Mead Runs Thicker Than Blood
[Style: Fast, swaggering Viking-death groove. Galloping drums, tagelharpa dancing like a blade on bone, guitars thick as mead.] [Vocals: Booming gang vocals, traded gutturals, laughter in the background, tables pounded like war drums.] [Intro – Horns blast, tankards slam, one voice bellows] TO THE DEAD WHO DRINK BEFORE US! TO THE LIVING WHO STILL BLEED! THE ROOF IS HIGH, THE FIRE IS WIDE, AND THE NIGHT WAS MADE FOR DEEDS! [Verse 1 – Full gang roar, stomping] Raise the skull-cup, raise it high! Fill it red from foe and friend! We carved their prayers into the tide, And sent their gods to make amends! The ravens gorged, the Valkyrjur sang, They carried our brothers on wings of steel, Tonight they sit at the Allfather’s board, And toast with the hands that refused to yield! [Chorus – Massive, sing-along, the whole hall thunders] MEAD RUNS THICKER THAN BLOOD TONIGHT! VALHALLA SHAKES WITH OUR NAMES! THE DEAD ARE DRUNK ON THE FIGHT WE WON, AND WE DRINK THE SAME FUCKING FLAMES! SKOL TO THE FALLEN! SKOL TO THE LIVING! SKOL TO THE ONES STILL KILLING! MEAD RUNS THICKER THAN BLOOD! [Verse 2 – Half-laughing, half-growled] Old Bjørn the Skull-splitter’s up there now, Chugging horns with his guts hung out! Laughing so hard his corpse-wounds leak, On Freyja’s lap with a roar and a shout! Ketil One-Eye arm-wrestles Thor, And wins with the eye he left in the mud! They cheer when we sing of the day we died, Because every death was a door to the good! [Bridge – Slow, heavy, almost reverent, then explodes] We remember the silence when the last shield broke… We remember the quiet when the last voice spoke… Then the gates of dawn tore open wide, And the dead stood up and cheered us inside! [Final Chorus – Faster, wilder, tables cracking under boots] MEAD RUNS THICKER THAN BLOOD TONIGHT! THE ROOFBEAMS BURN WITH OUR DEEDS! THE DEAD ARE LOUDER THAN WE ARE NOW, AND WE ARE THE LOUD EST THAT EVER BREED! SKOL TO THE WOLVES! SKOL TO THE STORM! SKOL TO THE ONES WHO KEEP POURING! MEAD RUNS THICKER THAN BLOOD! THICKER THAN BLOOD! THICKER THAN BLOOD! [Outro – Entire hall, slurring and laughing, one last bellow] So drink, you bastards, drink till we drown! Tomorrow we sail and we burn again! For the dead are only ever one good fight away, And the mead never ends where the brave begin! [Crash of tankards, roaring laughter, a single tagelharpa note rings out like a war-horn into the night]
