Review: Bard’s Book of Pagan Songs

Title: A Bard’s Book of Pagan Songs – Stories & Music from the Celtic World
Author: Hugin the Bard
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Pages: 259 + CD
ISBN-10: 1-56718-658-0
Release: Third Printing, 2000
Currently out of print?

What a refreshing, amusing and wonderful book!

Yes, this one I love. In fact, I’ve played the accompanying CD so much I know all of the words, and my daughter is still convinced he wrote the songs for her (her name is Rhiannon after all…).

The first thing a customer will notice when they open the pages of this book, is that it looks handwritten. This is not type face font! This is something that looks like it took a long time of careful, painstaking printing.

Lyrics, stories and music – definitely the work of a skilled bard. Hugin has a way of weaving the story with so much more skill than most story tellers, and his music is easy to learn, and the editor’s are right – you’ll be playing along in no time, even if you aren’t musically inclined.

I will quote my youngest daughter’s favorite song, set to the tune of “Farmer in the Dell” –

The Cauldron and the Goat

“The cauldron and the goat
The castle and the moat
Fooled by Blodeuwedd
Wearin’ no coat.

You know she had your ear
The spear took a year
Made on the Full Moon
Don’t you feel queer?

He waited for your bath
And hid up the path
The only time the magick failed
Do you feel wrath?

He got you in sight
And slew you so bright
And you were no more a man
An eagle took flight.

‘Til Daddy came along
And sang you a song
And now that story told
End of this song.”

Even now, while typing this, I am grinning from ear to ear. I can hear the music from the CD and the way the song is presented therein… you really must get this if you don’t already have it!

5 of 5 Broomsticks
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Jodi Lee, aka ierne Morrighan Corvidae, is a 20+ year veteran of pagan paths. A full-time freelance editor, she is the owner/publisher of Belfire Press.