It’s been a long time since I last wrote about good songs. Now it’s time to talk about one that my younger children have come to love — and which we’ve already listened to dozens of times.
The song was made very popular by the TV series Vikings, although in fact it is more than a thousand years old. In English it is known by its opening words, “My mother told me”, while in Old Norse (Common Scandinavian) it sounded as “Þat mælti mín móðir.”
In the series, the song is performed by two brothers who, upon hearing each other’s voices, realize that both are still alive after the battle. But, as I said, after the series the song began to be heard in many places; it was even added to various videos on Viking themes (for example, over the trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla video game). In many versions, performers limit themselves to just about a single verse, which is repeated several times:
My mother told me
Someday I would buy
Galleys with good oars
Sail to distant shores
The song is dated to around the 9th century AD. And in this text, historians say, is reflected the time when the Vikings no longer had enough land of their own and resolved not only to go on distant raids but even began to contemplate settling in other lands — in particular, England and Ireland. On the subject of the full text of the song, there is an interesting article by archaeologist Martine Kaspersen: http://www.scandinavianarchaeology.com/my_mother_told_me/.
From a musical point of view, this is clearly an example of a “sea song,” performed to maintain the unified rhythm of rowers. In ancient times, a drum was sometimes used for this purpose, and at other times — songs like this one, with a steady beat. And in a raw, masculine performance, the song truly sounds mesmerizing.
There are a lot of different renditions of it, but I decided to highlight three that differ quite significantly from each other.
Version 1. An a cappella performance (that is, without instruments, using only voices) by the Polish group Perły i Łotry. This is probably the closest to how the song could have been sung in ancient times. But it is executed brilliantly, with harmonies and deep “bass” provided by the vocals.
Version 2. A rock rendition by the German band Saltatio Mortis. Here you get striking male vocals, switches between English and Old Norse, and lively rhythms of rock instruments with folk interludes. Plus, it comes with a well-made, visually impressive music video:
Version 3. Surprisingly, there is also a version of this song in Ukrainian, performed by the singer Eileen. She translated the English text and sang it in polyphony, recording several vocal parts and layering them together. This is shown in her video “Мати казала” (“Mother Said”). Interestingly, she based it directly on the Polish group’s rendition from Version 1. Yet it sounds very distinctive and original. After all, various Ruriks and other supposedly ancient Slavic princes were, in fact, Vikings.
Such is this Old Norse song, given new life thanks to a TV show.
