Commends th' ingredience of our poisoned chalice to our own lips. He's here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed, then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.
[Decision]
[1]
No further shall we go
I've been honoured don't you know
I should stand by Duncan's side
Not kill the man in greedy pride
[2]
Did you not hope, did you not dream
The hero I knew like a coward does seem
Had I spoken as you did
There would be no mercy I would stick to it
[Bridge:]
The crown - my deeds
The men who do betray
The crown - my deeds
Every man must find his way
[Ref.:]
Husbandry in heaven
Fair is foul and foul is fair
Thunder cracks the sky
And there is evil in the air
Husbandry in heaven
Prophecies they turn to hate
Kill the king take the crown
Macbeth what is your fate
[3]
What man does I will dare
But for more I shall never care
Once you talked mischief to me
Then you were a man - wild and free
[4]
If we fail what will become
No way to hide what we've done
Screw your courage forget your fear
Stab him in his sleep the crown is so near
You screw your courage to the sticking place
You can do the murder with a smile on your face
[The Murder]
[Macbeth:]
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle towards my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, inform as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.
I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing.
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes.
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
The weird sisters offerings,
The murder shall be done.
Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
I go, and it is done The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
[Epilogue]
As the owl shrieked with a single cut
I took his life I spilled his blood
So red are these hands like I 've never seen
So red are these hands will they ever be clean
I heard a voice it cried sleep no more
The king is dead his life spilled on the floor
Macbeth he takes the crown with blood on his hands
He shall sleep no more until the end
[Narrator:]
Oh Macbeth, you have it all now, just as the witches have promised, but you played most foully for it.
Suspicion of the murder however falls upon the king's sons, who flee to England accompanied only by a handful of loyal knights and Thanes, amongst them Macduff.
Macbeth the greatest of the Thanes and most respected man in Scotland is crowned at Scone to be the new king. But the secret knowledge of his treason and of the prophecies that Banquo has heard lie heavy on his soul....
5. The Dead Arise
[1]
My fears in Banqou stick deep
Haunt my sleep
He knows the sisters' prophecy
His smiles I can read
[2]
For his breed I've sold my soul
A fruitless crown can it be all
Fate will have to bow her head
Banquo my friend soon you'll be dead
[3]
Muderers will do the crime
I've paid them well to cut you fine
I'll never have to look at you
Banquo my friend your life is through
[Bridge:]
I - I've walked deep in the blood
Return I can not
No I'll have to carry on
To be safe with what I've done
[Ref.:]
The Dead arise from their grave
To assail what we thought safe
The Dead arise outta hell
To the hero that fell
[4]
What is this I look upon
should be dead and gone
How can I believe my eyes
Is it a lie
[5]
Banquo how can it be you
You lie in the blood that's what you do
I see mortal gashes on your head
How can you smile you should be dead
[6]
What man dare I will dare
A thousand warriors or the Russian bear
But pale cheeks of immortality
How can I fight how can I fight against thee
[Bridge:]
Oh no - Let the earth hide you away
In hell you should stay
No don't you reach for my crown
I shall never take it down
[Narrator:]
Shaken by the ghastly apparition of the slain Banquo Macbeth fears even stronger
now for the security of what he has stolen by murder and treason and defends
by such means. Like a blind stalker in the night he is drawn back to the lair
wherein the witches dwell, hungry for confirming answers to the burning doubts in his soul.
6. Evil Speaks
[1]
Darkness settles down
On your spirit bound
By the fears eroding your mind
As the dead arise
They fix your eyes
And your secrecies they find
[2]
You have got to know
You would sell your soul
Though evil tongues may beguile
To the sisters you run
They knew you would come
And they greet you with a luring smile
[3]
There is no need to ask
For they know their task
As they sing in a language of old
A black cat screams
They weave your dreams
An apparition does unfold
[4]
A bloody child
Clad in fires wild
Demons answer me
Beware of Macduff
Act bloody and rough
And an end to it there will be
[Ref.:]
Watch out, beware
There are boundries you shouldn't dare
better beware my human friend
where the evil lurks your life will end
[5]
They are touching your soul
With their fingers so cold
Sanity's left behind
More answers you need to find
[6]
Strange prophecies
Giving hope to thee
Promising life not death
Fear no one
For none of woman born
Shall ever harm Macbeth
7. Letters Of Blood
[1]
I am the king now and I rule the land
Cruel is my anger fire blood and steel
Once there were houses where now ruins stand
Down in the dirt or my sword you will feel
[Bridge:]
Down Down, on your knees
Down, you will bleed
[Ref.:]
This is my page for the history books
Blood writes in fear of my name
The story of the the crown and the kingdom I took
I spell it in letters of blood
[2]
I stand in the blood of all those who betray
laughter and burn their houses and their breed
I am invincible the witches say
Raging like mad I'll make this country bleed
[Narrator:]
Macbeth has turned from a king in fear for his doubtful crown into a tyrant.
His soldiers constantly searching the land for those who might oppose...
But the greatest danger seems to come from Macduffwho is busy in England
joining forces against the unlawful Tyrant ...Macduff is not within the reach
of his former friend but...
