Get all 9 Zanda Myrande releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of On The Battlements, Blood On Bookwalk, Lighthouse, Return To Argenthome - The Rough Cuts, Coming To A Theatre Near You, The Toad and other Strangenesses, The Filk Of Human Kindness - Futeurised, Blow For Freedom, and 1 more.
1. |
Trebuchet (instrumental)
03:25
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2. |
Bones Of The Land
05:45
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BONES OF THE LAND
Some things are lost, but some things remain.
We come down from the mountains, and we wander the plain.
You can see in our eyes if you venture to look
There's a knowledge that lies far deeper than topsoil and sand.
It was old long ago, never bound in a book,
But pay us our fee and we'll show you the bones of the land.
Some things are soft, but some things are strong.
Build your house on the sand, it will stand not for long.
Pay a call on the caves where your forefathers lie
From the dust of their graves they can speak so that some understand.
Those who listen and learn of the how and the why
Know that wise folk will always return to the bones of the land.
Stone forged in fire, or shaped by the flood,
Fallen from heaven, or grown from the wood,
Each has its secrets, to keep and to hold,
Some stones yield copper, or iron, or gold...
Some things are smooth, and some things are rough.
Knowledge is power, but never enough.
With a long enough lever the world can be moved
So pay us our fee and we'll build you a firm place to stand.
A thousand times tested, a thousand times proved,
Our knowledge the treasure we wrest from the bones of the land.
Stone has its virtues, stone has its flaws,
Governed by ancient, immutable laws,
You may call us heartless, unyielding and cold,
As long as you pay us in silver or gold...
Some things are forever, some just for a day,
Time and its power wear all things away.
We'll strengthen your castle by craft and design
Its protection will last out your time through the work of our hand.
Our reward is your coin and the fame that will shine
Even when we are gone and we join with the bones of the land.
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3. |
Swords And Gold
06:56
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SWORDS AND GOLD (C)
Here they come now in a great noisy crowd
Tramping too heavily, talking too loud
Women and men and their beasts, in uproarious hordes.
Blind to the rhythm, deaf to the rhyme
We knew it was only a matter of time
Before they invaded our land with their gold and their swords.
How can you talk to a foe who can't hear you?
How can you drive back a foe who won't fear you?
How can you make them consider or care
When they don't even know that you're there?
Gone is the quietude we used to know
They'll rip up the landscape wherever they go
Looking for stone or for metal or what can be sold.
They'll burn down the forests and dam all the streams
Driven by whatever lives in their dreams
Such is the way when their gods are their swords and their gold.
How can you talk to a foe who can't hear you?
How can you drive back a foe who won't fear you?
How can you make them consider or care
When they don't even know that you're there?
They'll break up the currents of power that run
Through the land and they won't even know what they've done
For their souls are all sundered from life and their hearts are all cold.
They only believe what they touch and they see
They cut themselves off and proclaim that they're free
And they think they can solve all their problems with swords and with gold.
How can you talk to a foe who can't hear you?
How can you drive back a foe who won't fear you?
How can you make them consider or care
When they don't even know that you're there?
They seal themselves up in their boxes of stone
Abuse what they know and ignore the unknown
And when it's too late they complain that they never were told.
And when they have laid all this bounty to waste
They'll move to some other place more to their taste
And destroy it likewise with their pride and their swords and their gold.
So we will not speak to a foe who can't hear us
We'll fly far away from this foe who won't fear us
And find a new home where we won't have to care
For these children who don't know we're there.
Who never could know we were there.
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4. |
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AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE
I shall build a castle atop this hill
With my workers' sweat and my master's will
And the stone that forms the bones of this our land.
I shall build it strong, I shall build it high
And the topmost tower will affront the sky
There is no assault my work shall not withstand.
And from that tower my lord shall gaze
From the glow of dawn to the sunset blaze
And as far as runs the light shall run his mastery--
As far as the eye can see,
I can see.
Where the soldiers march and the soldiers sing
The blessings of the gods they bring
And the priests are marching boldly at their side.
