Aerik Arkadian

Historically speaking, ripping off someone else’s music has been a time-honored and respectable practice. Individual people do it, yes, but so do entire countries and religions.

Don’t believe me?

Take a look at the following lyrics. They’re both sung to the same tune. You’ll probably recognize at least one of them.

In case you’re wondering, the British version came first.

And surely every schoolchild in the U.S. should be able to tell you that “The Star Spangled Banner” was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, but can they also tell you it was based on an earlier British drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven”?

To Anacreon in heaven where he sat in full glee,
A few sons of harmony sent a petition,
That he their inspirer and patron would be,
When this answer arrived from the jolly old Grecian:
Voice, fiddle aud flute, no longer be mute,
I'll lend you my name and inspire you to boot!
And besides I'll instruct you like me to entwine
The myrtle of Venus and Bacchus's vine.

-To Anacreon in Heaven

“To Anacreon in Heaven,” also called “”The Anacreontic Song” was the theme of the Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen’s music club in London. It was written in 1775.

At one time, South Korea and the Maldives used the tune of Auld Lang Syne for their national anthems.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And the days of auld lang syne?

-Auld Lang Syne

Auld Lang Syne is a traditional Scottish folk tune from hundreds of years ago. Today we use it to welcome in our new year celebrations.

Estonia and Finland share the same tune for their anthems. So do South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.

Do you believe me now? There’s plenty of more examples if you pay close enough attention, but I believe I have firmly demonstrated how musical plagiarism is common practice throughout the world. We hear something we like — something catchy, then we sing it later with different lyrics. Rinse and repeat.

And since we can all finally agree that this is a global tradition, hopefully it won’t seem like I’m singling out any one particular entity, such as a religious group, as I continue writing…

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The Biggest Offender

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Because the biggest offender of all this plagiarism is undoubtedly the Christian church.

See what I did there?

Granted, without the Christian church, we wouldn’t have had many of the musical advancements that we take for granted today. In fact, we owe them our gratitude for creating such unreasonable repertoires for monks that systems of standardized musical notation had to be created.

Music, as least the type of music that extends beyond Gregorian chants, has only existed for about the last thousand years or so, but over that period of time the church has assimilated and transformed more songs than you could imagine.

Some well-known tunes have surprising origins. Take “Jesus Loves the Little Children” for example:

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world;
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in his sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

-Jesus Loves the Little Children by C. Herbert Woolston

It was set to the tune of “Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!” a popular Civil War song that was originally written by George F. Root.

Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! The boys are marching,
Cheer up, comrades they will come,
And beneath the starry flag, we shall breathe the air again,
Of the free land in our own beloved home.

-Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! by George F. Root

Lyrics can make such an energetic difference! It’s almost strange to read those two versions of the song one after the other.

I’ve even heard of “Amazing Grace” being sung to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” by the Animals. Try it for yourself. It actually works! That gets more interesting when you find out that the tune for “Amazing Grace” was copied from another melody in the first place — a song called “New Britain.”

And of course, who can forget the beloved Christmas song, “What Child Is This?”

What Child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?

-What Child Is This? by William Chatterton Dix

The Christian lyrics were written by William Chatterton Dix in 1865, but the original song, called “Greensleeves,” dates back to sometime before Shakespeare’s day and age.

In fact, Shakespeare references the song in The Merry Wives of Windsor with a line that says “Let the sky rain potatoes! Let it thunder to the tune of ‘Greensleeves’!” I also recorded a short fingerstyle guitar arrangement, by the way, in honor of this article.

The original lyrics are as follows:

Alas, my love, you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously
For I have loved you well so long
Delighting in your company

–Greensleeves

For whatever reason, it has long been theorized that the above prose references a prostitute.

It’s always fun to find out where your music comes from, right? Battle songs, drinking songs, folk songs, or songs about prostitutes… all with the same potential of suddenly being about Jesus. And of course, there’s a reason that many Christian hymns come from older folk tunes — it’s simply easier to get people singing if they already know the melody.

The Plague of my Childhood

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When I was growing up, I had this massive cassette tape collection of kids songs. It was pretty much the only thing I was ever allowed to listen to outside of church choir music and the occasional Disney sound track.

I didn’t realize it, but most of the songs had been Christianized. Let me run a couple lines by you…

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes… clap your hands for Jesus…

Twinkle, twinkle, little star… God has placed you where you are…

You name it, I was raised on a version that included the words “God,” “Jesus,” or “Heaven.”

