Text written by WikiBrother Gabriel Brandino , from @moshinhell
"Bewitched," by the band Candlemass , is one of the greatest doom metal classics of all time. This is another one of those songs where, if you don't analyze the lyrics and the music video carefully, its meaning can easily be overlooked.
And it is a reference to one of the most famous allegories of the late Middle Ages, "Danse Macabre," or "Dance of Death."
This allegory consists of the universality of death, because no matter one's position in life, the "Danse Macabre" unites everyone.
Artistic representations of Danse Macabre emerged in 14th-century France, largely as a consequence of a poem by the French poet Henri Cazalis , and references to it exist in literature, painting, sculpture, engraving, and music.
The most famous reference, and the source from which the band drew much of the concept, was a composition/poem written in 1874 by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns , in homage to the poem by Henri Cazalis .
According to Camille , it tells of a medieval legend where, once a year, Death appears on Halloween night, goes to a cemetery to wake the dead from their tombs to dance for her, while Death plays her violin.
Then, the skeletons dance until the first rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves until the following year.
Watching the video, at a certain point, the lead singer at the time, Messiah Marcolin , plays the role of death, and gets everyone dancing (headbanging, actually), and as dawn breaks, they head towards the cemetery.
The band's lyrics make more sense after understanding this reference.
“You are bewitched,
bewitched by delight, you will reach the night
dancing and singing to my violin.
So take my hand, and understand
that no one will see you again […]
I am the master of enchanted music
. I will play for your joy, for your soul, for your destruction […]
Sing with me, know your destiny
, break free for the magic […]
Believe me, you have been captured, my friend
. You are bewitched.”
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