Dr. Homan worked hard to obtain his Ph.D. in Ancient Near Eastern history, and the main reason was because of the Epic of Gilgamesh. You could say it’s the greatest story ever told, and every story told since then has been derived from it. As Editor B often points out at our shows, it’s the first “bromance” in history. Enkidu’s gradual death due to disease reaffirms both the tragic and joyous aspects of the human condition. Death is hard to accept. Gilgamesh tries to find a way to escape such an end, but he’s not successful. Later religions attempted to attract converts by claiming that they found a way to avoid death, either with ideas about heaven or reincarnation. Like Gilgamesh though, we're left to conclude that death is absolute and one of the things that make us human. There’s a barmaid in the story named Siduri. She provides Gilgamesh with some sage advice:
"As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your stomach with good food; day and night, night and day, dance and be happy, feast and rejoice... cherish the small child who holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this also is the human experience."
We need to fully engage with the human experience while we are alive. That’s the main reason we started Half Pagan.
lyrics
THE INGLORIOUS DEATH OF ENKIDU
Farewell to you, sha nagba imuru
I’m sad you’re seeing me slowly decay
Remember Gilgamesh, our glorious past
When we journeyed to forests so far away
We cut down Humbaba, that cedar villain
And together we slayed the Bull of Heaven
To the land of no return and darkness
I will soon face Ereshkigal
Remember me with a smile, and you’ll join me in a while
Gilgamesh, I’ll miss you my friend
When we first met we fought for days, Uruk’s walls crumbled away
You said I smelled of sex, & beer, & bread
We joined forces, a dynamic guild, undefeatable on battle fields,
Twas no sword, but disease killed me instead
Damn that cursed goddess Ishtar
And the somber light of her evening star
To the land of no return and darkness
I will soon face Ereshkigal
Food makes me vomit, I can barely see, this cursed illness is killing me,
Gilgamesh, I fear I’m wasting away
You know I never took a wife, I’d like to think somehow my life
Gave more meaning to your story
Remember dear Gilgamesh, this outer shell of bone and flesh
Should have met its end in epic glory
Enkidu breathed his last
His land of living time had passed
To the land of no return and darkness
Enkidu stood before Ereshkigal
For days and weeks Gilgamesh stood vigil over his friend’s flesh
Till a maggot dropped from his companion’s nose
Gilgamesh, with his best friend’s death, contemplates and comes up with a scheme,
To avoid dying, he’s now trying, to sail and find Utnapishtim
Farewell Enkidu, Fare thee well to you
Gilgamesh he mourns you Enkidu
credits
from Lamentations,
released March 20, 2018
Music and lyrics by Michael Homan
We're a rock band based in Bulbancha. You might call it New Orleans. Sometimes we do songs about cemetery picnics or the mythology of ancient Babylon. We're Half Pagan.
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