After recent songs about the famous who died at a prematurely young age, four very contrasting numbers about the legendary French military heroine who was burned at the stake age 19 in 1431. Having played a successful part in the Hundred Years War, she was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundian faction, which was allied with the English. She was later handed over to the English and put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon who decided on her fate. In 1456 she was declared and innocent and made a martyr by the pope. She was beatified in 1909 and canonised in 1920. But so little is really know about her, and yet her myth and reputation live on, regularly cropping up in songs. Why is she still such a draw? Perhaps because she remains a mystery, a character little understood, but one people want to reach out towards, to be bemused by, to humanise, to identify with, to fall in love with, but as with many of the famous who die young, to also appropriate for themselves.
So without further ado, here are four of them. The Canadian Henry Burr's 1917 (Joan of Arc They Are Calling You) by Jack Wells, Arthur Bryan and Willie Weston came during the First World War, and was part of the propaganda effort as a symbol of French defiance, this time against the Germans.
Leonard Cohen's poetic folk song, from Songs of Love and Hate (1971), envisions ar dialogue between Joan and the fire that burns her at the stake, though it also imagines that fire as being in love with her as a form of marriage.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark actually did two songs about the martyr in their 1981 album Architecture and Morality. The Wirral band's first, sparser pop-electronic, is a love song to her from another, bemoaning her leaving them behind. The second, a big hit with that rolling beat, is more of an ode to her martyrdom, but the big drum sound and electronic style are more of what's indulged in here.
Finally, another passionate but more frenetic song by the Canadian band at the height their fame with the 2013 album Reflektor, which references Joan's reputation and vision as a 12-year-old, but draws comparisons between the historic figure and the culture of fan adoration.
While you are sleeping
Your France is weeping
Wake from your dreams
Maid of France
Her heart is bleeding
Are you unheeding
Come with the flame in your glance
Through the gates of Heaven
With your sword in hand
Come your legions to command
Joan of Arc, Joan of Arc
Do your eyes from the skies see the foe?
Don't see the drooping Fleurdelis
Can't you hear the tears of Normandy
Joan of Arc, Joan of Arc
Let your spirit guide us through
Come lead your France to victory
Joan of Arc, they are calling you
Alsace is sighing
Lorraine is crying
Their mother, France, looks to you
Her sons at Verdun
Bearing the burden
Pray for your coming anew
At the gates of Heaven
Do they bar your way?
Souls that passed through yesterday
Joan of Arc, Joan of Arc
Do your eyes from the skies see the foe?
Don't see the drooping Fleurdelis
Can't you hear the tears of Normandy
Joan of Arc, Joan of Arc
Let your spirit guide us through
Come lead your France to victory
Joan of Arc, they are calling you.
Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc
As she came riding through the dark
No moon to keep her armour bright
No man to get her through this very smoky night
She said, "I'm tired of the war
I want the kind of work I had before
A wedding dress or something white
To wear upon my swollen appetite"
Well, I'm glad to hear you talk this way
You know I've watched you riding every day
And something in me yearns to win
Such a cold and lonesome heroine
"And who are you?" she sternly spoke
To the one beneath the smoke
"Why, I'm fire", he replied
"And I love your solitude, I love your pride"
"Then fire, make your body cold
I'm going to give you mine to hold"
Saying this she climbed inside
To be his one, to be his only bride
And deep into his fiery heart
He took the dust of Joan of Arc
And high above the wedding guests
He hung the ashes of her wedding dress
It was deep into his fiery heart
He took the dust of Joan of Arc
And then she clearly understood
If he was fire, oh then she must be wood
I saw her wince, I saw her cry
I saw the glory in her eye
Myself, I long for love and light
But must it come so cruel, and oh so bright?
Little Catholic girl is falling in love
A face on a page, gift from above
She should have known better than to give her heart
She should have known better than to ever part
Without me
Without me
I gave her everything that I ever owned
I think she understood but she never spoke
She should have not tried to be that way
She shouldn't have to go there ever again
Without me
Without me
Now listen to us good, and listen well
Listen to the song, everything we tell
We should have known better than to give her away
We should have known better to this very day
Without me
Without me
Listen, Joan of Arc, all you got to do
Say the right words and I'll be coming through
Hold you in my arms and take you right away
Now she's on her away to another land
We never understood why she gave her hand
She shouldn't ought to promise, cause it's just pretend
I know she doesn't mean it and she'll leave again
Without me
Without me.
If Joan of Arc had a heart
Would she give it as a gift?
To such as me who longs to see
How an angel
Ought to be
Her dream is to give her heart away
Like an orphan along the way
She cared so much, she offered up
Her body to the grave.
[Intro]
You're the one that they used to hate
But they like you now
And everything that goes away
Will be returned somehow
They're the ones that spit on you
Cause they got no heart
I'm the one that will follow you
You're my Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
[Verse 1]
You had a vision they couldn't see so
They put you down
But everything that you said would happen
It came around
And they're the ones that put you down
Cause they got no heart
But I'm the one that will follow you
You're my Joan of Arc
[Chorus]
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc)
Tell the boys their time is through
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
Tell the boys I'll follow you
I'll follow you
[Verse 2]
Now they tell you that you're their muse
Yeah, they're so inspired
But where were they when they called your name
And they lit the fire?
When the voices came, you cut your hair
But you're still confused
But I'm the one with a heavy heart
Cause I'll follow you
[Extended Chorus]
My Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
Tell the boys their time is through
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
Tell the boys I'll follow you
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
When the boys are over you
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
Tell the boys I'll follow you
I'll follow you
I really wanna know you
[Verse 3: Regine Chassagne]
Tu dis que tu es mon juge
Mais je ne te crois pas
Alors tu dis que je suis une sainte
Mais ce n'est pas moi
J'entends des voix
Mais ce n'est pas moi
Je ne suis pas Jeanne d'Arc
And if you shoot you better hit your mark
[Extended Chorus]
My Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
Tell the boys their time is through
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
Tell the boys I'll follow you
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
When the boys are over you
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, ah ooh)
Tell the boys I'll follow you
I'll follow you
[Bridge]
Joan, it's true
I only wanna know you
Joan, it's true, it's true
I only wanna know you
But Joan
I only wanna know you
[Outro]
First they love you
Then they kill you
Then they love you again
And then they love you
Then they kill you
Then they love you again
Love love love you
Kill kill kill you
And then they love you again
They love love love you
Kill kill kill you
And then they love you again
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