We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Havamal

from Sweet Insomnia by Harper Meader

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

I discovered the Poetic Edda decades ago, and a couple of years ago it struck me that the handful of dog-eared pages I keep revisiting, year after year, might be fuel for a good song. Havamal (which means in old Norse, “the high ones words,” the name of perhaps the most famous section of the Poetic Edda) is very special to me; I have found wise words addressing loyalty, friendship, honor, respect, family, and so much more, salted among the stories of Odin, Thor, and the rest, for my whole adult life. I have passed a horn filled with my own home-brewed mead around countless circles of wonderful folk. Most of my best friends were able to join me in singing the chorus for this recording! We gathered around a crackling fire, stars watching, and shared mead, news, stories, and song…and then they graced me with their voices. That voice at the end, speaking the lines, is Matt Dyer, one of the sweetest, strongest men I have ever met.

lyrics

Havamal By Harper Meader

‘Tis better unasked nor offered overmuch,
Oh, how a gift looks for gain!
‘Tis better unasked nor offered overmuch,
So Odin said when the earth began.

Cho: Pass the horn from hand to hand,
Pass it along from friend to friend!

Do you know the tales of old?
Will you speak the truth you know?
Our fathers learned so very long ago,
How to tell a friend from a foe, (2x)
(Cho)
To a false friend ay, a far way ‘tis, 1
Though his house be reared by the road.
To a stanch friend ay, a straight way leads, Though far he have fared from thee!
(Cho)
No great things needs give to a man, as verse 2
Love on small things depends.
With half a loaf and a half-drained horn,
I oft won a worthy friend! (2x)
(Cho)
Hold not the horn too long, but drink thy share; as verse 1
Speak sparingly at need:
You’ll have respect, ay, be handled fair, If early you seek your bed.
(Cho)
The coward hopes he’ll ever live as verse 2
Steering far from strife,
But old age leaves him not long in peace,
Though spears may spare his life. (2x)
(Cho)
Hold your tongue for the hoary bard, as verse 1
The eldest has much to tell.
For like your dried goods, aging hard, His wisdom is seasoned well.
(cho)
No man’s undone, e’en at death’s door, as verse 2
Some with good sons are blessed.
Some with kinsmen, and some with coffers full,
Some with deeds well-done! (2x) (Chorus 3x) 

credits

from Sweet Insomnia, released November 18, 2014

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Harper Meader Sidney, Maine

Harper Meader lives in Maine with his inspiration, Honey, in their unique cordwood masonry hideaway, where, when he's not writing new music for guitar and folk harp, he's pursuing numerous creative interests like scrimshaw jewelry, brewing mead, and writing poetry and fiction. Family, love, and the Land-spirits put a guitar on his knee and a pencil in his hand at every turn. ... more

contact / help

Contact Harper Meader

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Harper Meader recommends:

If you like Harper Meader, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now