Fight for Right
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"Fight for Right" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar, with words taken from “The Story of Sigurd the Volsung” by William Morris.
It was published in 1916, and dedicated to Members of the Fight for Right Movement.
There are nine introductory bars of music, followed by the first four lines of the poem sung Quasi recit. ad lib. and the last two lines of the poem as a chorus.
[edit] Lyrics
- When thou hearest the fool rejoicing, and he saith, 'It is over and past,
- And the wrong was better than right, and hate turns into love at the last,
- And we strove for nothing at all, and the Gods are fallen asleep;
- For so good is the world a-growing that the evil good shall reap:'
- Then loosen thy sword in the scabbard and settle the helm on thine head,
- For men betrayèd are mighty, and great are the wrongfully dead.
[edit] References
- Michael Kennedy, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, 1968) ISBN 0193154145
