Coleridge was a celebrity of his time and I found the anecdote that formed this song in a book entitled “Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge”. This is one of those recorded fragments of his dinner table conversation which I imagine had his audience enraptured.
Coleridge credits his hearing of this story to the American painter Washington Allston.
lyrics
It is a sombre story, one to you I now bequeath,
of phantom visions, apparitions, and all that lies beneath!
How few now told before me will a victim of you find;
Oh hear my tale and listen well, for might is in the mind!
A man in university at only twenty-two
Would not believe in ghostly fiends, would not be found a fool.
But he who tempts the trickster will face a fate unkind,
Oh hear my tale, listen well, for might is in the mind.
One night our young strong headed man was sleeping in his bed
When a friend did come and took his gun, removed from it the lead.
He stood all dressed in white and cried a ghostly chime,
Oh hear my tale, listen well, for might is in the mind!
The man awoke from slumber, took up his bedside gun:
“So false you are you’ve gone to far, back down my friend be gone!”
But neither would surrender, both to their fates were blind,
Oh hear my tale, listen well , for might is in the mind.
He tried to scare the trickster but movement there was none
and at long last when patience passed, he shot him with his gun!
The trickster stood in silence and neither bled nor died,
Oh hear my tale, listen well, for might is in the mind.
Our young man he did tear his hair, his teeth did gnash and grind,
Fell to the floor, convulsed in awe, was rendered mute and blind.
Believed the apparition and fell to his demise,
Oh hear my tale, listen well for might is in the mind!
credits
from Esteesee,
released September 24, 2015
On the album: Ange Hardy (vocals), Patsy Reid (viola) and David Milton (poetry reading).
Nominated for the Horizon Award for best emerging talent at the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Ange Hardy is a folk singer,
songwriter and recording artist from West Somerset, England. Ange performs original contemporary songs written in a traditional style with an emphasis on vocal harmony....more
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