The original goth anthem that should probably carry a "parental advisory lyrics" warning, and makes gangster rap sound tame and half hearted.
The Two Ravens/Crows (Roud 5) is a poem of Scottish origin first printed in the 19 th century, although the origins of this bleak meditation on mortality can be traced back as far as the 13th century. "Corbies" is a word of Middle English origin, a variant of Anglo-French "corbin", which itself is derived from the Latin " corvinus".
The original music is unknown, and a Breton tune was adopted in the 1960's to accompany it. The best known recording is by Steelye Span in 1970 on their debut album. I like this starker version by Bert Jansch below.
The Two Ravens/Crows (Roud 5) is a poem of Scottish origin first printed in the 19 th century, although the origins of this bleak meditation on mortality can be traced back as far as the 13th century. "Corbies" is a word of Middle English origin, a variant of Anglo-French "corbin", which itself is derived from the Latin " corvinus".
The original music is unknown, and a Breton tune was adopted in the 1960's to accompany it. The best known recording is by Steelye Span in 1970 on their debut album. I like this starker version by Bert Jansch below.
The painting, which shares he same title as the song, is by Campbell Lindsay Smith and was completed in 1902. He was killed by an explosion in a field in Flanders in 1915, and it is almost as if the painting provides an eerie forewarning of his death.