Intro
(Fólkvangr! Fólkvangr!)
Half the battle-slain come to me — not Óðinn...
(Hu-ha!) I was here before he learned the knowing —
I taught him seiðr — watched the power growing —
(Fólkvangr!) The goddess of everything — winds blowing...
Verse 1
Vanir-born before the war between the peoples —
Njörðr my father — Freyr my brother — no sequels.
They sent us as the hostage-price — the equals
Exchanged with Æsir blood — the peace-deal's needles.
I came to Ásgarðr and I looked at what they'd building —
Their gold-roof hall, their mead-bench, their shield-gilding —
Saw the gaps in what the Allfather was wielding —
Seiðr magic — mine — the thing he'd been concealing.
He came and asked — I didn't need persuading —
Taught him everything: the staff, the chant, the braiding
Of fate-threads from the inside — the invading
Of another's wyrd — the art that needs no blade-thing.
Óðinn learned it well — gave women's work its credit
The way he only could by never trying to edit
What it was — the most powerful force — he said it
Himself: seiðr moves the world — Freyja threaded.
Pre-Chorus
Half the battle-slain cross to Fólkvangr's field (Fólkvangr's field)
Sessrúmnir holds them — that's my warrior yield.
Óðinn gets his half — the rest — my sword revealed —
The goddess of the war-dead holds the greater shield. (uh!)
Chorus
I taught the Allfather what he needed most (needed most!)
Half the battle-dead — I am the host (I am the host!)
War and love and seiðr — I hold every coast (every coast!)
Freyja burns brightest — that's no idle boast! (Hu-ha!)
Verse 2
Four dwarves in the dark — the Brísingamen's forging —
Alfrigg, Dvalinn, Berlingr, Grer — no endorsing
Of cheap acquisition — I met every costing —
Four nights — four craftsmen — nothing worth the crossing.
I wanted it because I wanted it — plainly —
Not through war, not through theft — my terms mainly —
The most exalted of the Ásynjur came queenly
Into the craft-dark and she purchased it cleanly.
Þrymr stole the hammer — sent his demand across:
Give him Freyja as his bride — that was the cost.
I looked at every god assembled — their own gloss
Of fear — and told them: find another — I'm not lost.
Thor wrapped in the wedding dress — that's the revision —
Loki dressed as handmaid — my precise decision
To refuse made every other solution's vision
Necessary — my no shaped the mission.
Pre-Chorus
Half the battle-slain cross to Fólkvangr's field (Fólkvangr's field)
Sessrúmnir holds them — that's my warrior yield.
Óðinn gets his half — the rest — my sword revealed —
The goddess of the war-dead holds the greater shield. (uh!)
Chorus
I taught the Allfather what he needed most (needed most!)
Half the battle-dead — I am the host (I am the host!)
War and love and seiðr — I hold every coast (every coast!)
Freyja burns brightest — that's no idle boast! (Hu-ha!)
Bridge
You want to know what the golden tears were for?
(what were they for?)
Not weakness — grief is what the strong cry more.
(not weakness...)
Óðr gone — no word — no shore — no door —
(Óðr gone...)
I wept the sea gold — that's what love is for.
The amber on the beach that your children find and carry?
(the amber...)
That's the goddess who refused to make grief ordinary.
(refused to...)
I wept and walked and searched through every territory —
(searched everywhere...)
The golden tears ran down and wrote the oldest story.
I ride the cats to war — the falcon-cloak unwinding —
(the cloak...)
Sessrúmnir full of warriors — Fólkvangr finding
(Fólkvangr...)
Every soul the Valkyries sent my way in binding —
(every soul...)
Half the battle-dead — and I was never hiding.
The Allfather built a hall with five hundred forty doors —
(five forty doors...)
I built a field where every fallen warrior pours
(the field...)
Into the green beneath the long sky — no cold floors —
(Skál to Freyja! Skál — the goddess of all wars!)
(She taught the seiðr — holds the slain — opens all doors!)
Drop — Instrumental
Chorus
I taught the Allfather what he needed most (needed most!)
Half the battle-dead — I am the host (I am the host!)
War and love and seiðr — I hold every coast (every coast!)
Freyja burns brightest — that's no idle boast! (Hu-ha!)
Outro
(Fólkvangr! Fólkvangr!)
The cats cross the field at dusk...
(Hu-ha!)
Sessrúmnir full.
The Brísingamen on.
The golden tears already dry.
I was always the one they needed most.
(Skál.)