8. Revenge
[1]
Macduff
Who are you
Once you were loyal
Once you were true
Run to England
To stand against me
I will burn your castle
I will slay, your family
[2]
How can I be loyal
To a murderer that stole the crown
How can I be loyal
To a tvrant
That takes my country down
[Ref:]
We'll take revenge for all the lives you stole -
Macbeth
The sins you did in the end you'll fall -
Macbeth
We'll take revenge and put you down, in the
end we'll seize the crown
I'll take revenge for all the lives you stole -
Macbeth
[3]
Macduff
Look and see
Here are the bloody corpses
of your family
Burried dead
In a nameless grave
My lust for blood
Will make me safe
[4]
I've cried a thousand tears
In the shadows of the lonely night
As the tears run dry
You tyrant
I know that I must fight
[Gentlewoman:] Lo you, here she comes. This is her very guise, and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her. Stand close.
[Doctor:] You see her eyes are open.
[Gentlewoman:] Ay, but their sense are shut.
[Doctor:] What is it she does now? Look how she rubs her hands.
[Gentlewoman:] It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands. I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour.
[Lady Macbeth:] Yet here's a spot. Out, damned spot; out, I say. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? ... Macduff the Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that. No more
[Doctor:] What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charged.
[Gentlewoman:] I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of the whole body.
[Lady Macbeth:] Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried. He cannot come out on 's grave. To bed, to bed. There's a knocking at the gate. Come, give me your hand. What's done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.
9. Claws Of Madness
[1]
Drifting in sleepless nightmares
Haunted by poisoned dreams
Washing your hands in the water
But the hands will never be clean
[2]
Now you pay the price
Your dreams drenched in blood
Now you realize
You have gone too far
[Ref.:]
Claws of madness
Holding your brain as they take you away
to the other
Side of sorrow
Where you pay what you owe
Claws of madness
Never ending pain drives you insane
you want to
Leave this world now
Death is kind you will find
[3]
Smile in the face of evil
Watching your life go by
Washing your hands in the water
God knows how you try
[4]
Whispers in your mind
Voices from far away
Can you hear them calling
Names from far away
[Narrator:]
After the suicide of his wife and companion in treason Macbeth must understand that Macduff has finally succeeded and put together an army large in numbers and determined to overthrow the tyrant - to purify the Scottish crown from the blood that was shed for it... his men flee from him... leaving him alone with his anger... his doubts and his sorrow...
[Macbeth:]
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
10. Demons Rising
[1]
The crown , my deeds Like a burden does it seem
I stand all alone In a dark and empty dream
[2]
Such is the bitter taste
Of the blarney outta hell
There was a life to waste
And the witches did it well
[3]
Here as I sit
On a cold and empty throne
The thanes, most men
All have fled I am alone
[4]
Such is the bitter taste
Of my hopes about to fall
There was a life to waste
I see demons rising tall
[Bridge:]
No use to run and hide
No use to run and hide
[Ref.:]
Now as my dreams lie there in pieces
Where is the glory after all
Now as I stand amidst the ruins
I see demons rising tall
Demons rising tall
[5]
Still I am invincible
No fear in my heart there'll be
No man man of woman born
Shall have power over me
[6]
Yet there is a bitter taste
Of the madness that did fall.
I had a life to waste
I see demons rising tall
[Macbeth:] They have tied me to a stake. I cannot fly, but bear-like I must fight the course. What's he that was not born of woman? Such a one am I to fear, or none.
[Young Siward:] What is thy name?
[Macbeth:] Thou'lt be afraid to hear it.
[Young Siward:] No, though thou call'st thyself a hotter name than any is in hell.
[Macbeth:] My name's Macbeth.
[Young Siward:] The devil himself could not pronounce a title more hateful to mine ear.
[Macbeth:] No, nor more fearful.
[Young Siward:] Thou liest, abhorred tyrant. With my sword I'll prove the lie thou speak'st.
[They fight, and young Siward is slain]
[Macbeth:] Thou wast born of woman, but swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, brandished by man that's of a woman bom.
[Macbeth:] Why should 1 play the Roman fool, and die on mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes do better upon them.
[Enter Macduff]
[Macduff:] Turn, hell-hound, turn.
[Macbeth:] Macduff, of all men else I have avoided thee. But get thee back. My soul is too much charged with blood of thine already.
[Macduff:] I have no words; My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out.
[They fight]
[Macbeth:] Thou losest labour. As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air with thy keen sword impress as make me bleed. Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests; I bear a charmed life, which must not yield to one of woman born.
[Macduff:] Despair thy charm, and let the angel whom thou still hast served tell thee Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped.
[Macbeth:] Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, for it hath cowed my better part of man; and be these juggling fiends no more believed, that palter with us in a double sense, that keep the word of promise to our ear and break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee.
[Macduff:] Then yield thee, coward,
[Macbeth:] I will not yield to kiss the ground before your feet, and to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though thou opposed being of no woman born, yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him that first cries: "Hold, enough!" My fate may have turned to black but at least I 'II die with harness on my back.
11. Die With Harness On Your Back
I've been drunken with horror death can't
frighten me
I 've long forgotten what the feeling of fear
might be
Life's but a shadow meaning nothing at all
But I feel alive again now that I stand with my
back against the wall
[Bridge:]
My back against the wall
[Ref.:]
Calling all to arms
There is no way to escape
Fate has turned to black
At least I'll die with harness on my back
[2]
All of my yesterdays have led me this way
Like a fool I believed what the tongues of evil did say
In my veins there is life again now that I must fall
This is my destiny here is my end with my
back against the wall
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