The Bards of Bedlam Filk Library

Big Bad Paul

Lyrics by Kevin Perigrynne

(To the Tune of: Big Bad John)

Every morning at the tourney, you could see him arrive
He stood six-foot-one and weighed two-oh-five
And everybody knew that you better yield to Big Paul
CHORUS     Big Paul, big bad Paul

Mistland was said to be where Paul called home
But he’d beaten all their fighters, so he had to roam
He didn’t say much, just gave a big toothy grin
And if you spoke at all, you said “ouch! You win” to big Paul
Some said that at a tourney in far CAID
With the strength of his arm he did a mighty deed
When a crashing blows of his spiky mace
Changed a fellow’s blazon from “Rampant’ to ‘Erased’, Big Paul
CHORUS     Big Paul, big bad Paul

Then came that day in the Grand Melee
When the shield-wall cracked and the flanks gave way
The Knights were dyin’ and the Masters bled
And everybody thought they were surely dead, ‘cept Paul
Through the killing and the carnage of this man-made Hell
Stalked a giant of a Duke that the fighters knew well
With a sword in his hand, he waded into the fray
And slaughtered every opponent who got in his way, Big Paul
CHORUS     Big Paul, big bad Paul

And with a mighty shout, he began to charge
And an enemy screamed, “there’s a Duke at large!”
And twenty warriors reformed on their would-be grave
And charged right-in behind him, ‘cause they had to save… Big Paul
With their axes and maces they were gonna swing,
But the dust was so thick – they couldn’t find one thing
When the dust-cloud cleared – they looked on aghast
Their foes were all slain, right down to the last, by Big Paul
CHORUS     Big Paul, big bad Paul

In that place, they buried all his dead in one pit
And raised a barrow-mound to cover it
On a stone they carved these runes by hand:
“Underneath the barrow lies the work of one man, Big Paul”
CHORUS     Big Paul, Big Paul      Big bad Paul

The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).