Intro
(Knútr! Emma!)
Sweyn took England — died before the crown dried...
(Hu-ha!) I came back — Edmund fought me — we tied —
Then Edmund died — and all of England complied —
(Knútr!) The North Sea empire — no shore was denied...
Verse 1 — Knútr
Sweyn Forkbeard's son — watched him take the island —
Forty days as king — gone — left me the highland
Of everything he'd built — the choice: silent
Retreat or finish what he started — not compliant.
Edmund Ironside — the last English fighter —
Met me at Assandun — neither one the lighter
In the end — we split the kingdom — no decider
But God and autumn — Edmund died — I'm the insider.
Baptized, crowned, legitimate — the wearing
Of an English face over Norse bone — the bearing
Of a Viking in a Saxon hall — declaring
Laws in Latin, English, Danish — all comparing
To the same intent: this island stays in my keeping.
I wrote the laws the English wanted — no reaping
Of the old raid-logic — I was done with leaping
Onto shores — I owned the shore — no sweeping.
Four kingdoms in the hand by 1028 —
England, Denmark, Norway — all deliberate —
Parts of Sweden folding — the full weight
Of the North Sea empire — Knútr — no debate.
Pre-Chorus — both
Emma: Rollo's blood through Normandy and into my position (my position)
Knútr: she'd already survived one king — the coalition
(she knew the game...)
Both: the Viking and the Norman queen — the proposition
That the north could rule the world through pure ambition. (uh!)
Chorus — both
England, Denmark, Norway — one hand's grip (one hand's grip!)
The North Sea empire launched from Sweyn's last ship (last ship!)
Emma's Encomium — her own authorship (authorship!)
Knútr ruled the world the longships built — no slip! (Hu-ha!)
Verse 2 — Emma
Ælfgifu to the English — Emma to the Norman —
I answered to both names — that was the format
Of a woman who had survived the storming
Of two dynasties before the third one forming.
Æthelred's queen first — sons in Normandy hiding —
The Danes came — I read the current — deciding
Widowhood was not the end — the riding
Out of one king's death into the next — providing.
Knútr offered — I negotiated — standing:
My sons' succession first — the understanding
That Emma of Normandy was not a landing
Point for Viking ambition — I was commanding.
I wrote the Encomium Emmae Reginae —
My own hand — my own account — no finer
Record of the age exists — the minor
Detail: I shaped what history would find there.
Rollo's blood through Richard's line to Normandy —
Same Norse root as the man who stood in front of me —
Two Viking bloodlines meeting in the colony
Of an English throne — that's the full economy.
Pre-Chorus — both
Emma: Rollo's blood through Normandy and into my position (my position)
Knútr: she'd already survived one king — the coalition
(she knew the game...)
Both: the Viking and the Norman queen — the proposition
That the north could rule the world through pure ambition. (uh!)
Chorus — both
England, Denmark, Norway — one hand's grip (one hand's grip!)
The North Sea empire launched from Sweyn's last ship (last ship!)
Emma's Encomium — her own authorship (authorship!)
Knútr ruled the world the longships built — no slip! (Hu-ha!)
Bridge — trading
Knútr: I stood at the tide and told it: stop — the story
(the tide...)
Wasn't hubris — proof that kings take glory
(not God's work...)
Not from water — only God commands the hoary
Sea — I was making the point — mandatory.
Emma: I outlived Knútr — outlived his sons — the tally
(outlived them all...)
Three kings dead — I kept the final valley
(kept the ground...)
Of English politics — no final rally
Could move me from the board — I was the galley.
Both: Rollo walked to Paris — built the duchy —
Emma carried it to England — touch me
(the blood holds...)
If you think the Norse root didn't clutch the
(Skál to the empire! Skál — the north's too much — see!)
(Knútr held four kingdoms — Emma held the country!)
Drop — Instrumental
Chorus — both
England, Denmark, Norway — one hand's grip (one hand's grip!)
The North Sea empire launched from Sweyn's last ship (last ship!)
Emma's Encomium — her own authorship (authorship!)
Knútr ruled the world the longships built — no slip! (Hu-ha!)
Outro
(Knútr! Emma!)
The North Sea empire — 1028 AD...
(Hu-ha!)
Four kingdoms.
One Viking hand.
Emma wrote it down herself.
Rollo's blood
closed the loop
on an English throne.
(The longship
never left.
It became
the crown.)
