Song Lyric Sunday: Pan’s People

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim is inviting us to play a song that was released on an album titled Greatest Hits or Best Of, as he tells us in his post Most Popular Songs. This is very similar to a theme from six months back, when we had ‘compilation or greatest hits’ but the one I went with back then, by one of my favourite folk bands – Merry Hell – was a compilation with a different title, so I can’t cheat and use it again. If you missed it you’ll find it here, though.

There is such a huge field of choice for this theme, as just about everyone who is anyone has released an album – or several – with one of those titles. I’m avoiding duplication by going for something way wide of the mainstream, and I have every confidence that no one else will be playing anything by my chosen band. I’m going the folk music route again, though in this case the band is German. They are Faun, who I have featured several times before, but not with today’s lead song. In 2018 they released an album called XV – Best Of,  and I’m playing you three tracks from it. They mostly sing in German but also in a range of other languages, and rather obligingly one of the tracks on that album is in English, so I can give you lyrics you can read! This is Hymn To Pan:

 

And here are those lyrics:

Listen now, Great Pan he calls us
From the green wood in his grove
‘neath the waxing moon above us
Hear his clear flute sweet and low
Hear his clear flute sweet and low

Follow in the dance he’s leading
Circle ’round the fire’s glow
Come and drink the wine he pours us

From the tangled vines that grow (x4)

Listen now, Great Pan he calls us
From the green wood in his grove
‘neath the waxing moon above us
Hear his clear flute sweet and low
Hear his clear flute sweet and low

Listen now and I shall follow
Listen now and I may follow
(x8)
(will follow)

Out of the mid-wood’s twilight
Into the meadow’s dawn
Ivory limbed and brown eyed
Flashes the Faun

He skips through the copses singing
And his shadow dances along
And I know not which I should follow
Shadow or Song

O Hunter, snare me his shadow
O Nightingale, catch me his strain
Else moonstruck with music and madness
I track him in vain

He skips through the copses singing
And his shadow dances along
And I know not which I should follow
Shadow or Song (x4)

 

Writer(s): Oliver Pade, Fiona Rueggeberg, Niel Florian Mitra, Ruediger Maul, Robert N Taylor, Nicholas G Tesluk

Source: Genius.com

Hymn To Pan was first included on Faun’s sixth album, Eden, which was released in 2011. It was a concept record which covered many different topics, including  Greek mythology: Hymn to Pan is about the Greek god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music and companion of the nymphs. Pan is also recognised as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens, and is often associated with sex; because of this, he is connected to fertility and the season of spring. That kind of puts those lyrics into context, doesn’t it. This is a popular subject in literature as well as in music, and I found references to several poems addressed to Pan, including one by Aleister Crowley, who you may know for his interest in witchcraft and the occult. Wikipedia suggests that Faun’s song was influenced in part by the writings of Kenneth Grahame, the author of the children’s book The Wind In The Willows amongst other publications. The Eden album peaked at #13 in Germany, #16 in Austria, #19 in The Netherlands, and fared best in Switzerland, where it reached #11.

Another of the tracks on XV – Best Of is a favourite of mine which I have played several times before though not for SLS, I think. Once seen, the video is never forgotten:

Walpurgis Night is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia, and is celebrated on the night of 30 April and the day of 1 May. This feast commemorates the canonisation of Saint Walpurga and the movement of her relics to Eichstätt, both of which occurred on 1 May 870. Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling “pest, rabies, and whooping cough, as well as against witchcraft.” Faun sing Walpurgisnacht in their native German but I think the video will give you a fair idea of the way pagan celebrations have traditionally been held over there. And it is fun to watch – the music is, as always, terrific, and the visuals are pretty stunning, in a rather NSFW kind of way! The song was first released in September 2014 on the band’s eighth album, Luna, which reached #4 in Germany, #12 in Switzerland, and #20 in Austria.

I promised you three tracks from the album, and this final one is a real beauty:

The lyrics of Federkleid are a good fit for the dreamy feel of the music; they describe the feeling of wanting to fly away with the birds into nature. The title translates into English as ‘feather dress’ – which is what the singer wants to be clothed in. The track was on Faun’s ninth album, Midgard, which was released in August 2016, reaching #3 in Germany, #9 in Switzerland, and #14 in Austria. The album was based to an extent on Norse mythology, also containing  elements from Celtic-speaking areas, and the music took inspiration from melodies from Sweden and Norway. It is a lovely song with which to close today.

I hope I’ve shown that a ‘Best Of’ album by someone of whom you may not have previously known can be worth your time. XV – Best Of wasn’t Faun’s biggest seller, peaking at #12 in Germany and #45 in Switzerland, but it is a great retrospective of a band I’ve loved since I first heard them, around fifteen years ago.

That’s me done for today, so I’ll close by thanking Jim again for running the show and by wishing you a lovely day – and I hope to see you again for Tuesday Tunes. And for non-UK readers, who may not have ‘got’ the reference in my title, Pan’s People were the troupe of dancers who did a weekly routine on the long-running BBC show Top Of The Pops. If only they had done one for Walpurgisnacht…

Take care 😊

40 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Pan’s People”

  1. It won’t come as too much of shock when I tell you this band is new to me. 🙂 I enjoyed their sound. I do like folk music. I love the flute used in many of these tracks. I would’ve not guessed they were German, though. I’m saving the first video as a reminder that you introduced them to me and so that I can check them out on YouTube. 🙂

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  3. You know I’m a Faun fan as I have featured them as the soundtrack for my own stories. They are fantastic …. or should I say fauntastic? The woman who is playing the recorder is marvelous! I love how she makes the notes dance. It would be great fun to see a special appearance by Blackmore’s Night in a Faun video! Excellent selections for today’s challenge, Clive.

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  8. I really enjoyed your “offerings”, Clive. I always liked music reminiscent of medieval-type music. I also enjoyed the fact that two songs are in German. I like to hear different languages even though i dont understand, I count the voice as an added musical instrument.

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    • I’m pleased you enjoyed these, Marina. Faun make beautiful music and videos. Neither of the two female leads is still with the band, but the two replacements both have equally lovely voices, and they are still making great albums.

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  15. This is certainly a treat this early Sunday morning! I am not familiar with this band- but I love it. It makes me think of music that would have been listened to in the 17th/18th century. So as an ardent fan of historical fiction-I love it! Thank you, Clive.

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