The old Comus Blog is just through here!
Divining the lyrics of ‘Malgaard’
Please note: the Malgaard lyrics thread below has been superceded by a later collaborative effort by Leo S & Dwars. You can read the results of their fabulous dedicated scholarship here.
When we decided to include the only extant – but very poor quality – recording of the Malgaard Suite on Out Of The Coma, Bobbie spent some hours trawling through the track trying to discern the lyrics, many of which remained indecipherable. Roger had entirely forgotten what he had written, and he had long since lost any written-out version.
We printed Bobbie’s incomplete version in the booklet that accompanied the album, and said that we would be very pleased to hear if anyone could divine anything further.
Recently Leo S. contacted us. He had been attempting that very task! He wrote that;
During the final part of Malgaard, I believe there is a segment in which words can be discerned: “An ancient god” (which parallels the black gates segment of the lyrics)
and sent the following;
“There stood before us ?????
??????? age of an ancient god
The carving bolts asunder through the ?????
Grim gatesforeboding/forebode ?????”
….
“She breaks her tomb, ice carnal womb,
I break the surface, shatter the curse, her body exhumed
The spell disperses with a ? conjured ripple, all hope consumed”
…
“He cannot wait, Malgaard must date ?????? suffer to me”
His voice, like thunder ‘cross the everglades
?She dashes/launches from her plate? A chill ???? generate
Naive to think you could betray the king,
Roger read through Leo’s suggestions, but sadly, after such a long time, he couldn’t say with any certainty if they were right.
Many thanks to Leo S., though, for a valliant and much appreciated attempt. We like to think that he got them right!
Comus 
Hello, could somebody please update your website and let us know if there are any gigs in the UK please
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Hi Carlo,
Thanks for contacting us. Sorry that the site is a bit out of date! No gigs planned in the UK for the time being, but we will let you know if and when that changes…
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Hi I’d be interested in putting Comus on in West Yorkshire….
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Hi Dave,
Thanks for your message. The band are taking a sabbatical for the moment, so I’m afraid that we’re not taking any bookings for the time being.
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Hello guys, any gigs coming up?
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Hello Carlo, thanks for getting in contact. No gigs for the time being, unfortunately; the band are taking a bit of an extended sabbatical break at the moment….
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Hello Jon, I hope you have all had a good rest, Will there be any live gigs in 2020 please
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Hello Carlo, thanks for your message. I’m afraid that Comus’ extended break continues – no gigs planned for 2020 I’m sorry to say…..
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I have some interpretations of lyrics from the Malgaard Suite as well. Sadly I don’t have a copy of the Out of the Coma Booklet to compare to Bobbie’s interpretations, if any overlap, but here are a few measured by the time code on the track itself:
0:33
Therein, she simmers
Shining sheen, and shimmer
By glowing, it’s sad
Each of thee, I would give up your being
I must simmer as sad
Once chance, upon glory
Created, to watch me
And she glows with a sigh (our pathways are)
We’re too high (our pathways are same)
And when, with her flute
Our colleagues pray, for her life away
7:55
His voice, like thunder ‘cross the everglades
He rises from the gate, a chill will generate
Naïve to think you could betray the king
Her love the wicked take, she lies beneath the lake
She lies beneath the lake, she lies beneath the lake
She lies beneath the lake
11:30
Can you hear, all that fire
In my heart, and need
Gathering
Oh I know nothing that’s quite undying
She grace her tomb, ice carnal womb
I break the surface, shatter the stick, her body exhumed
The spell disperses with a thunderous ripple, hope consumed
And Malgaard has flown
From the skies, from my eyes
Flying far away
He cannot wait, Malgaard must date
Depravity, suffer to me
Or I know, I know I must die, alone
Strayed from the mountain
From playing with luck in the fountain
Chanting and gloating and leering we ‘lo
The minions of Malgaard from (Evaar?)
