Excerpt from the French Epic Poem "The Song of Roland"

Le Chanson de Roland ^ | ca. Anno Domini 1100 | unknown

[Claud]

Karl the Great cannot choose but weep,
For him hath his host compassion deep;
And for Roland, a marvellous boding dread.
It was Gan, the felon, this treason bred;
He hath heathen gifts of silver and gold,
Costly raiment, and silken fold,
Horses and camels, and mules and steeds.
But lo! King Marsil the mandate speeds,
To his dukes, his counts, and his vassals all,
To each almasour and amiral.
And so, before three suns had set,
Four hundred thousand in muster met.
Through Saragossa the tabors sound;
On the loftiest turret they raise Mahound:
Before him the Pagans bend and pray,
Then mount and fiercely ride away,
Across Cerdagna, by vale and height,
Till stream the banners of France in sight,
Where the peers of Carlemaine proudly stand,
And the shock of battle is hard at hand.

[Claud]

The Eurocrats enrich themselves with silver and gold while treasonously delivering France to the Islamic hordes.

[Covenantor]

A more modern classic might stir the French hearts and fighting spirit if onlybthey could remember ALL the verses to their anthem.

A call to arms, to let the blood of their oppressors fill the ditches. Do a search for the full text. Surprising, isn't it.

[Claud]

We sang it in French class back in the day, so the words “leur sang impur” are burned into my brain.

Modern France would do a lot better with less celebration of the Jacobin horror show of 1789 and focus instead on Charles Martel, Charlemagne, and Joan of Arc.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Maybe Europe needs this Roland more...

Roland was a warrior from the land of the midnight sun
With a Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done
The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day
So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray

Through sixty-six and seven they fought the Congo war
With their fingers on their triggers, knee-deep in gore
For days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees
They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese

Roland the Thompson gunner
Roland the Thompson gunner

His comrades fought beside him, Van Owen and the rest
But of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best
So the C I A decided they wanted Roland dead
That son-of-a-bitch Van Owen blew off Roland’s head

Roland the headless Thompson gunner, Norway’s bravest son
They can still see his headless body stalking through the night
In the muzzle flash of Roland’s Thompson gun
In the muzzle flash of Roland’s Thompson gun

Roland searched the continent for the man who’d done him in
He found him in Mombasa in a bar-room drinking gin
Roland aimed his Thompson gun he didn’t say a word
But he blew Van Owen’s body from there to Johannesburg

Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Talkin’ about the man, Roland the headless Thompson gunner

The eternal Thompson gunner still wandering through the night
Now it’s ten years later but he still keeps up the fight
In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley
Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland’s Thompson gun and bought it

[snarkpup]

Here are a couple of excellent musical renditions of the Norwegian version:

Rolandskvadet by the Medieval Trio (a capella)
Rolandskvadet by Glittertind (folk metal)

[Covenantor]

You really need to revisit the history and full translation of the French anthem to jog your memory.

[bigbob]

There they stood, ranged along the hill-sides, met
To view the last of me, a living frame
For one more picture! in a sheet of flame
I saw them and I knew them all. And yet
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,
And blew “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came.”

[Claud]

I just read it again, and the history. I haven’t changed my opinion.

The French Revolution was a monstrosity. Within a few short years it devolved from an attempt to right wrongs of the Ancien Regime to a demented secular liberalism run amok, and a despicable affront against God. The Jacobins tried to destroy Christianity in France and liquidated the Catholics of the Vendee who fought under the banner of “Dieu le Roi” = “God the King”.

Those “foreign tyrants” that song refers to? I would likely have been sympathetic to their cause.

So yeah, sorry, but I am not a fan of much that came out of the French Revolution.

[DuncanWaring]

That’s the Roland I was thinking of.

[The Great RJ]

Remember Charles Martel who save Europe from being overrun by Islam.

[Twinkie]

My dad was in U.S. Army Infantry during WWII - N. Africa,
Italy & Germany - hard combat, shell-shocked all to
pieces. - He used to say sometimes, “It’s the old man’s
WAR; but the young man’s FIGHT.” (He knew Hitler had to be
stopped; so accepted reality.)

[Larry Lucido]

Roland the Thompson Gunner

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FHWmxCoTV3Y

[Claud]

Such a great story. Loved it since I was a kid.

[TalonDJ]

The headless Thomson gunner?
No? Never mind.