Intro
(Mímisbrunnr! Mímisbrunnr!)
Odin paid one eye — I drink every morning...
(Hu-ha!) My head came back preserved — without warning —
The wisest thing they had — no mourning —
(Mímir!) The source behind the source — still pouring...
Verse 1
Before the Allfather knew — he came to the water,
The well beneath the root where the frost runs shorter.
Asked to drink — I looked at what he offered —
One eye against the well — I said: that's proper.
He pressed the eye into the water — didn't flinch it —
Leaned down, drank once — one mouthful — felt him clinch it —
All the wisdom in the well-dark — couldn't limit —
Flooded through one swallow — he could feel the infinite.
I drink each morning — Gjallarhorn the vessel —
The same horn Heimdallr keeps above the trestle.
Every day the well replenishes the wrestle
Of knowing everything — no thought can nestle
Long enough to settle before the next one enters —
That's the cost of the water — wisdom never centers
On one thing — it holds all things — the splinters
Of every world simultaneously — no winters.
I knew the war was coming before Odin schemed —
I knew the wolf, the serpent, everything that teemed —
The berserker's fate, the draugr's choice — I dreamed
It all before the Norns first picked up thread and seamed.
Pre-Chorus
The Vanir felt cheated when they saw what they'd been given (been given)
Hœnir useless without me — every decision driven
By the head they couldn't see — the wisdom hidden —
They took my head back — Odin kept it — that's the system. (uh!)
Chorus
One eye for one drink — that's the well's exchange (the exchange!)
I drink it every morning — that's the full range (the full range!)
Dead and still advising — that's the strangest strange (strangest strange!)
Mímir's head speaks truth — nothing out of range! (Hu-ha!)
Verse 2
They sent me with Hœnir — that was the arrangement —
Æsir hostage to the Vanir — peace engagement.
Hœnir tall and fine — perfect for the statement —
Useless without counsel — that's the misplacement.
They put him at the Thing and watched him waver —
"Ask Mímir" — that was every answer's favour.
When I wasn't present they saw through the paper —
Felt the trick — the knife came quick — no savour.
I watched my own head leave the neck — perspective
Shifts remarkably when you lose that connective
Tissue — but the well-wisdom stays effective —
Death doesn't drain the water — I stay receptive.
Odin got the head back — herbs and dark chanting —
Preserved the thing that mattered — wisdom granting
Beyond the grave — the rarest kind of planting —
A dead man's counsel that keeps on supplanting.
The one-eyed god comes nights when the ravens bring doubt —
I tell him what the well showed — what it's all about.
He listens — goes back to the scheming — works it out —
Behind every plan he made — I was the route.
Pre-Chorus
The Vanir felt cheated when they saw what they'd been given (been given)
Hœnir useless without me — every decision driven
By the head they couldn't see — the wisdom hidden —
They took my head back — Odin kept it — that's the system. (uh!)
Chorus
One eye for one drink — that's the well's exchange (the exchange!)
I drink it every morning — that's the full range (the full range!)
Dead and still advising — that's the strangest strange (strangest strange!)
Mímir's head speaks truth — nothing out of range! (Hu-ha!)
Bridge
You want to know what twenty-nine songs look like
(what do they look like?)
From the well beneath the root in the cold strike?
(from the well...)
I saw every thread before the Norns could splice —
(saw it all...)
Every voice in this series — I paid the price.
The berserker raging on the flesh of Ýmir —
(on the flesh...)
The serpent coiling in the blood-sea — clearer —
(in the blood...)
The Völva I saw speak before she drew nearer —
(saw the Völva...)
Every word of every song — my water — mirror.
Odin came before Ragnarök — last consulting —
(last visit...)
Told him what the well showed — nothing insulting —
(told him true...)
The Allfather rode out with the knowing — resulting
(rode to his end...)
In the only courage that needs no convulsing.
I drink this morning —
(drink this morning...)
The well still full — the root still growing.
(still growing...)
Every world rebuilt — the new green showing —
(new green...)
Mímisbrunnr doesn't close — the water's flowing.
(Skál to the water! Skál — it never runs dry!)
(Mímir drinks every morning — wisdom doesn't die!)
Drop — Instrumental
Chorus
One eye for one drink — that's the well's exchange (the exchange!)
I drink it every morning — that's the full range (the full range!)
Dead and still advising — that's the strangest strange (strangest strange!)
Mímir's head speaks truth — nothing out of range! (Hu-ha!)
Outro
(Mímisbrunnr! Mímisbrunnr!)
The well is still there beneath the root...
(Hu-ha!)
The head still drinks.
Every morning.
Every world.
One eye was enough
to know everything.
(I knew this song
before you wrote it.)
