The Green Man
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- čas přidán 5. 10. 2020
- In this episode I tell you how I came to possess a reproduction of the Isleham Green Man and sing you a song!
here are the chords and lyrics to The Green Man:
The Green Man Em
Em
My face in the foliage, you’ve seen that face before
Em
It was carved in the Choir by your fathers back in days of yore
Am Em
I’m the power in the pulse I’m the song underneath the soil
Bm Am Em
I’m the unseen King of the ditches, ragged and royal
C D Em
I’m the Green Man, don’t take my name in vain
C D Em
I’m the Green Man, and its time to break my chain
C D Em
If you cut me down I’ll spring back green again
I’m the roots on the stock I’m the tender shoots on the vine
I’m the goodness in the bread I’m the wildness in the wine
There’s power in the place where my smallest tendrils are curled
And my softest touch is the strongest thing in the world
I’m the Green Man, don’t take my name in vain
I’m the Green Man, I’m bound to break my chain
If you cut me down I’ll spring back green again
I’m the grass at your feet and the leaves that shade your head
I’ll be your bower of love, I’l be your green grass bed
I’m in the finest flower, I’m the power in the wickedest weed
And I’ll plough your furrow with pleasure and plant my seed
I’m the Green Man, and I make love with the rain
I’m the Green Man, and I feel like breaking my chain
You might think I’m finished but I’ll spring back up again
You can cover me in concrete, staple me down with steel
Spread your houses and your car parks over my fields
But I’ll still be there keeping everything alive
And I’ll spring back green but you might not survive
I’m the Green Man, don’t take my name in vain
I’m the Green Man, Its time to break my chain
You can cut me down but I’ll spring back green again
©Malcolm Guite 2002
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Absolutely loved your performance singing and playing the green man. I've got the cords down just picking out the lyrics. Thanks for sharing Malcom. God bless. Kindest regards Simon. ✌😎🎶🎼🎸🎵
Lately, I have found considerable inspiration regarding the Christian life whilst tending to my garden. For example, the act of being faithfully persistent in weeding teaches me about the mortification of sin and the fruits of the Spirit that come as a result. My thoughts already much occupied by all things fruitful, I welcome your Green Man as a continuation of this inspiration. May God continue to bless both you and yours.
I’m grateful to learn cultures that sprout joy and respect.
I was raised in a Catholic family, but i now follow a more Pagan ,following the seasons and beutey of nature through eyes of the Allfather type belief, i loved your take on the green man, early tradesmen often wove their own folklore into churches and buildings up on roof tops ,chimneys and hard to reach places , perhaps to pay homage and please their own deities. And from a fellow singer sing writer thank you so much for the wonderful song, my father is a poet and a musician im sure you would get on like a house ablaze, Thank you Reverend Malcolm. 🙏
How wonderful , and the documentary on Glastenbury is a great eye opener . May the Green Man be forever free to tend to his works.
Well done
That was joyful Malcolm. I’ve had a sort of life long obsession with the green man since I was a young lad.
Lovely sing! Love that beat! Wonderful enjnciation too.
Glad you enjoyed it
Absolutely Fantastic! All praise to the Lamb! 🙂❤
Remarkable song. Hit me from my feet. Cheer’s
Wonderful! This has given me a great deal to think about... Thank you : )
I've always had a great admiration for mythology and paganism which used to make me feel guilty as a Christian. Then I read Michael Ward's Planet Narnia and realized that one of my favorite Christian writers C.S. Lewis also loved the old myths and "regretted that they weren't true." I've since come to look at paganism as being in many ways "Christianity incognito," even St. Paul quoting a passage about Zeus to pagans and applying it to Jehovah. Obviously the pagan world was limited; they didn't have the light that the coming of Christ brought and therefore you have many sordid traditions and tales, but there are also beautiful glimpses of the Gospel that nonetheless shine through. I first heard your Green Man song in a video of sonnets and songs you did at Biola and I loved it. It's one of my favorite songs of yours along with Angels Unawares, and I love the stories behind both.
Thanks, yes in the end I think pagan things can, like all things, be brought to Christ and the best in them will flourish
FANTASTIC!!! Dr. Guite, I am confident that if Bob Dylan heard this, he would give you a smile and a nod, as I just did! I also have thoroughly enjoyed your “Quarantine Quatrains”. A very dear friend of mine, who goes by Dale Piper on CZcams, gifted me your work, and I shall ALWAYS cherish it! My thanks to you for “The Green Man”, and your “Quarantine Quatrains”.
God bless,
Cliff
Wow, thank you! I'm a huge Dylan fan so that's a massive compliment. Do thank Dale on my behalf!
OUTSTANDING song.
EFFIGY WELL DESERVED.
Blessings.
Many thanks for posting.
I love it. Thank you
Always loved this song, glad to hear you sing it "live." Thanks, Malcolm!
thanks!
Thank you for this, Malcolm Guite. I really enjoyed it!
Brilliant song👏👏
thanks!
Fantastic!
Aww Malcolm. What a great song! Thank you so much for sharing it.
My pleasure!!
This is probably my favourite video of yours so far (only recently encountered you so working my way through your back catalogue). I like the poems very much, but I really really like the anecdotes, and also the history lesson too. This video put a smile on my face on this grey January day. Love the lyrics of the song.
thanks, that's good to know
Loved this Malcolm! It was a pleasure to hear your voice. Thanks for sharing this theological fun!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Dear Malcolm what a wonderful song, As for the Hobgoblin ale it is from Wychwood Brewery in the Oxford town called Witney.....................................Tree.........
"The Green Man" is one of my favorite of your songs! It also reminds me of George Herbert's poem from "The Temple" in which he refers to recovering his greennesse despite having gone under ground during his recurrent depressions.
yes, i love that poem and I'm sure it was somewhere 'in the mix' when I wrote my song!
