My Lonely City

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

And for your disquieting song of the day, the un-condensed version of the rhyme opening V for Vendetta, taken from Wikipedia:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah hoorah!

The men in the text are all leaders – revolutionary, established, and religious – and are played off against one another. As the rhyme suggests God’s “providence” extends only to the King, it serves to entrench even more firmly in the popular imagination the legitimacy of the federal authority and the futility of either rebellion or dissent. I have more to say regarding the second verse, but I really ought to get to work. I’ll return later – I hope.