RAMBLING MAN

Laura Marling

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This song might well be about Catherine of Aragon, who was Henry VIII's first wife. He dumped her for Anne Boleyn in 1525 after 16 years of marriage and their contentious divorce famously led to a break between the Church of England and the Roman Papacy. Henry acknowledged her only as the Dowager Princess of Wales after the divorce, but Catherine considered herself the rightful Queen of England until her death in 1536.

Catherine was an aggressive queen. In 1513, when the Scots invaded, Catherine rode north in full armour to address the troops, and in 1517 she intervened to save the lives of the men condemned to execution for the Evil May Day rebellion.

Her children (the ones not stillborn) were Henry, Duke of Cornwall, who lived only 52 days, and Mary, later to become Queen Mary I.

The lines "Beaten, battered, and cold / my children will live just to grow old" describe the effect of the divorce on the royal succession, Catherine realized that her children would never rise to the throne.

"O naive little me / asking what things you have seen" reflects Catherine's reliance on others for information, which often turned out to be undependable and/or deceptive. "Creatures veiled by night / following things that aren't right" describes the attempts at rebellion against Henry. Catherine steadfastly refused to be drawn into these efforts, doubtless thinking: "It's a pale and cold affair / and i'll be damned if I'll be found there".

LYRICS

Oh naïve little me
Asking what things you have seen
And you're vulnerable in your head
You'll scream and you'll wail 'till you're dead

Creatures veiled by night
Following things that aren't right
And they're tired and they need to be led
But you'll scream and you'll wail 'till you're dead

But give me to a rambling man
Let it always be known that I was who I am

Beaten battered cold
My children will live just to grow old
But if I sit here and weep
I'll be blown over by the slightest of breeze
And the weak need to be led
And the tender are carried to their bed
And It's a pale and cold affair
And I'll be dammed if I'll be found there

But give me to a rambling man
Let it always be known that I was who I am

It's funny that the First chords that you come to
Are the minor notes that come to serenade you
And it's hard to accept yourself as someone, you don't desire
As someone you don't want to be

Oh give me to a rambling man
Let it always be known that I was who I am
Oh give me to the rambling man
Let it always be known that I was who I am