The Felding song commemorates most of the people who have ever been members of Felding. Each person is given a verse which relates some incident or personal characteristic for which they were known. A Felding does not get to write her own verse, meaning that some of them can be embarrassing! There is no known exact order to the verses; they are, as far as we know, in chronological order. Notes have been provided, where possible, to explain the meaning and origin of certain verses.
Oh, Felding lay far to the westward,
A peaceful place fair for to see,
And never a knight came a-riding
To trouble our tranquillity.
CHORUS: Go west, go west
Fair Felding awaits in the wilderness!
Go west, go west
Before we are all bored to death!
ALTERNATE CHORUS: Go west, go west
Fair Feldings await in the wilderness!
Go west, go west
Before they are all bored to death!
At Felding, we've tall Gothic towers,
A small waterfall and a lake,
But even the fairest of bowers
Seems dull when you're with your pet snake.
(NOTE: Ki-lin had a stuffed snake named Aloysius Fairchild which she used as a draft blocker.)
At last several maidens intrepid
Set forth seeking mythical beasts
And carried this gladsome report back:
"YES! There are really men in the East!"
That Terina illuminates pages
Kale heard after too much to drink.
Came her quick reply to his question,
"I'm afraid Charles would take too much ink."
When we hold events at Felding
The announcements are usually late,
But for news, any herald could tell you,
"Just ask Kathryn-Morgan-called-Kate."
Oh, Aquilon's name is so lilting.
Its announcement was greeted by cheers.
We'd all like to have names as pretty,
But choosing hers took her two years.
Arianwen's our champion galliarder.
Dance practice is never a bore,
But the lords spend less time dancing with her
Than picking her up off the floor.
(NOTE: She was very ticklish, and the lords liked to tickle her and see if they could catch her before she hit the floor.)
Arianwen is skilled at embroidery
Worked her fingers right down to the bone
To present to our noble pursuviant
A tabard he could call his own.
(NOTE: No, we don't know why she gets two verses.)
Charles, Cayle, and Taran - our protectors,
Are the best any maiden can get,
But we still need our Aunt to protect us
From them, 'cause they tend to forget.
(NOTE: Aunt [capital A] refers to Malice, who was our chaperon. Charles of the Dark forest, Cayle [pron. Kyle] of Firwood, and Taran of Windy Hill chaperoned us to and from the Senate Bus. Taran made the original Felding banner and married a Felding, Lark.)
I say not all Feldings are happy.
Some still have a problem or two.
How can one be a lady of myst'ry
When they all say, "Briavel who?"
As Siobhan told Hawissa one morning
As she lay on her pallet in pain,
"I really loved learning the Sword Dance,
But I'll never do it again!"
(NOTE: She twisted her ankle and couldn't dance for weeks. Siobhan and Hawissa came as a pair. They are not the same people as Siubhan and Melissa [Radegund]!)
The following verse is never to be sung in public without Evonn's express permission.
Oh, Evonn's first event was momentous;
Her foot-racing fame's sure to last.
But to spare her some maidenly blushes,
Pray, good gentles, don't call her "fast".
Valrada's our favorite recruiter,
The best that fair Felding will see.
She gathers the mundanes about her
And adds to our glad company.
Lest a maiden should ever feel slighted
Eliana supplies a recourse
As Guildmistress for Love(s) Unrequited
To avoid any pangs of remorse.
Now Rosalie's rather reclusive
To find her's not easily done.
Look for garb that is slightly obtrusive
Or a bottle without its Blue Nun.
Cynthia her first week at Felding
Was eating her dinner one day.
With her fingers she picked up a porkchop
And thus she found the SCA.
(NOTE: Cynthia loved to eat porkchops with her fingers, so in order not to offend anyone, she sat all alone in a corner to eat. Some senior (Ki-lin) took pity on this poor frosh and asked to sit with her. Cynthia explained why she was sitting alone, and the senior said that that was the fine medieval way to eat.)
Ilaine at the Falling Leaves Tourney
In black velvet she flirted with style.
Though the prize was for flirting with boccie,
Just watching she won by a mile.
(NOTE: Ilaine wasn't actually wearing the black velvet dress, but she should have been.)
Siobhan Margaret Helena MicCrimmon
From off of the sofa did slip
Drawing attention to her and her partner
As they did embrace lip to lip.
(NOTE: This verse was written before she became Siubhan Gabriela NicCruimein de Pallacho; the new name just does not fit into the song's first line! The incident occurred at a post revel when she was sitting on the end of an armless sofa, attempting to kiss a young lord on the floor. She lost her balance and slid off, drawing a round of applause from the others in the room.)
[1] Juliana's real name is Jennifer.
[2] Siubhan's a Jennifer too.
[3] Ianna's another Jennifer.
[4] Bonaventura's another Jennifer.
[5] Mirium's another Jennifer.
[6] Without pseudonyms what would we do?
(NOTE: In 1987-89, Felding somehow attracted a great many people named Jennifer. Ignore the line numbers; they are merely for reference. Lines 4 and 5 are sung with the same notes as line 3. The intended effect is to sound like a broken record. Future Feldings are encouraged to add the names of other Jennifers to this verse!)
Guendalina's lord Charles came a-travelling
From a kingdom 'twas far, far away.
When longing it o'ercame their good sense
It is said that they made the car sway.
Our fearless leader is Radegund
She controls dragons both fearsome and great
Though one day another fierce dragon
Sought hers for to be his fair mate.
(NOTE: Radegund was often the driver of the school van that Felding would sign out to get to events. On the way to the February 1989 event, another car, or "dragon", changed lanes too quickly and rear-ended the Felding van. No injuries were sustained and a verse was born.)
Tati Tana Tatyana Juliana
Her name changes each time she doth speak
But please answer just one burning question
Pray, what shall we call you this week?
(NOTE: The full progression is Tatiana with Tati for short, then Tatyana with Tana for short, then Jenna as short for Jennifer, then Juliana as a new SCA name. Ack!)
We've got this unusual Felding
With deep voice and red-bearded face
We've welcomed Lord Kale among us
But he still looks a bit out of place.
(NOTE: Since Caleb Hanson works for Wellesley College's Clapp Library, he is eligible to be a member of Felding.)
Our Emilia was a first-time autocrat
A simple event we gave her to run
No feast, and the site was on campus
Then the Royals decided to come!
(NOTE: The simple, feastless Falling Leaves Tourney turned into the Tourney for the Kingdom's Finest, with the King and Queen in attendance, a feast that had to be cooked elsewhere (part of which spoiled along the way and had to be recooked in Pomeroy), and a huge number of people! Emilia held together through it all and produced an excellent event.)
Fernando's well-known for his prowess
He wins all the tourneys with ease.
He's won jewels and weapons and helmets
And three pounds of very good cheese!
Since Johan's first visit to Felding
He's pitied our grave poverty
And devotes both his time and his efforts
To spreading his own Charity.
(NOTE: "Charity" was Johan's cloak, which he would willingly share with cold Feldings.)