The trouble is… I thought these Christianized versions were the originals. I didn’t know they were copies. I mean, why would I? I was a small, sheltered child. I can still remember feeling slightly offended the first time I heard the real version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” probably thinking that my loving and fatherly God had been cruelly ripped out by ferocious atheists who only wished my downfall and the utter destruction of Christianity. And that’s not an exaggeration. That’s literally the type of shit that I was sometimes told — not necessarily by my parents, but by other people who worked at or volunteered in the churches we attended.

So, as you can see, I may have my own personal vendettas or deeply-rooted childhood musical issues that I’m dealing with here, but nonetheless, I’d like to share the idea of rewriting songs with you.

Rewriting Songs

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Since religious groups have copied folk songs, why can’t we do the same thing? And since we’re currently in a season where holiday music is rampant, why not turn some Christian Christmas classics into Pagan Yule hits?

Here are the rules:

1. Pick a song you like
2. Rewrite the lyrics

Pretty simple, right? Just make sure your song is in the Public Domain. The older, the better! You don’t want to actually infringe on anyone’s copyright here. If you’re not sure, do a quick Google search or consult this list of Christmas songs I found.

Let me quickly explain how Public Domain law works. Generally speaking, US law says that all works are protected for 70 years after the date of the author’s death or 95 years after the date of publication. Once that time period elapses and a particular work enters the Public Domain, you do not need permission to use or modify it. Disclaimer: Although I have extensively researched this topic on the internet for at least an hour, I am not a lawyer, I did not go to law school, and I do not provide legal advice.

More recent songs like “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” or “The Christmas Song” still fall under copyright, but “Deck the Halls” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” are up for grabs!

The New Yule Classics

After I interviewed Christiana Gaudet for Episode 2 of Music, Myth, & Magick, we continued chatting about music and pagan chants. I don’t quite remember how we got on the particular subject of rewriting Christmas songs, but she sent me her beautifully re-written version of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” With her permission, I’m going to share it with you!

O Come Returning Sun King

To the tune of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

O come, returning Sun King bring your warmth
Prepare us for this cycle of rebirth
We wait in silent darkness here
For the first rays of springtime to appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! The yule log brightly burns
The wheel of the year now turns

O come the day after the longest night
With each day welcome the returning light
Let light grow within the heart
And joyful healing to our souls impart.

Rejoice! Rejoice! The yule log brightly burns
The wheel of the year now turns.

O come thou Kings of Oak and Holly true
And let your mythic battle now ensue
Oak is once more crowned our King
To reign over the bounty of the spring. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! The yule log brightly burns
The wheel of the year now turns.

-Lyrics by Christiana Gaudet

Isn’t that fantastic? My vote is for this to become a Yule classic! By the way, in addition to writing awesome lyrics, Christiana is a stellar tarot reader, so if you’d like to learn more about her or book a reading, you can do so by visiting one of the following links:

• Web: https://christianagaudet.com/
• YouTube: @YourTarotFairyGodmother
• Facebook Christiana C. Gaudet

Naturally, I had to share something with her as well. This is my rewritten version of “We Three Kings,” which I’ve posted before and have also produced a track if you’d like to listen.

We Two Kings

To the tune of “We Three Kings”

We two kings of holly and oak,
Every year our story is told
An endeavor ceasing never,
Fighting to claim the throne

Oh one of death and one of life,
One will rest and one will rise
Seasons changing waxing waning,
All will bow to one king's might

Holly stretches leaves in the night,
Death rebirth and sacrifice
Day recedes it's cold indeed,
So honor the king of night

(refrain)

Oak the towering ruler of light,
Fertile seed and bringer of life
Crops aplenty, bounties many,
Honor the king of light

(refrain)

Seasons changing waxing waning,
All will bow to one king's might

-Lyrics by Aerik Arkadian

How’s that for a start? I think, collectively, we can rewrite everything in the Public Domain and make it all have a Pagan flair.

Conclusion

I had a lot of fun rewriting We Two Kings. I definitely plan on twisting some other holiday songs to have goddess or sun god themes.

I was raised on church Christmas songs… and there are a lot of them that I still really like. For example, I’ve always found “O Holy Night” to have a rather beautiful melody — I love playing instrumental versions of it, but I usually don’t sing it because I’m not usually thinking about “our dear savior’s birth.” But with a little tweaking, that could be “the great sun king’s birth.”

Have you ever rewritten a Christmas song, or any other folk tune, and turned it into a Pagan song or chant? If so, I’d really love to hear about it! Tell me what you think in the comments.