We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Successful Anointing of the Sick in Hexham, 1699

by Platitude Queen

supported by
Jon Sim
Jon Sim thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

about

This song draws on a number of traditions around death and burial moving from the Middle Ages through to the Early Modern Period. This includes things like the ringing of handbells to announce death as well as to ward off evil spirits, and the use of salts and spices as a precursor to embalming, as well as again keeping evil spirits at bay.

In this story, our protagonist is thought deceased until a man of God applies a holy oil which saves her. Although revived, she is doomed to existing in a limbo between life and death, forbidden from eating, having sex, or even being able to feel pain or die. With no way out of this limbo, our protagonist's attention eventually falls to revenge on those who had intended to save her.

lyrics

~~~~~~~~~~

I’m awoken by the chorus of a thousand deaths,
But I don’t have the time to understand why that is.

To the dissonance of handbells, I find myself looked upon
By the numerous and aghast faces of my kin.

Shaking off the salt and spices, yew and rosemary,
James, I cannot say if my heart is still beating.

Though I praise him for the unction and I walk again,
No more flesh shall I have, not for sustenance nor breeding.

I have thrown myself in rivers and on bonfires.
Still, I stand, a living shadow of my former life.

So I find a simple calling, just a thing to do.
I was once afraid of death and now I fear its dearth.

Colour me in. Make me cry. Lift me up. Help me to die.
But you cannot colour or move me, so death with you must lie.

“You are not the only son, lost and ever lonely.
We have walked before you son, this is not your story.”

~~~~~~~~~~

credits

released April 9, 2021
Music and words by Platitude Queen.

Artwork by J. S. Gordon.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Platitude Queen image

Platitude Queen Stockton On Tees, UK

Platitude Queen is a folk project by Teesside based musician and certified daft apeth J. S. Gordon (formerly based in Leeds).

contact / help

Contact Platitude Queen

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Platitude Queen, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now