Defiled Is My Name

Album: not on an album (1929)

Songfacts®:

  • Anne Boleyn is best known as the second wife of Henry VIII, and the first to be murdered by the tyrant, an act that was celebrated in verse by Weston, Weston & Lee in the ghoulish "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm."

    Anne was though one of the best-educated women of her day and a multi-instrumentalist. While interned in the Tower of London awaiting the executioner's axe, she is said to have written two poems.

    "Defiled Is My Name" was set to music by a contemporary composer with the fitting name Robert Johnson. Like the provenance of the poem, Johnson's dates are uncertain. The song is also known perhaps more fittingly as "Queen Anne's Lament."

    It was arranged as a unison song by the soprano Ursula Greville and published in 1929 by J. Curwen of London. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.

P.F. Sloan

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.

Kerry Livgren of Kansas

Kerry Livgren of KansasSongwriter Interviews

In this talk from the '80s, the Kansas frontman talks turning to God and writing "Dust In The Wind."

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)Song Writing

How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names.