And in every town that they make secure
We build a shrine that shall endure
While the lord's line and its godliness abide.
And from his tower as he looks down
Over field and stream, over farm and town
His dominion shall be strengthened by our sanctity--
As far as the eye can see,
He will see.
Where the army goes and the priests remain
We follow with our baggage train
And we set our stalls in every village square.
For the needs of the people must be met
And we merchants take what we can get
With our consciences to keep our dealings fair.
And the lord may scan his vast domains
As we count the costs and record the gains
And on every hand the signs of our prosperity--
As far as the eye can see,
We will see.
(instrumental)
Now the ancient castle on the hill
Has been there for years and is standing still
But there ain't no lord lives up there any more.
For priests' corruption and merchants' greed
Awoke in us a pressing need
And we rose to drive them out in civil war.
Now the priests and the army are gone for good
And the children play where the old lord stood
And they look out on a land of peace and liberty--
As far as the eye can see,
They can see.
As far as the eye can see,
We all can see.
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5. |
The Queen's Gambit
03:54
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THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT
My lady is kind
I could not wish a better
For mistress or Queen
She keeps me in mind
As here in this her letter
May clearly be seen:
"My dearest Joanne
I bid thee take a message
To Guerau de Spes.
Regard well the man;
His manner may well presage
Far more than he says."
Don Guerau is fair
And looks on me with favour
Which I do return.
He treats me with care;
O would that I were braver!
So strongly I yearn.
My lady she hears
My tale, yet her expression
Gives nothing away.
And ruled by my fears
I use all my discretion
And guard what I say.
My lady has sent
Another of her ladies
To treat with the Don.
I see her intent
And wish the chit in Hades
For I am outshone.
Don Guerau, beguiled,
And thoroughly distracted
Wooed her in my stead.
When she was defiled,
My lady swiftly acted
And cut off his head.
My lady is cruel
No doubt she thought it clever,
This plan she had drawn.
But I was the fool
To think that she would ever
Take thought for a pawn.
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6. |
An Ordinary Man
03:17
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AN ORDINARY MAN
When you thinks about the way a castle's run
I bet you that you never think of me
You may think of mighty deeds and battles won
But the part I know's the part you never see...
I'm the bloke who minds the midden
And I lives my life apart
In a pokey little shack beneath the wall
And when the nobles use the privies
I gets out my little cart
And I shovels up whatever they lets fall
It may not have much glamour
But I like to think it counts
It's a necessary task to which I'm bidden
So I watch for what emerges
In small or large amounts
Then I pounces and I drags it to the midden.
I'm the bloke who minds the midden
And the gardeners they know
That without me they'll not keep the nobles fed.
For without a healthy compost
Not a vegetable would grow
And the orchards and the vineyards would be dead.
So I goes round to the stables
For to check on all the steeds
What the ladies and the gentlemen have ridden
And I gathers up the ordure
For the turmuts and the swedes
And I proceeds to take the lot back to the midden.
When you thinks about the way a castle looks
With its towers and its battlements ashine
And you marvels at the pictures in your books
The one part that you'll never see is mine...
I'm the bloke who minds the midden
And a midden-minder's lot
Is quite humble and reclusive as you see
But there was that time last August
When for reasons I wot not
The master's eldest son was forced to flee
He came shinning down the drainpipe
Nearly landed on my hand
And for a purse of gold I kept him safely hidden
And I know that he remembers
Now he's lord of all this land
'Cause if you stand too close you still can smell the midden.
I may be just a peasant
And you may despise my kind
But the world like a colossus we've bestridden.
For however grand your dwelling
And however pure your mind
You will find you are beholden to a midden.
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7. |
Keep And Hold
03:07
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KEEP AND HOLD
Child, listen well, to what I tell,
You are the heir to all I bear,
When I am dead, my body cold,
All shall be yours to keep and hold.
All of this land, from hill to strand,
Forest and field, and all they yield,
Crops in the granary, kine in the fold,
All shall be yours to keep and hold.
