Filking: Build a Pagan Yule Carol

The Crow Women songs that we put out for the world are original words and music, except for some of my songs. There are a lot of really nice melodies out there, traditional folk songs and old time Christian hymns, that cry for better or at least different words. Pagan words. Putting new words to an existing melody is called a “filk“. Science fiction/fantasy fans often amuse one another at SciFi conventions doing this. Pagans can, too. Filking has an honorable tradition. Bob Dylan did it, a lot. So did Woody Guthrie. One use of filking that’s a lot of fun is to create a pagan Yule carol. More on that later.

Probably my first filk was in the 1990s, a Christian hymn adjusted to be a sweat lodge song. I also created words for a melody played by master guitarist John Renbourn. I think there were other Christian-type words for that one.

Some years ago, I heard a humorous takeoff on “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, called “Bin Laden Sleeps Tonight“. I was inspired to do a witchy version. The result was “We Won’t Sleep Tonight,” which has turned out to be a humorous crowd pleaser in our concerts. The audience sings along as soon as they figure out that the second line is the same as the first. A live performance version from Covenant of the Goddess‘ annual meeting, Merry Meet, back around 2005, is on our Crow Goddess CD. We’ve done concerts at three Merry Meets, and we’ve sung the song at each one.

One caution here is that “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” has copyright protection. Alane (our producer through her record label Music of Gaia) had to jump through a lot of hoops to get clearance to put my version on that album. She also had to track down and get authorization for some of the other songs on that CD.

Another of my filks is also on our Crow Goddess CD. The popular “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” movie soundtrack provided fodder for revision of an old Christian hymn, “Let’s go down to the river to pray, bringing back that good old way…” My song, of course, would be my pagan filk that became Let’s Go Down. “Come on sisters (brothers, Pagans), let’s go down, circle on this sacred ground; circle in the full moonlight, calling the Goddess down.” The recording is from that same Merry Meet concert.

Way back in junior high choir (a very long time ago!), I remember singing a song called “The Ash Grove,” which I think was a traditional English song of unrequited love. “Down yonder green valley where streamlight meanders, when twilight is breaking, I pensively roam; or in the bright noon-tide in solitude wander…” Something like that. Our crowsister Marilyn remembers singing the melody with Christian words.

In 2013 I re-wrote it as “The Oak Grove,” thinking of a natural clearing in the scrub oaks on my land. “The Goddess is waiting, in sunlight and shadow; new life She is creating, in the sacred oak grove…”. That’s one of my songs that will go on a future album, once we pay off the one we just made.

For many years I wanted to do new words for a Christmas hymn that I think was sung by Kentucky folk singer and lap dulcimer artist Jean Ritchie. I’d start and get a couple lines, then stall out. Finally I got it in 2015 as a winter/ Yule song. “Welcome the sun on the Solstice morning, welcome the sun on the shortest day; bring back the light and the new life a-borning, celebrate renewal and the magickal way.” That song awaits recording, too.

You can filk a Christmas carol, too. If you’ve been inside a store during the (ever-expanding) Christmas shopping season, you are familiar with Christmas carols, no matter your religious upbringing. For your coven’s own Yule season, how about writing a solstice carol together?

If you want to be sure everyone knows the carol you’re filking, I suggest you use “Silent Night”. According to Time magazine, this is by far the most recorded Christmas carol, and therefore the one we are sure to have heard every time we’ve entered a grocery store in November or December in America. (The Time magazine article I got that fact from also has a pretty interesting analysis of carols on the “more Santa vs. more Jesus” dimension.)

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
‘Round yon virgin Mother and Child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heavenly hosts sing Al-le-lu-ia!
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born!

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, oh, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

written in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr

To filk this together, make a handout of the lyrics, leaving lots of space between the lines. Begin your filking session by brainstorming about your traditions, feelings, ideas and beliefs about Yule. How is winter solstice a holy night? What is being born? Since there are three verses, you can then divide into three groups, and each group can work on its verse. This saves some time, and also it’s more fun to present your finished filk verse to the other groups, to be received with praise and accolades. The complete Yule carol can then become part of your circle’s Winter Solstice tradition. The Crow Women sing Yule carols every year.

If you don’t have the inclination to filk a carol yourself, there are a number of pagan songwriters who have done it for you. One especially nice one is Megha Morganfield’s Winter Solstice Carols. My favorite goes, “Joy to the world, the Goddess comes, for She is everything”.

The Mothertongue album This Winter’s Night has a nice blend of pagan Yule music, filked carols and some pagan-friendly holiday songs that need no re-writing. Of course, if you’d rather use music that is pagan through-and-through, may I suggest “Darkness, Holy Be” from our album Seasons, A Pagan Journey Around the Wheel.

I’m publishing this article in August, a long time before Yule. Christmas carols are just a really good example for how to filk. You could do this for any occasion or theme. Filking is a good shortcut if you don’t have much experience with composing melodies–you just have to work out lyrics. Often the original lyrics give you inspiration, as you adapt the words and make them yours. It’s fun, too–you could use it as a party game for a winter holiday party for your friends, similar to the Mad Libs game described in another post on this blog. For me, the common thread for my filked songs is a melody that I find compelling, that calls out for different words. I invite you to try this as a start on creating your own pagan songs.

We invite readers to share their filks in the comments section!