Remember the good old days when you would spend hours making that perfect mixed tape? You’d pick all the tracks, find good transitions from the end of one song to go into the start of a new song all while trying to make sure the mix fit perfectly onto both sides of the cassette without having too much dead air at the end of one side- or even worse, have a song get cut off! Now, maybe I’m dating myself with the whole cassette tape, but I think (hope!) many of our readers can remember the days of making themed mixed CDs for different occasions. I remember I had a disc that contained all of my favourite workout songs to break a sweat to; there was the hours spent making that perfect CD to play in the background of my Dungeons & Dragons campaign; that bombastic collection of rad roadtrip tunes to blast in the car; and of course who didn’t spend hours trying to make that perfect mix to give to your significant other, or best friend for their birthday?
Music is a huge part of our lives and we often love to have an accompanying soundtrack to the activities and events in our lives. Whether your playing Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen on a hungover, rainy Sunday; or you are blasting Doctor John and Parliament Funkadelic as you frantically clean your house- we crave the right tunes for whatever it is we are doing. So this week, we are going to take a look at 5 of the best songs about swordfighting! This list is just the tip of the iceberg and is primarily focused on songs that talk about dueling, fighting and wielding weapons in badass battles of yore. There are plenty of fantastic songs that are great to swordfight and train to that don’t contain any lyrics about swordfighting- or even lyrics at all! Let us know which songs you would add to the mix.
BATTLE OF EVERMORE- LED ZEPPELIN
“Oh war is the common cry,
Pick up your swords and fly!”
“A lunge and a feint, a parry too late!
A cut to the chest and you're down.”
WHISKEY IN THE JAR- THIN LIZZY/ THE DUBLINERS/THE GRATEFUL DEAD/ THE POGUES/ METALLICA
“I first produced me pistol and I then produced me rapier,
Saying: ‘Stand and deliver, for you are a bold deceiver!’"
“I, I am the blade, I am the promise unmade
I, Iam the knife, I bring death to your life
I, I am the axe, to stop you dead in your tracks
I, I am the sword, I bring the fear of the Lord”
THE MARCH OF CAMBREADTH- ALEXANDER HEATHER
“Axes flash, broadsword swing,
Shining armour's piercing ring”
Honorable Mentions:
Armour & Sword- Rush
The Highway Man- Johnny Cash
Flash of the Blade- Iron Maiden
Swords in the Wind- Manowar
Song of the Swords- Hawkwind
Immigrant Song- Led Zeppelin
Prediction of Warfare- Amon Amarth (some would argue almost anything my Amon Amarth can make this list!)
And for those of you wanting to listen to a killer song and see some swordfighting in action, check out Vancouver based band Kill Matitlda's new music video "I Want Revenge" featuring Academie Duello's own Kimberleigh Roseblade, Crystal Chung, and Kris Sayer swinging steal and looking all while looking like awesome warrior woman bad asses.
Devon Boorman is the Co-Founder and Director of Academie Duello Centre for Swordplay, which has been active in Vancouver, Canada since 2004. Devon’s expertise centres on the Italian swordplay tradition including the arts of the Renaissance Italian rapier, sidesword, and longsword, as well as knife and unarmed techniques. Read more from Devon Boorman.