Metal men mine, it shall be thine,
Men quarry stone, this too you own,
Copper and silver, gems and gold,
All shall be yours to keep and hold.
And those who toil, upon your soil,
Women and men, and their chil-dren,
Hale and the halting, young and old,
All shall be yours to keep and hold.
Compassion and care must mark my heir,
No worthy lord need fear the sword,
But those who betray their sacred vow
They are gone hence; who names them now?
Know this you must, you rule in trust,
Steward you stand, to all this land,
Never complain you were not told,
Else shall you neither keep nor hold.
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8. |
No Greater Quest
04:42
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NO GREATER QUEST (E)
You stand there proud in your armour
And your eyes are bright as the sun
And I know you're waiting for me to tell you
Of noble deeds to be done
You'd gladly slay me a dragon
Or storm a castle or two
So listen well, love, and I will tell you
What I really want you to do...
CHORUS
Make me tea in the morning
Wake me up with a kiss
And when you have to go questing
Tell me it's me you'll miss
And when I'm cold in the winter
Knit me a warm woolly vest
Care for me as I care for you
For me, there is no greater quest.
I can see your sharp disappointment
For these things seem trivial and small
They won't bring you glory or fame
Or add to your honour at all
You'd rather win me a battle
Or capture a wizard or three
But listen well, love, for these are the things
That really matter to me....
CHORUS
Be there just when I need you
But never get in my way
When I'm down or frustrated
Know just the right thing to say
Help me deal with the housework
And when I'm tired, let me rest.
Share with me a lifetime of love
There truly is no greater quest.
Maybe you're thinking it's just not right
A lady should ask far more of her knight
A gorgon's head or a godling's hand
Or an acre of land 'twixt the sea and the sand
Such quests would flatter your ego
But if that matters to you
Then I just don't think you're man enough
To do what I ask you to do...
(instrumental verse)
CHORUS
Love me now and forever
Not as woman but friend
Side by side let us wander
Till our quest shall come to its end
And when we hang up our armour
Lay our swords in the old oak chest
Sit with me by the fireside
With your old grey head on my breast
And tell me the tale of our wanderings
When we were the bravest and best
The long long tale of our lifetime of love
The noblest
And the greatest quest.
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9. |
The Weight Of A Sword
02:58
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THE WEIGHT OF A SWORD
The weight of a sword is much more than the weight of the steel
It must be made real
That cold lump of metal must first taste the kiss of the fire
Awakened desire
The steel must be tamed with the hammer and tongs
Must be given the shaping that rightly belongs
To a weapon of war that is fit to be borne by a lord.
When the steel has been folded and moulded and flattened again
And it flows with the grain
Then the sword that will be must be touched by the kiss of the stone
To grind and to hone.
Choose your bevel and fuller with forethought and care
For the work of your hands a brave warrior will bear
And your edge must be sharp as the strength of your steel will afford.
Once the honing is done to the fire your sword must return
Its temper to earn
And the well-heated blade must be granted the kiss of the oil
So you waste not your toil
Now clean off the scale and return to the heat
Let the kiss of the air make the tempering complete
That the elements four on your weapon may work in accord.
Hone the blade once again, and ensure that your work be not marred
By its pommel or guard
Craft the handle in wood, wrap with leather and fix to the tang
And then check the hang
If your will is steadfast and your crafting is sure
Then your blade will be faithful and long will endure
And you'll know how much more than the steel is the weight of a sword.
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10. |
Castle In The Mind
04:33
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CASTLE IN THE MIND
I fight back tears
And turn to look at you
But all I see is stone
A wall I can't break through
Your eyes are open but you might as well be blind.
You've retreated to your castle in the mind.
Those lowering walls
Mortared with certainty
Those narrow arrow slits
That peer suspiciously
No wonder you no longer know how to be kind
When you're skulking in your castle in the mind.
You stalk the battlements, you prowl the silent halls
The guards salute you as they let you through.
No need for conversation with these armoured thralls
If they lifted up their visors they would all look just like you...
