Intro
(Hrólfr! Rollo!)
Too large for any horse — I walked to Paris...
(Hu-ha!) Charles thought the treaty would embarrass —
My man tipped the king — the hall went sparse —
(Hrólfr! Rollo!) The Viking who became Normandy's apparatus...
Verse 1 — Rollo
They called me Hrólfr the Walker — no horse could carry
This frame — I walked from Norway — didn't tarry.
Besieged Paris — watched the Franks get wary —
Charles came to negotiate — I made him marry
His daughter to the deal — the treaty's condition —
Normandy's transfer — my recognition
As count, as duke, as Robert — the transition
From Hrólfr the raider to the feudal politician.
Saint-Clair-sur-Epte — the table between kingdoms —
I got the land, the title, and the freedom
Of a Viking holding Frankish deeds and fiefdoms —
Charles got a buffer from the next Norse seadom.
The kiss — they said: kneel at the king's foot presenting —
I looked at Charles on his throne — not consenting —
Sent my man instead — he grabbed the foot — relenting
Never — lifted it face-high — the king went denting
The floor — the Franks gasped — I kept my standing —
That was the last purely Viking act — commanding —
Everything after was the slow transmanding
Of Hrólfr into Robert — Norse into Normandy's branding.
Pre-Chorus — both
Gisla: I was the price of the land — not the prize (not the prize)
Rollo: she taught me the Frankish tongue — I learned to disguise —
(learned to wear it...)
Both: the wolf in the duke's clothing — no surprise —
Normandy grew teeth behind the Christian eyes. (uh!)
Chorus — both
The foot-kiss refused — the land accepted (land accepted!)
Viking blood in Norman veins — redirected (redirected!)
William's cavalry in England — connected (connected!)
Rollo's treaty — 911 — perfected! (Hu-ha!)
Verse 2 — Gisla
Charles gave me like a deed — the daughter-clause —
To the largest man I'd stood before — because
The kingdom needed a wall and Rollo was
The only wall that worked against Norse laws.
I watched him take the baptism — Robert now —
The water on the forehead — saw him bow
To something not yet in him — the outer vow
That left the inner Hrólfr intact — that's how.
He kept the Norse gods longer than the record shows —
Hedged the Christ against the Óðinn — nobody knows
Which altar got the prayer when the river froze —
A wise man keeps all doors — that's how Normandy grows.
I bore him William Longsword — thread re-seaming
Norse blood into Frankish soil — the dreaming
Of a tamed wolf — and the wolf just kept on scheming
Through Latin titles — the Carolingian ceiling.
A hundred fifty-five years from this table's dealing —
His blood at Hastings — October — the revealing
Of what the treaty built beneath the feudal ceiling:
The Viking never left — he just changed his feeling.
Pre-Chorus — both
Gisla: I was the price of the land — not the prize (not the prize)
Rollo: she taught me the Frankish tongue — I learned to disguise —
(learned to wear it...)
Both: the wolf in the duke's clothing — no surprise —
Normandy grew teeth behind the Christian eyes. (uh!)
Chorus — both
The foot-kiss refused — the land accepted (land accepted!)
Viking blood in Norman veins — redirected (redirected!)
William's cavalry in England — connected (connected!)
Rollo's treaty — 911 — perfected! (Hu-ha!)
Bridge — trading
Rollo: Harald Hardrada fell at Stamford Bridge that autumn —
(September 25...)
Same year — different blood — the same Norse bottom —
(same year...)
William landed Hastings nineteen days that followed —
(October 14...)
Two Norse lines — one England — fully swallowed.
Gisla: the Viking Age ended twice that autumn season —
(ended twice...)
Hardrada's arrow — William's cavalry — the reason
(twice that year...)
One Norse line fell — one rose beyond all treason —
The treaty I was part of built that season.
Both: Hrólfr walked to Paris — no horse could hold him —
(walked it...)
Robert knelt at the font — the water told him
(took the name...)
A new name — same wolf — Normandy enrolled him —
(Skál to the treaty! Skál — the Norse blood bold him
Into the land that carried it to England's old rim!)
Drop — Instrumental
Chorus — both
The foot-kiss refused — the land accepted (land accepted!)
Viking blood in Norman veins — redirected (redirected!)
William's cavalry in England — connected (connected!)
Rollo's treaty — 911 — perfected! (Hu-ha!)
Outro
(Hrólfr! Rollo!)
William landed at Hastings — October — 1066...
(Hu-ha!)
Rollo's blood.
Norse veins.
Frankish name.
The Viking never left.
He learned to wear
a duchy
like a shield.
(Normandy
was always
the longship
that didn't leave.)