That was a brilliant song
thanks
Bravo, Malcolm! There's a pub at Marholm, (John Clare's stomping ground) known as The Green Man, which has an effigy in privet of the Green Man.
Talking of Gothic architecture, down the road from there at Glinton is an amusing gargoyle a man's backside which is a rainwater spout.
Your vids are always entertaining.
God bless.
excellent
in Islam "The Ever Verdant One" is El Khidr or Khezr---and the tutor of Moses---to this day off the coast of Turkey where the salty and fresh water form a line when they meet it is said Moses and Khidr are talking...Henry Corbin's "Man of Light" provides some basis for a Green Man of Light as well as of Limb...I cannot but think of that green flash from the center of the light spectrum when the sun goes down over the sea...
yes indeed, I was aware of that Islamic connection, the Green Man is indeed a universal figure
OK I've printed them out from above, The words/lines are great!
Hi Malcolm, I loved hearing your 'Green Man' song on your album and it is fabulous to hear an acoustic version here.
I was first introduced to the Green Man through Kenneth Grahame's 'Piper at the Gate of Dawn', a chapter of pure paganism cleverly hidden in a children's book. Later the same god of wine and wild revelry appeared in C.S.Lewis' Narnia chronicles at the end of 'Prince Caspian' as Bacchus/Dionysus. Tolkien introduced him as Tom Bombadil, and Kipling as Puck of Pook's hill.
So it was no surprise when I was older and read Frazer's 'Golden Bough' that this god/sacrifice, Osiris, Jesus, Pan, Odin figure was so familiar. I like your characterization of these historical figures as foreshadowing of the Christ mythos, but I can certainly see why the lay folk and some of your compatriots in the clergy might have been feeling more that a little uncomfortable at this line of reasoning.
It being spring here in Australia, the Green Man is returning with a great vigor after his winter nap.
excellent. That Prince Caspian episode was also very much in my mind when I wrote the song. It's a pity they committed it from the film
Daniel Kelly, I had not previously thought of Tom Bombadil in that way. Thank you for that suggestion.
The Sheela na Giggs are the female version of the Green Man. A Bishop made an edict that priests should seek and burn all the ones they could find, which implies that many were wood carvings. However, some priests took them into their churches, to "neutralise" them. There are over 100 stone Sheelas known in the British Isles, mainly in Ireland, many in churches or their environs.
💚💚💚✨
On the note of some Christians having an aversion to this stort of thing, I had similar internal hesitations upon hearing the lyrics.. lol but it's because I grew up in such an analytical perhaps dogmatic atmosphere. I had the similar reactions to C.S. Lewis because I was never taught the importance of allegory and symbolism. Of course I'm learning all these wonderful things now and love Lewis and even The Green Man! I am so grateful to you for this song and your poems and insights.
thanks
Cheers Malcom. Great shout out to the Waterboys Return of Pan
yes. I love that song. Mike Scott is a genius!
Along similar lines is the more recent “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”
czcams.com/video/3soptZ60Xy0/video.html
Thank you for the song. A wonderful start for the day ahead.
I find the ' fun' theology in it a joyful and rich antidote to what feels like the very 'hard-edged', clininical evangelicalism experienced in church at moment, which seems to have everything about Jesus neatly tied up. Is my thinking wrong on this do you think?
No, I think your thinking is right on this!
Ahhhh.....the old Woodwose looking over your library. The silent sentinel.
yes indeed, and a woodwose is exactly what he is!
My stars! I have a bottle of Hobgoblin on my office shelf!
its a wonderful brew!
I love it! I want the words so I can sing it to myself ! Are they published?
I think I've put the words (and chords!) in the video description
I've always been interested in the Green Men. I've always wanted to have one to hang up in my house. My mother recently got one carved out of a branch from Arkansas, but all of the replicas I can find are made of silicone-rubber and don't really do it for me.
keep looking and a good one is bound to turn up
Them being so high up no one could see them reminds me of York Minster. A lot of the must ornate stone carvings are so high up you need binoculars to see them and obviously those are a modern invention. So the question is to why? The answer being that the the medieval and early modern sculpture it wasn't man they were trying to please with their work but God. Now I'm a lapsed Catholic so I am not going to say what is or isn't true but if one does believe in a divine then there is comfort and pleasure in knowing that eve though those on earth forgot about the existence of those two carvings, those watching them from above were perfectly familiar with them.
Also, I have that Hobgoblin poster at home
Thanks. I must look out for a copy of that poster!
Do you have a musical presence somewhere I can follow on Spotify or something? So good! Bob Dylan esque!
thanks - ye I'm on spotify
Great Song. Do you have the websute of the church where you got the Green Man.
here it is www.islehamchurch.org.uk
There are obviously those who romanticise paganism who will be resistant to the idea, but i wonder if the "foliate head" had symbolic meaning (something like life or creation sprouting from His words) - something which would have seemed so obvious to congregations a thousand years ago that they didn't feel the need to write it down? In the same way that the horns on Moses' head (in some depictions) were symbolic, and did not mean that Moses was a repurposed Pan(!).
I think your reasoning is sound - the fact that the Green Man appears almost exclusively in Church architecture does seem to suggest that it's probably not supposed to be Odin...
Listening to and watching this poet emphasizes how un-English was T.S. Eliot. How can I say, how 🤔 of Nowhere Eliot was? Kafka too. Samuel Beckett. Keening rats clinging to the floating detritus of Pequod.
Are Beings from the Unseen Realm all Demons?
But the earlyish Christians would of destroyed the original Heathen idols, as Charlemagne did to the Saxons in Germany/Deutschland!😢
not all of them did that, there has been some continuity too, and The Green Man is an example of that