The spiral stair
Carven in black basalt
You make your way with care
Down to the utmost vault
And to the strongroom where you keep it all enshrined
The treasures of your castle in the mind.
For enemies might come with trebuchets of thought
And towers of argument you cannot fight
You must defend your treasure, once so dearly bought
And make sure that some cunning thief can't steal it in the night...
Some bad ideas
A lying tale or two
Outdated prejudice
A child could see right through
These are your treasures, and you won't have them maligned
So you keep them in your castle in the mind.
I take a breath
Again I turn away
We're at the crossroads now
There's nothing left to say
I loved you once, but now I'm leaving you behind
To haunt your empty castle in the mind.
Enjoy your solitude, it's all you'll ever find
In your dark and lonely castle in the mind.
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11. |
Night Of No Moon
04:45
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NIGHT OF NO MOON
Gather round, lads and lasses, for this be the tale
Of the terrible Night of No Moon.
It was ten years ago in the Palthanok Vale
And I was a heavy dragoon.
The Amersi had taken the Keep of Kallai
Which commanded the view far and near
And the generals commanded it be taken back
Not a word of dissent would they hear.
CHORUS
Ta-runda, ta-runda, ta-runda, ta-roo,
Not a word of dissent would they hear. (last line of verse as applicable)
Now a heavy dragoon is a cumbersome beast
Not especially suited to stealth.
What with armour and horse, you weigh one ton at least
And it's seldom much good for your health.
But there wasn't much choice, for it turned out that I
Was essentially all that we'd got
And so after discussion and one or two threats
I volunteered there on the spot.
CHORUS
Having reached that decision, they turned with some care
To getting me down off my horse.
It had taken three hours to get me up there
And a certain amount of brute force
But with ropes and a pulley they set out to try
And at last they succeeded, they did
But I think I had been in my armour too long
For I screamed when they took off my lid.
CHORUS
They dressed me in leather, which didn't feel nice
I prefer being covered in plate
And they hung on my belt an infernal device
For the purpose of breaching the gate
It was black as your hat, not a star in the sky
As I crept o'er the ground like a flea
I wasn't to know that my horse had escaped
And was faithfully following me.
CHORUS
I set out to climb o'er the gate of the keep
For to set off the bomb from inside.
But meanwhile my horse had my belt in his grip
For he wanted me once more to ride.
The going was hard, but I couldn't tell why,
Now I ask you how was I to know?
And just as I'd mounted the top of the gate
The stupid great gelding let go.
CHORUS
I flew through the air like an ungainly bird
And into the keep's tower room.
The Amersi commander had time for one word
When the bomb on my belt it went boom.
The enemy fled without saying goodbye
And the keep of Kallai we reclaimed
And the king dubbed me knight as I lay on my face
With a wound not polite to be named.
So drink up, lads and lasses, and raise up the cry
And beat out the time with a spoon
But I pray you excuse me for not sitting down--
For I am the Knight of No Moon.
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12. |
Let That Be An End
05:41
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LET THAT BE AN END
The sun is setting through the haze
Not one of our better days
Lie still, my friend
No point in moving for a while
I'll prop you up against this pile
And let that be an end.
They had the edge on us somehow
But it doesn't matter now
No way to mend
I can hear a horse somewhere in pain
I guess I'll go out there again
And let that be an end.
We did all right, you know, we two,
We stopped the bastards getting through
We saved the day
Bought our lads time to make a plan
Though we perished almost to a man
The princess got away...
Maybe the message that she brings
Will reach the captains and the kings
Where they contend
And maybe now the tide will turn
The fires of war will cease to burn
And let that be an end.
I'd like to think that that was true
That the war would end soon, wouldn't you?
I know you would
Maybe then all this would be worthwhile
Nice to think that what has been so vile
Might come to good...
Is it getting dark, or is it me?
Not that there's a lot out there to see
So let the night descend
I'll just lie down here at your side
Here where my comrades all have died
And let that be an end.
