The Wicker Man Maypole Song

The Maypole dance and song in The Wicker Man is an intriguing scene, but it is just one short step to the left of reality and genuine May Day celebrations. Maypole dancers are usually mixed, male and female, unlike the dance in the movie which was comprised only of boys. Furthermore, no one dances around a Maypole with the ribbon tied around his waist!

This is an old song, according to Cinefantastique Magazine, but the words and music were written by Paul Giovanni. Thus, it is not that old after all.

Actually, there are older songs associated with the May Pole dance. The Rambling Bog/Rattlin’ Bog is an old English folk song and has been associated with May Day and Mapy Pole dances.

Interestingly, in The Wicker Man movie, the song is sung by girls, although you will see boys singing on the screen. Rather than hire boys soprano choir, the producer used the girls in the girls in the movie production and dubbed over a couple of sound tracks.  At the end, the girls are shown banging out the rhythm.

Director's Cut, Theatrical version, Final Cut
--2:24, Intro, V1, V2, C, V2, C, V1, C, V2
The song is titled just Maypole in the song book.

Many years after having seen the movie, I tracked down the lyrics.

Maypole Lyrics
Intro:
In the woods there grew a tree
A fine, fine tree was he

V1:
On that tree there was a limb
And on that limb there was a branch
On that branch there was a nest
And in that nest there was an egg
In that egg there was a bird
And from that bird a feather came
Of that feather was a bed
On that bed there was a girl
And on that girl there was a man

From that man there was a seed
And from that seed there was a boy
From that boy there was a man
And for that man there was a grave
From that grave there grew a tree

Chorus:
In Sumerisle, Sumerisle, Sumerisle, Sumerisle, Sumerisle

V2:
On that tree there was a limb
And on that limb there was a branch
On that branch there was a nest
And in that nest there was an egg
In that egg there was a bird
And from that bird a feather came
Of that feather was a bed

Chorus:
In Sumerisle, Sumerisle, Sumerisle, Sumerisle, Sumerisle

V1:
On that bed there was a girl (Sumerisle, Sumerisle)
And on that girl there was a man (Sumerisle, Sumerisle)
From that man there was a seed (Sumerisle, Sumerisle)
And from that seed there was a boy (Sumerisle, Sumerisle)
From that boy there was a man (Sumerisle, Sumerisle)
And for that man there was a grave
From that grave there grew a tree

--Words and music by Paul Giovanni.

The last stanza, labeled "V1", has two separate groups singing simultaneously almost as in a round. The chorus is continuing to sing "Sumerisle, Sumerile".

Could there be a better way to mark May Day than an allegedly traditional folk song to celebrate fertility and the life cycle?

Of course, this song is in the horror movie, The Wickerman, which is not about a lovely May Day festival. It is about human sacrifice.

Written by Paul Giovanni with the band Magnet, featuring the pleasing sound of jaw harp and violin, we move from tree to bird to egg to feather to bed, girl, man, seed, baby boy to grave and round again, this sprightly number seems like an innocent enough ditty until you realise it is from the cult horror classic, the 1973 film The Wicker Man, directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer. --David Bazan, The Wicker Man--The Maypole Song, May 1, 2017.
In the Maypole scene, the schoolmaster, played by Walter Carr, leads the movie's Maypole song with his pupils. Edward Woodward, a strict, devout Christian police officer who investigating a missing girl, observes the Maypole dance during his visit to the Scottish island, Summerisle. The dedicated officer is increasingly bewildered--and shocked--by what he encounters among the locals. He is shocked by the loose morals of the pub landlord's daughter, Willow (Britt Ekland), who is serenaded with a ribald folksong by the pub patrons. His concern is also aroused by the attitude of the imposing presence of Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee). Many other common practices across the community leave him equally horrified and concerned that the missing girl was marked for human sacrifice. Unfortunately for him, what he suspected was not quite true.

Wiccan Sources: Oak and Ash and Thorn
Wiccan Sources
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