Intro
(Bloodaxe! Gunnhildr!)
Harald's favorite — five brothers paid the choosing...
(Hu-ha!) York twice — the third time — no refusing —
Gunnhildr's cold eye saw the ridge — he kept cruising —
(Bloodaxe!) The last Viking king of York — Stainmore losing...
Verse 1 — Eiríkr
Harald Fairhair's bloodline — the chosen credential —
Five brothers dead by my hand — the sequential
Logic of a throne that won't be divisional —
Norway for one blade — that's the essential.
Athelstan gave me York — the Danelaw breathing —
I supplied the iron where the peace was teething.
Twice king, twice expelled — the third time seething
With ambush on the ridge — no room for leaving.
Ivar took this city back in 866 —
I held it after — built the Norse Danelaw fix —
Stainmore was the price — Maccus — politics —
I rode in anyway — that's the Bloodaxe mix.
Pre-Chorus — both
Gunnhildr: they called me sorceress — I called it reading the room (reading the room)
Eiríkr: she saw Stainmore three years early — I chose the doom —
(chose it cold...)
Both: the last Viking king of York rode into the gloom —
Gunnhildr outlived every kingdom — that's the bloom. (uh!)
Chorus — both
Bloodaxe on the ridge — no retreat, no yield (no yield!)
Gunnhildr's cold arithmetic — the long shield (long shield!)
York fell twice — the third time sealed (third time sealed!)
Stainmore 954 — the Danelaw revealed! (Hu-ha!)
Verse 2 — Gunnhildr
Kónungamóðir — Mother of Kings — the title
Given by survival — every recital
Of my name came wrapped in fear — the vital
Sign of power held without requital.
Seiðr accused, Óðinn accused — the whole
Litany men compile when a woman's role
Exceeds their mapping — I controlled the shoal
Of every alliance from the inside — cold.
I saw Stainmore in the pattern — Maccus hired,
Osberht's sons aligned, the ridge pre-wired —
Told him: don't ride north — he called it tired
Woman's fear — I packed the sons — retired
Clean to Orkney while he made the martyr-
Ride York remembers — I became the charter
Of five sons — Haraldr, Gamall — the starter
Of everything that outlived the blood-slaughter.
Pre-Chorus — both
Gunnhildr: they called me sorceress — I called it reading the room (reading the room)
Eiríkr: she saw Stainmore three years early — I chose the doom —
(chose it cold...)
Both: the last Viking king of York rode into the gloom —
Gunnhildr outlived every kingdom — that's the bloom. (uh!)
Chorus — both
Bloodaxe on the ridge — no retreat, no yield (no yield!)
Gunnhildr's cold arithmetic — the long shield (long shield!)
York fell twice — the third time sealed (third time sealed!)
Stainmore 954 — the Danelaw revealed! (Hu-ha!)
Bridge — trading
Eiríkr: five against a hundred on the ridge at morning —
(outnumbered...)
Harald Fairhair's son doesn't die warning
(no warning given...)
Everyone to stop — I hit the ridge adorning
The axe with the last thing — no mourning.
Gunnhildr: I outlived the exile and the York — twice over —
(twice over...)
Sons scattered north — I was the cover
(the cover held...)
That kept the bloodline past the clover —
(Skál to the Bloodaxe! Skál — he fell a rover!)
(Stainmore closed the Danelaw — she crossed to Dover!)
Drop — Instrumental
Chorus — both
Bloodaxe on the ridge — no retreat, no yield (no yield!)
Gunnhildr's cold arithmetic — the long shield (long shield!)
York fell twice — the third time sealed (third time sealed!)
Stainmore 954 — the Danelaw revealed! (Hu-ha!)
Outro
(Bloodaxe! Gunnhildr!)
Stainmore — 954 AD...
(Hu-ha!)
Last Viking king of York.
Fell on the ridge.
Gunnhildr took the sons north.
The Danelaw closed.
(The axe was his.
The survival
was always hers.)
