She finally got him beheaded (they cut his head), and brought his head on a silver plate as a present for her mother. Herod’s wife wanted to kill St John the Baptist and commissioned her daughter to do so. REVOLUTIONARIES WAIT FOR MY HEAD ON A SILVER PLATE= This is a biblical reference. SHATTER= Destroy into pieces, especially something fragile, such as glass or porcelain. WHEN I RULED THE WORLD= When I had all the power. SHIELD= A protection you use to stop the enemy’s sword in a fight. Of course, the Roman army didn't sing in choir before attacking a city, but he's comparing the cries of war of the soldiers to a choir. A group of people singing the same thing at the same time. At that time (73 a.d.) there were no churches or bells in Jerusalem, but he's not trying to be historical here, he's trying to bring up a powerful metaphor of defeat, and the fall of Jerusalem, in Christian culture, is a strong metaphor for that.ĬAVALRY= An army made up of soldiers riding a horse.ĬHOIR= Pronounced /kwaɪə*/. The metaphor he's using here is when the Roman cavalry got to the walls of Jerusalem ready to completely destroy the city. I HEAR JERUSALEM BELLS A-RINGING= In medieval Europe, when the enemy attacked a city unexpectedly, all the church bells would ring to alarm people. Here we come a-wandering so fair to be seen". " here we come a-caroling among the leaves so green The prefix is still used sometimes in poetry and some traditional songs, like this Christmas carol: But in old English it had a prefix (a-) and a suffix (-ing), e.g. In modern English, the gerund or present participle is formed by adding a suffix (-ing) to the verb (ring - ringing). In English, If you "hold the key", you have the power, you are in control.ĬLOSED ON ME= If they close the door ON you, they close the door so that you can’t enter, usually just as you are going to enter.Ī-RINGING= Ringing (Old fashioned or literary). I HELD THE KEY= To hold a key is to have it in your hand. I can't understand you, one minute you love me and next you don't want to be near me. NEXT= This construction is used to express that a situation changes suddenly and unexpectedly: The first part of the sentence (the king is dead) refers to the old king, and the second part (long live the king) refers to the new king, because the moment a king dies, a new king (usually his son) takes his place. LONG LIVE THE KING!= In Europe, in old times, when a king died people would shout: "the king is dead, long live the king!". You can ROLL or CAST a die that means that you throw it to see what number you get.ĬROWD= A big group of people, a multitude. So the word DICE may be singular or plural. Originally, the singular was DIE and the irregular plural was DICE, but today you can also say DICE for the singular and DICES for the plural. You throw/roll/cast the dice to get a random number. A DICE is cube with numbers (dots) on every side. TO ROLL THE DICE = Take my chances = Risk doing something. I used to have a dog when I was a child. Talking about a situation or habit that was true in the past but not now anymoreīoth USED TO and WOULD can be used to talk about repeated actions in the past.īut if we talk about a situation, we can only use USED TO: You’ll find this use of WOULD more times in this song. SEAS WOULD RISE= We can use WOULD to talk about events that were habitual in the past, but not anymore. "Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
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