A woodcutter joins a witch hunt, leaving his wife Anwin at home in the forest. In her loneliness, Anwin begins to explore magic, eventually realising that she herself is the woodwitch. A crow becomes a prophet, her baby a changeling, her cottage a castle, puckrobin a piper. Drumming approaches; the hunters are coming for her. Seek the full story at my homepage under Poetry and Fables.
lyrics
There’s a red briar, in my garden
Dressed in fruit she carries but once a year
There’s a changeling, in my cradle
With a phantom laughter and pointed ear
There’s a black crow, at my window
With the hollow eyes of a seer – oh!
Tell me, do you know the Witch in the Wood?
Come Robin, tell me - have you seen the Witch in the Wood?
I’ve a stable, by the old tree,
And her walls of spiderthorn tangle my hair
There’s an ocean, in my cauldron
And the earth’s belly is aching for more
There’s a piper, on our hillside
If you won’t follow I’m going alone – oh!
Tell me, how to find the Witch in the Wood…
Come plover, show me – if I am the Witch in the Wood:
Oh seer, you’ll wake the witch in my blood!
For I am, mother, oh I am the Witch in the Wood.
credits
released May 5, 2005
this remix released 2016
lyrics, chords, melodies: Louisa John-Krol;
vocals, riffs (woodwind, harpsichord) on keyboard: Louisa John-Krol;
ornamental flourishes on grand piano: Richard Allison;
synth & other soundscaping, production, mixing: Harry Williamson;
additional percussion bounced to tail bars, 2014: Nicholas Albanis, for the purpose of evoking more sinister foreboding as to the witch's fate;
earliest demo circa 1986 at Tullo Place with Craig McArthur;
chief engineer of final recording: Harry Williamson, Spring Studio, Australia
released on our 5th solo CD Apple Pentacle on French label Prikosnovenie in 2005; this 2014 remix is published June 2016. (NB: very little remixing occurred, so Williamson's beautiful production remains intact, with only a few extra veils bounced to the end.)
photo: Louisa John-Krol 2015, in glass reflection with cabinet of fairies, Altar (Alter) Infinite, by sculptor Sherri Whitehead, courtesy of Wonderwings Fairy Queen Anne Atkins.
Louisa is an Australian singer, composer, writer & faery storyteller who has released many albums of ethereal music on indie labels, primarily in France. She's completing a fantasy series, The Elderbrook Chronicles, with a soundtrack.
"All Becompassed by Stars" (Dandelion Wine): Genre-bending contemporary medieval trance, with psychedelic eclectic mix of modern & ancient instruments, quirky lyrics and sophisticated production. Louisa John-Krol
Haunting, ethereal, melancholy, with exquisite vocals and illustration by a multi-instrumentalist Spanish composer, who presents fabulous videos and is also a sweet, gentle faery. World, love her. Louisa John-Krol
This album carries one of my favourite recordings by this legendary mythic rock band: Adrienne's song 'The Children of Lir'. It's so good that it feels like a traditional ballad. Louisa John-Krol
DIM returns with the third volume of “Compendium,” a moving collection of electroacoustic music with a darkambient feel. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 5, 2020
Palberta's otherworldly "Bye Bye Berta" is distinct and varied in its challenging songwriting, but remarkably cohesive. Bandcamp Album of the Day Feb 14, 2017