I had a dream last night that a red-bearded former friend, who has a reputation for destroying his relationships through paranoia, contacted me. He told me that he was in touch with a major record label who wanted to re-release the Ein Skopudhr Galdra/Mistsorrow split CD that I did with Dan Nahum and Chris Gaydon (available at http://einskopudhrgaldra.bandcamp.com/ ).
He said that for this to happen, however, I would need to get permission from the lyricist, but my ex-friend informed me that he and the lyricist had a big falling out, so I would have to contact this person myself, although we’d never met before (how I got to use this person’s lyrics in the first place is a little mysterious, but I think the implication was that my ex-friend had served as the go-between).
I found out the lyricist lived near me, so I walked to his house. I discovered it was in fact a Kung Fu school, and he was the founder and head instructor. The school was housed in a giant, purpose-built long hall atop a very high hill. I had to climb over a wall around it to get in.
At the door I was greeted by the sight of a large room where a class was being held. The teacher was a rather warlike woman who paused to ask me what I wanted. I explained the situation, making it clear that I was a little lost due to the strange circumstances.
I was escorted off into the building, past dormitories where live-in trainees and instructors dwelt. They had a lot of people training in the arts of war. Finally I was led into a throne room – the lyricist-Kung Fu master’s throne room.
And then I woke up.
In my waking state I was perplexed by the suggestion that I had used someone else’s lyrics for my contribution to the Ein Skopudhr Galdra/Mistsorrow split release. Then I remembered that I did borrow some lyrics for that release, and suddenly the imagery of the dream made perfect sense.
For those who know, here are the lyrics that I borrowed:
Veit ek, at ek hekk
vindga meiði á
nætr allar níu,
geiri undaðr
ok gefinn Óðni,
sjalfr sjalfum mér,
á þeim meiði,
er manngi veit
hvers af rótum renn.
Við hleifi mik sældu
né við hornigi;
nýsta ek niðr,
nam ek upp rúnar,
æpandi nam,
fell ek aftr þaðan.
Fimbulljóð níu
nam ek af inum frægja syni
Bölþorns, Bestlu föður,
ok ek drykk of gat
ins dýra mjaðar,
ausinn Óðreri.
Þá nam ek frævask
ok fróðr vera
ok vaxa ok vel hafask,
orð mér af orði
orðs leitaði,
verk mér af verki
verks leitaði.
.-)
