The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh, set to the tune of "Johnny Has Gone for a Solider" aka "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" aka "The Ants Go Marching" with pieces of "John Brown's Body" aka "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and a dash of "O Death" spliced in. This is basically the version I set to "American Pie" with the final verses recorded as well. Here are the lyrics:

Long ago and far away between two streams
Lived a guy named Gilgamesh who was a king
In ancient Uruk he began,
2/3 god and 1/3 man
So listen to the tale I tell
Of gods and monsters, death and hell
And how his friend Enkidu fell
Once upon a time

Gilgamesh the hero wished that he could build a wall
Make it strong and sturdy so that it would never fall
So he made the men to work, the women do his beck and call
They wished that he was gone.

The people cried out to the gods who heard their pleas
So they created Enkidu among the trees
A human beast when he was born
with hairy hide and head of horn
Then a priestess came and as she neared
She looked at him and said, "He's weird!"
So she hacked his horns and shaved his beard
And took him to the town.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu both met and muscles flexed.
Enkidu would not give in and Gilgamesh was vexed
So they both, Bring it on and you can guess what happened next
The main event was on.

They hit and bit and punched and scratched all through the night
It seemed they evenly were matched, an epic fight
They both gave up, the battle ends
and they decide to be best friends
Thinking it would make them great
They beat Humbaba at the gate
Which made the wind god quite irate
Our heroes didnt care

Humbaba was beaten, but the beast was barely mourned
Their greatest foe was yet to come, they should have been forewarned
Humbaba hath no fury like a goddess whos been scorned
That battle cant be won

Ishtar asked them for a date, by they said no
So sent the bull of heaven down, her hate to show (or with grief and woe?)
The boys avoided his attack
Cracked his horns and broke his back
So to Enkidu death she sent
Influenza, down he went
So Gilgamesh his clothes he rent
And then he sang this song

O, Death; O, Death
Won't you spare me over til another year
Well what is this that I can't see
With ice cold hands takin' hold of me
I'm death I come to take you home
Where your drink is dirt and your bread is stone
I'll fix your feet til you cant walk
I'll jam your jaw til you cant talk
Ill flay the flesh off of your bones
Worms will crawl inside your nose
O, Death; O, Death
Won't you spare me over til another year

Gilgamesh was questing for eternal life
Sought ancient Utanapishtim and his ageless wife
Make me immortal please, he said
He fell asleep, they baked some bread
They told him where the life tree bloomed
A serpent stole it, now hes doomed
One day he will be entombed
At least I have my walls

Gilgamesh the hero lies amoulderin in the grave
Gilgamesh the hero lies amoulderin in the grave
Gilgamesh the hero lies amoulderin in the grave
But his story still lives on

Category:

Education

Tags:

• gilgamesh

[Shadowgirlfriend12]

Oh my gosh this song is great! And I'm not really into my History class but before I moved we were studying Gilgamesh, Mesopotamia and stuff like that. Our social studies teacher had shown this song to us! Great job!!! We even learned the lyrics and sang it multiple times in class!

[herveus]

@Shadowgirlfriend12, Thanks. That makes me happy. :-)

[herveus]

@Shadowgirlfriend12, Thanks! That makes me happy. :-)

[wisdominthefresh]

Lovely, the musical ... for my favorite story EVER!

[herveus]

@wisdominthefresh , Thanks! There's a very, very cool video put out by the Annenberg Foundation about the Epic (and a bunch of other World Literature). They interviewed me for it, and used a clip of the song. You can find all the appropriate links here: poor-blogger(dot)blogspot(dot)­com/2010/10/invitation-to-worl­d-literature-epic-of.html

[lovelythechemist]

@herveus I actually watched that video that the Annenberg Foundation put out for a history class i took last quarter (UCLA) and thought it was really cool. I love this kind of stuff... Three cheers for intelligent music...

[herveus]

@lovelythechemist, UCLA? Cool! I feel famous!

[Handskakning]

Fantastic job. I'm surprised that it has had so few shows. Perhaps you should, henceforth, take care to fill the "tag field" with lots of words, to hook listeners.

Besides, you'd better take a look at the animated Epic, on the proposal list.

I hope it might spur you to eventually wring out the full "Gilgamesh pie". The people demand it!

Handskakning

[PartykaPawel]

Do you have any tabs that I could use to play it too? It's great!