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13. |
Take This Place
03:49
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TAKE THIS PLACE
The lady of the castle keep
Entertaining generals three
Drew nigh to listen to their talk
From a point they could not see
The war was over and peace declared
And caught in a storm as they homeward fared
They had stopped at the keep for food and sleep
And hospitality...
A: With a hundred doughty archers from the western border marches I could take this place
B: With a single light division used with surgical precision I could take this place
C: When we fought against the Zauni I'd a regiment of sappers
They were physically scrawny but went at it like the clappers
And I'd have them dance a ceilidh on the ruins of the bailey when I take this place.
The lady of the castle keep
Could not believe her ears
Her home had held back the tide of war
For several hundred years
She hoped these fools with their drunken boasts
Might invoke the ire of the castle ghosts
As they planned and schemed and the lady dreamed
Of ending their careers...
B: With a big enough ballista and my little baby sister I could take this place
C: With a spy among the scullions I'd poison the slumgullion and take this place
A: At Ghusami Captain Rawlins had a fleet of covered wagons
And he whipped off the tarpaulins and unleashed a horde of dragons
With that kind of firepower I could burn down every tower and I'd take this place.
The lady of the castle keep
Was decidedly displeased
It was not good form for them to plot
How her castle might be seized
Yet she stood stock still and without a sound
And as the talk and the wine went round
She remained on the spot and her wrath waxed hot
And would not be appeased...
C: Give me half a troop of yeomen and a favourable omen and I'd take this place
A: Give me seven highland pipers and a crate of hungry vipers and I'd take this place
B: In Comarrakai the natives fought all dressed in paint and feathers
And my men all ran like caitiffs when they stabbed them in the nethers
It might not be very sporting but they'd take a lot of thwarting and I'd take this place.
The lady of the castle keep
Had heard more than enough
She crept up to these warriors bold
And seized them by the scruff
Dragging one in the left hand and two in the right
She threw them out in the stormy night
And they cringed and fled as she loudly said
In accents grim and gruff:
"I am really quite irate to find you reprobates debating how to take this place
And I think it's simply hateful that you could be so ungrateful as to take this place
I will write to your commander who, it chances, is my brother,
When he hears about your candour you'll be crying for your mother
And should you think to try it you should know I'll not sit quiet while you take this place.
You will find I have battalions who look on me as royal
And though some may be rapscallions they're really very loyal
And they'll pound you into rubble if you ever give me trouble trying to take this place!"
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14. |
Moving On
06:13
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MOVING ON
The castle bathes in the sunset glow
As we pack up, we prepare to go
We stayed a while, we wrote some songs
But no-one belongs here any more
The dust motes dance in the empty rooms
Long-weathered names on forgotten tombs
Some people lived here long ago
But nobody knows them any more
It's only natural, we know the cycle well
This is what happens, when life outgrows the shell
Once we were weak, and we needed walls of stone
Now we are grown
And we can stand alone
Moving on
The castle's stood here for many years
A silent witness to hates and fears
This was the home of those who ruled
But nobody's fooled here any more
The days were cruel, the days were cold
When we gave power to swords and gold
They were the gods to whom we prayed
But no-one's afraid here any more
There's nothing new here, we learned it long ago
Life needs protection, but just till it can grow
What kept us safe, now only keeps us small
Break down the wall
And answer freedom's call
Moving on
Moving on
The castle dwindles into the dusk
A thing of beauty, but still a husk
A testament to mighty deeds
But nobody needs it any more
The dead we reverence, in memory
But we are living and we are free
We make the future we deserve
When nobody's servile any more
Look back with love, on the heritage we share
For there is honour and grace and beauty there
Then turn again from that shell of crumbling stone
For we are grown
And we take on the unknown
Moving on
Moving on
Moving on.
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Zanda Myrande Westbury, UK
Zanda Myrande is still recovering from the trauma of being Zander Nyrond for several decades. She has only come out online
at this point, for reasons which may be apparent from the picture above, but she proudly embraces her trans identity while still giving house room to Zander and the rest of the deadbeats who populate her head.
Lives in Wiltshire and has better friends than she deserves.
... more
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