Beorn the Bear
a Song Lyric
For one, I had just read Lord of the Rings, so Beorn was fresh in my mind, and the right way to spell him.
Björn, of course, is Swedish for Bear (so I felt a kinship with Tolkien), and this song is all about a bear waking mid-winter from his hibernation, not knowing what stirred him from his winter slumber.
I had also just been introduced to open tunings. The strings of a guitar did not have to be tuned EADGBE (much to my astonishment), and here was my first song breaking that mold (it’s in DADGBD).
I think I wrote this around Christmas in 1972, and I was living in England at the time. No snow on the ground (like we almost always had at home in northern Sweden) but plenty of it in this dream turned song.
I’ve tinkered with this song over the years, most recently this June morning 2014. I’m happy with it now.
The Words:
This is not a song
it’s just the word
of a sleepy bear a-wondering
of a night
What was it in my slumber
that I heard
like music to my ears
if they still serve me right
