A Dragon Comes to Rencester

To the tune of "A Gypsy Rover"

by Sarah Prunier
(with help from Phoebe Williams, Carolyn Tepolt, and Dave Berry.)

A dragon woke from a long deep sleep,
to find his tummy rumbly.
He said "I'll find me a bite to eat
some virgins would taste yummy".

chorus:
ah dee do ah dee do dah day
ah dee do ah dee day dee
He said "I'll find me a bite to eat
some virgins would taste yummy".

he left his bed on the mountain peak,
flew o'er oceans and valleys.
He found himself in Atlantia
and started a virgin tally.

chorus:
ah dee do ah dee do dah day
ah dee do ah dee day dee
He found himself in Atlantia
and started a virgin tally.

There were no maidens in Isenfir.
In Caer Mear they all were married.
In Rencester girls won out six to four,
and there the dragon tarried.

chorus

He crept up to the library,
scaled its high stony walls,
poked his head into the window,
but nobody noticed at all.

chorus

He then traveled to Barrett Hall,
but there he was dismayed.
For though it was filled with freshman girls,
there was nary a maid.

chorus

In the gardens he found a Rencester maid,
she seemed so small and defenseless,
but she took out her gloves and her schlaeger blade
and beat that dragon senseless.

chorus

When he came to he was sopping wet
and the campus was all foggy.
He said "I'm done with this rainy town,"
and flew off cold and hungry.

chorus

Galen's Privateers

A tragi-comedy in eleven Verses,
With performance notes and hysterical, uh, historical, commentary by the author.

Original tune: Barret's Privateers
New lyrics by Lady Assar merch Owen,
With assists from Baron Otto, Sir Tnek, and assorted other Tir-y-Don residents

It all started round the fire at Jamestown Beach . . .
Chorus: How I wish I was in Rencester now!
We were sitting there drinking our skunky beers,
When Galen said, "Hey, let's be Privateers!"
Chorus: Damn them all! I was told
We'd cruise the seas for Trimarian gold,
We'd fire no guns, shed no tears-
Now I'm a broken man on a Tir-y-Don pier,
Last of Galen's Privateers!

Oh, the pirate's life is wild and free . . .
(chorus)
And if Baron Otto gives us his Letter of Mark
We can pillage and plunder from dawn to dark!
(chorus)

So we made Galen captain of our scurvy crew . . .
(chorus)
Then the only thing we needed to start our trip
Was to steal, uh, borrow ourselves a ship.
(chorus)

The Jamestown Park was right next door . . .
(chorus)

Their Susan Constant would surely do,
And, what the hell, we'd steal the Godspeed too!
(chorus)

Under cover of dark we climbed down the bluff . . .
(chorus)
The thorns and brambles left our garb in shreds,
And, tripping on roots, we nearly cracked our heads!
(chorus)

With skill and stealth we climbed o'er the fence . . .
(chorus)
No guards were about, by some good chance,
And only three of us ripped our pants (the rest of us weren't wearing 'em).
(chorus)

Assar's little dog was with us too . . .
(chorus)
We had to jump in and save him when he fell off the dock,
Cause the damn fuzzy bugger swims like a rock!
(chorus)

There was only one flaw with our fiendish plan . . .
(chorus)
When we looked in the water, there were no ships there!
We cried, "Galen, you dope, they're our for repairs!"
(chorus)

Then lights and sirens lit up the night . . .
(chorus)
We all stood there frozen with our hands in the air,
While Galen explained "There was this big brown bear !"
(chorus)

To trespass at the park was a federal crime . . .
(chorus)
They hauled us off, and they threw us in jail,
And Aethelflaed says she won't post our bail!
(chorus)

We've been locked in this holding cell all night long . . .
(chorus)
We never went back for our mundane clothes,
And some drunk called Bubba says he likes my hose . . .
Final Chorus: Damn them all! I was told
We'd cruise the seas for Trimarian gold,
We'd fire no guns, shed no tears-
Now I'm a broken man, and I really need BEER!
Last of Galen's Privateers!

Notes on Galen's Privateers.

Choruses:

I live in the Barony of Tir-y-Don, in the Kingdom of Atlantia. Mundanely, that is the Tidewater area of Virginia (Predominately Newport News, Hampton, and Williamsburg) The College of Rencester is our campus group at the College of William and Mary. The Rencester citizenry has adopted this song as their unofficial anthem, as it is the only SCA song known of to mention their group by name (One of our members submitted a draft of a song entitled Roly Poly Rencester, to the tune of Rowan and Martin's Roly Poly Fishheads, but was promptly beaten, ah, voted down by the populace). The Kingdom of Trimaris (Florida) was mentioned because they are nearby, on the water, and (most importantly) their name fits the meter. We bear them no ill-will. Honestly. Please don't hurt us.

Verses 1,2, &3:

I was autocratting a Tir-y-Don event at Jamestown Beach Campground. Baron Otto had, in the course of Baronial court, named one of our young fighters, Lord Galen, official Baronial Privateer, on an account of an adventure he'd had at the previous Pennsic War involving a boarding ladder, a shirt, and some beer. The Baron had also given Galen a plush parrot to wear on his shoulder.

Verse 4:

At the end of the evening, I and the kitchen crew were sitting around the campfire for a bardic circle. Someone suggested that we should steal the reproduction 17th century ships-replicas of the ones John Smith and company sailed to Virginia in--from the Jamestown Festival Park, which was across the street from the campground. We voted this down as a very bad idea-but we thought it would make a good song . . .

Verses 5 & 6:
These point out just how bad an idea it would have been.

Verse 7:

Technically the dog Wellington had gone home earlier in the evening with my mother, his actual owner, but I had wanted to put him in the song. Wellie is a Jack Russell terrier, a breed with short, stocky legs which are good for digging but bad for swimming. I now have my own Jack Russell. His name is Pippin, and my lord husband is trying to teach him to pantomime drowning motions for future performances of this song.

Verse 8:
I later discussed the event and my plans for a song with a Jamestown employee, who told me that, on the night in question, the three ships had been in drydock away from the park.

Verse 9:

We love Galen, we really do, but sometimes in the past, due to honest friendliness and good-will, he has promised several different people he'd be in several places at one time. When called out to explain where he was when he didn't show up, he would often begin by saying, "Well, this big brown bear jumped out of the woods and attacked me . . ." Court performances of this song have occasionally been augmented with the "surprise" appearance of a small child in a bear suit at this Verse.

Verse 10:

As you may have guessed, Lady Aethelflaed is Galen's wife. Often, I substitute the lyric "Galen's wife" for her name when singing to non-Barony crowds, as it scans the same and makes more sense if you don't know her.

Verse 11:
Again, trying to steal the ships would have been a bad idea.

To hear the differences between the two songs please click one of the links below.

Barrett's Privateers.

Galen's Privateers.

Galen's Privateers remake by:
Lady Sorcha inghean Dhara mhic Seachnasaigh and
Muirgheal inghean Raghailligh mhic Seachnasaigh.