Meredead Lyrics

Liv Kristine comments on this track and translates the lyrics: Firstly, let me explain the title, which is my own word-creation: To my grammatical knowledge, "Meredead" could mean ‘dead by the sea’, ‘or the deadly sea’. Poetically, we could add some imagination and lyrical sound and say “Sea of Death”. Secondly, the word "Meredead" sums up some of the themes rooted in my lyrics on the album. Now you may ask, why sing in Old-English? Since my Old-English studies I’ve taken great interest in both Old-English poetry and grammar. I just felt that this song required Old-English lyrics, and an Old-English “sound”, moreover, it needed this historical feel! Old-English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by Angeln, Sachsen and Jüten (Germanic tribes, called Anglo-Saxons) and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. Although, for me, it meant digging my nose into my Old-English books for weeks (and buying even more at Amazon), I feel that it was really worth it, moreover, it made so much fun! For me, having Norwegian and Danish parents and grand-parents, it’s even more interesting that from the 9th century, Old-English experienced heavy influence from Old Norse, a member of the related North Germanic group of languages. I highly recommend having a look at the book “The Cambridge Old English Reader” by R. Marsden. Good luck with learning more about Old-English! Here’s my translation of my poem “Meredead”. PS: I was amazed that my dear friend and great inspiration in classical singing, Maite Itoiz (Elfenthal), managed to sing her Old-English parts straight away, without any phonetic explanations from me! Well done! Thank you, Maite! -Liv Meredead (original) Be sam tweonum Awa to aldre Eow frithes healdan Hire feollon tearas of tham eagum Eall heo Waes mid sorgum Gedrefed Be saem tweonum He waes forwundod Be saem tweonum Thaer reste he Meredead Awa to aldre Always forever rest in peace Stormedead Awa to aldre Sleeping on ocean’s ground Be saem tweonum He waes forwundod oooh Be saem tweonum Thaer slaepst thu Thaet was egeslic wyrd Swa byth tham men Friora monna gangeth On flodwegas Meredead (translation) Between the seas Always forever Peace be with you Tears fell From her eyes She was all drenched with sorrow Between the seas He was hurt Between the seas He will rest The deadly sea Always forever rest in peace The deadly storm Always forever Sleeping on ocean’s ground Between the seas He was hurt Between the waves You will rest That was a terrible fate So is it with the man Free men travel Their way across the seas