And here he comes, a flash of light
And here he comes, a flash of light
Incredible, incredible
Incredible, incredible
And there he goes, a flash of light
And there he goes, a flash of light
Incredible, incredible
Incredible, incredible
There stood before us a jewel from a time old
Long before the age of the ancient gods
The carving bolts asunder through a sleigh
Grim gates foreboding wonder, take me away
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Hi Dwars – huge apologies for not having replied to you earlier, and many thanks for your interpretation of the Malgaard Suite lyrics. We’ll add these to the Malgaard lyrics blog, with acknowledgements to you.
Bobbie was never certain about her interpretation of the lyrics, so yours are just as likely to be as correct as hers! We’ll find her interpretation and send it to you.
Thanks once again for taking the trouble to send these, and, again, apologies for the lateness of this reply.
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Hi again! I also sent an email to the contact@comusmusic.co.uk regarding a digital restoration of the original recording. I also did another revision of my interpretation of the lyrics since then. Me and Leo S. got in touch and worked out our interpretations together to create what could be a full version of the song’s lyrics. There are a few words and phrases that are likely off (i.e. replace ‘chartreuse’ with ‘sharp blue’), but it should create a coherent story. Hope that helps as well!
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Hi Dwars, thanks for this. Really sorry, but could you resend the email you sent to ‘contact @’, please? The email hasn’t come through to us. We’ve checked the ‘contact@’ address with a test mail, and it appears to be working fine……thanks!
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Alright. I sent another email. Hopefully it came through, we did a rather thorough analysis of things.
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In addition to the lyrical interpretation journey, I was likely going to try to transcribe at least some of the musical bits as well to potentially convert to sheet music. I sent an email about what progress I made so far – hope you guys got it!
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I emailed the @contact with some info, but I’ve made quite a lot of headway on a full musical transcription with view to create a full video cover of The Malgaard Suite, hopefully circa spring next year, mostly thanks to Dwars’ AI split version of the track that’s published on the site. I’ll try and update as more progress gets made, but I’ve currently got the entire track down from start to finish, and just plugging gaps now!
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Hi Diane – thanks for all of your work on this. A really impressive effort, and much appreciated. Looking forward to seeing the result!
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A followup – the main body of the transcription has been complete for a while, so I’ve mostly been moving notes around with the two guitar parts. They’re very difficult to parse even with the AI split – so I’m going to keep polishing for accuracy as best I can until Christmas, and then I’m going to hang up my hat, call it “close enough,” and settle for parts that work and fit the style. I do need to figure out the flute/ recorder split, since the parts being split between Bobbie Watson and Lindsay Cooper should shed some more light once I get a chance to investigate, and which male vocalist is singing which part – although these might get folded into a single singer for the most part.
I’m currently passively recruiting players, but I’ll probably make a Youtube video and start hunting people down to fill any missing slots after Christmas. I’m still aiming to have everything done and a final video uploaded circa March, although we wait to see if I’ll make that deadline…!
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As before, Diane – really impressed with your work on this project. Very much looking to hearing the end result.
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As per tradition, I’ve blown straight past my self-imposed deadline due to being super busy. The transcription’s been finished for a while, so I’ve just about finished laying stuff out for players so they can get through it, although I’ll probably polish the score plus parts some more before final release. In theory, players will get their parts recorded and shot, and then mixing/ editing should be easygoing by comparison. No idea on when I’ll get finished, but let’s say July and see what happens this time!
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Hi Diane – good luck with getting this project finished – you’ve put so much time and effort into it!
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No luck on July, alas! We’ve just tracked the violin yesterday, that was a very tough session! I’ve tapped my guitarists and bassists, and once those are down, flute and vocals are ready to go. I never found a bassoon player, so I’ll start pestering the local university orchestra to lend me one if nobody jumps up to do it. Once again, no idea when this will get done, BUT IT WILL GET DONE! Fingers crossed, before Christmas!
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A Sisyphean task in the making, Diane! Fingers crossed that you can get it out of your hair soon…..
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