‘Lost Horizon’ Versus ‘Camelot’ — #2: It’s May!

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now
It’s just a spring clean for the May Queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on

Led Zeppelin, “Stairway To Heaven”

I think most people hear “Stairway To Heaven” and think nothing more than it’s a pretty darn good rock song. People who actually listen to the lyrics in passing might peg it as a vaguely religious song, maybe a little anti-Catholic in a typically British Protestant way. But for people who read the lyrics and know about Jimmy Page’s fascination with Aleister Crowley, the song clearly is a kind of lament, a typically British pagan hymn to the elder gods—that is, more real gods to pagans—and their unfortunate usurpation by more superficial, modern—that is, Christian to pagans—beliefs.

And nobody much cares about a reference to the May Queen. First of all, nobody these days much knows what a May Queen is. Second, most people who know what a May Queen is think she is simply the young girl who gets to dance around a pole and wear flowers in her hair, kind of like a spring festival prom queen. Only history buffs and folklore types know that, historically, the May Queen was the young girl who was ‘queen’ of the spring festival and, at the end of the festival, was sacrificed to the real May Queen, the elder god of fertility and abundance to ensure successful crops that year.

But even if people did know backstory data like that to “Stairway To Heaven” nobody would care much because, after all, it’s still a rock song and rock musicians are supposed to be kind of weird. You expect it.

I’m not sure fans of “Camelot,” however, expect such things, and I’m not sure most fans of the King Arthur mythos realize the pseudo-Christian trappings of that legend cycle are just that, trappings, a superficial veneer over celebrations of older ways and elder gods.

It’s strange that such things are so easily overlooked. Guinevere’s lyrics are a good deal less obtuse and more straightforward than Led Zeppelin’s:

Tra-la! It’s May!
The lusty month of May!
That lovely month
When everyone goes blissfully astray
Tra-la! It’s here!
That shocking time of year
When tons of wicked little thoughts
Merrily appear!
It’s May! It’s May!
That gorgeous holiday
When every maiden prays that her lad
Will be a cad!
It’s mad! It’s gay!
A libelous display!
Those dreary vows that everyone takes,
Everyone breaks
Everyone makes divine mistakes
The lusty month of May!

Whence this fragrance wafting through the air?
What sweet feelings does its scent transmute?
Whence this perfume floating everywhere?
Don’t you know it’s that dear forbidden fruit!
Tra-la! That dear forbidden fruit!
Tra-la!

Tra-la! It’s May!
The lusty month of May!
That darling month when everyone throws
Self-control away
It’s time to do a wretched thing or two
And try to make each precious day
One you’ll always rue!
It’s May! It’s May!
The month of “yes you may”
The time for every frivolous whim
Proper or “im”
It’s wild! It’s gay!
A blot in every way
The birds and bees
With all of their vast amorous past
Gaze at the human race aghast
The lusty month of May!

It’s mad! It’s gay!
A libelous display!
Those dreary vows that everyone takes
Everyone breaks
Everyone makes divine mistakes
The lusty month of May!