Act 1, Scene 3: All Hail, Macbeth

piano, classical, rap · 3:34

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Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Thunder cracks over a heath gone grey, three
ragged sisters stir a storm today, one says
a sailor crossed her, mocked her bread, so
she's sworn to wreck his ship and hollow
out his head,
"aroint thee, witch" he snarled -
now he'll pay, she'll starve his sleep till
his hair turns to hay, they drum a
chant, they spin a rhyme, pulling shapes from
thunder and from grime.

[Chorus]
So foul and fair,
so fair and foul, the air's two-faced and
so's the howl, Macbeth will say it before
it's ever said, foul and fair, one tangled
thread, a day of blood and a day
of bloom, walking blind into a borrowed room.

[Verse 2]
Macbeth and Banquo, marching home from war, find
three shapes waiting, withered to the core,
"All
hail, Macbeth, Thane of Glamis true, all hail,
Thane of Cawdor" - a title he never knew,
"All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter" -
the third one speaks it through dry laughter,
Banquo scoffs, "and what of me, old crones?"
"Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none" -
your blood will sit the throne, though you
won't own the bones, then like smoke in
wind, the sisters are gone.

[Chorus]
So foul and
fair, so fair and foul, truth wears a
mask beneath its cowl, Macbeth will say it
before it's ever said, foul and fair, one
tangled thread, a day of blood and a
day of bloom, walking blind into a borrowed
room.

[Verse 3]
Ross and Angus ride up through the
heather,
"the king's made you Cawdor" - stitched up
together, one prophecy lands like a stone in
a well, and Macbeth goes rapt - lost in
thought, caught in a spell, already picturing a
crown, already a knife, already terrified by the
shape of his own life, Banquo mutters low,
his eyes gone cold,
"the instruments of darkness
tell us truths, small ones, sweet ones, honest
in their youth, to win us with trifles -
before the big lie's told."

[Bridge]
Two men, one
news, two different fires, one plots a crown,
one checks his wires, borrow'd robes don't fit
a stolen name, Macbeth wears Cawdor like a
stranger's claim, and remember: weird once simply meant
fate, the Weird Sisters just turn the wheel,
and wait, they don't lie outright, they lean
the scale, and let a man's own hunger
finish the tale.

[Chorus]
So foul and fair, so
fair and foul, the heath remembers every vow,
Macbeth will say it before it's ever said,
foul and fair, one tangled thread, a day
of blood and a day of bloom, walking
blind into a borrowed room.

[Outro]
Hail, Macbeth - the
first truth lands, hail, Banquo - king-blood, empty hands,
one small gift, one dangerous door, the witches
smile, and ask for nothing more.

← Act 1, Scene 2: Brave Macbeth | Act 1, Scene 4: Stars, Hide Your Fires →