The Anglo-Saxons

The Anglo-Saxons
Album	The Basement Tapes: Live Recordings at KSPC 1989-1995
Released	1995
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	1:49
Previous Track	"Evangenline Falls" (Ruby Falls)
Next Track	"Evergreen"

The Anglo-Saxons is the fifth song on the compilation The Basement Tapes: Live Recordings at KSPC 1989-1995. It was re-released on the compilation Ghana.

Lyrics

They used to paint their bodies blue 
A couple of them might be distantly related to you
According to Caesar, they shaved their entire bodies
Except for the upper lip and the head 

Yeah the Anglo-Saxons 
Yeah the Anglo-Saxons 
A sub-literate bunch of guys
Though some sources say otherwise
Yeah the Anglo-Saxons 

Yeah they were men on a mission
Preserving their poetry by an oral tradition 
Yeah oral tradition was all you'd get 
Until Saint Augustine brought them the alphabet
Yeah the Anglo-Saxons 
Yeah the Anglo-Saxons

Yeah in 1065 they were ragin' 
But 1066 brought the Norman Invasion
Yeah the Anglo-Saxons 
Go! 

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "Large amounts of the historical data provided in this song are inaccurate, so you should not, if you get quizzed on Pre-Norman Conquest British England, take your answers from this song." -- 1994-XX-XX - Columbus, OH
• "Well, unlike in my home...you all will probably be able to recognize the vast historical inaccuracies in this song. Most of it's based in truth, but you all probably know the difference between the Anglos, the Picts, and the Jutes, and then the people who followed them, and this sort of mixes all the history up, because one: I didn't really know what I was talking about when I wrote it, and two: I'm willing to sacrifice truth for a good song." -- 1996-03-20 - The Garage - London, England
• "I'm going to play you one of the stupidest songs in the Mountain Goats catalogue. ... The reason the song is dumb is that Caesar was actually specifically talking about the Picts, right. There were three, there were—in case you want to know, there was the Angles, the Picts, and the Jutes, were the three tribes wandering around England. The Picts were the ones who, for reasons that I believe are entirely obscure to history, but not to me, painted their bodies blue. They were all covered in blue paint when the Romans got there. You know why? 'Cause they thought they looked cool that way. You know, anthropologists are always saying, oh this is a ritual intended to evoke the—no! They looked at each other and went: you got your blue paint on; you're looking pretty good. Should I put some on? Yeah, you should do that, you should do that right now. Okay, we have more, let's do that. That's why they did it. But the part about shaving their whole body except for the mustache and their hair, this is a fashion choice that I would really wish we had cameras then for that. This is a look that has--I don't think there is actually any Pictish kink out there. I should play one more that's like a little less dumb." -- 2022-05-21 - The Sylvee - Madison, WI

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 1994-xx-xx - Stache's - Columbus, OH
• 1996-03-20 - The Garage - London, England
• 1997-04-04 - Duke Coffeehouse - Durham, NC
• 2003-04-04 - Macrock Festival - Court Square Theatre - Harrisonburg, VA
• 2013-06-09 - Higher Ground Ballroom - South Burlington, VT
• 2017-12-14 - Holocene - Portland, OR
• 2018-09-04 - The Lyric Oxford - Oxford, MS
• 2021-04-18 - The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volume 3 (Encore)
• 2022-05-21 - The Sylvee - Madison, WI

Videos of this Song

• 2013-06-09 - Higher Ground Ballroom - South Burlington, VT