The Wandering Fiddler lyrics

When the carillon bells rang low At the fading close of day A stranger crossed the village bounds As the sunlight drained away Violin beside his coat Eyes as black as winter coal Every turn upon the pegs Seemed to bend the people's soul The saddler dropped his sharpened awl The tanner cast his straps aside The watchman left his nightly round The bailiff broke his stride No one knew from where he came Nor the bloodline of his name Only heard that haunted tune Winding through the dusk like flame Play, fiddler, play your song Beneath the nether veil Every turn upon the pegs Marks another soul for sale Play, fiddler, play your song With your cold and knowing smile Every note you gather in Draws them downward mile by mile The tenant left his rusted hoe The steward dropped his parchment scrolls The provost ceased his questioning As the music claimed their souls Maidens, elders, novices Bound beneath a strange command Followed every sweep of bow Like subjects of a shadowed land Neither sermon, prayer nor bell Nor the Latin chants divine Could dispel the hidden venom Flowing from those strings of pine Still the melody kept winding Through each corridor and hall Like a proscribed grimoire rising From a long-forgotten vault Play, fiddler, play your song Beneath the nether veil Every turn upon the pegs Marks another soul for sale Play, fiddler, play your song With your cold and knowing smile Every note you gather in Draws them downward mile by mile Past the wastelands choked with cinders Past the cliffs of basalt stone They beheld forbidden cities Unlike any they had known There were gleaming obelisks There were towers dark with grime There were cyclopean gateways Guarding secrets older than time Then at last they came to know Why the march would never slow For the master of that line Was the fiddler long ago Beneath the weathered traveller's coat Hidden from the mortal eye Lurked the Prince of Every Ruin Ancient as the starless sky Soul by soul he gathered tribute Soul by soul he marked the line Building up his shadow kingdom Far beyond the bounds of time Play, fiddler, play your song Beneath the nether veil Every turn upon the pegs Marks another soul for sale Play, fiddler, play your song With your cold and knowing smile Every note you gather in Draws them downward mile by mile