Quest & Chorus #6: From Carnac to Fangorn | The End of the Quest (special feat: Pub Songs and Stories #310)

Over 3,000 stones rise from the fields of Carnac. They stand silent, waiting, like the trees of Fangorn Forest, patient and alive beneath their stillness. In this episode of Quest & Chorus, we walk among ancient alignments, uncover old legends, and listen to what endures. Featuring music from The Irish Lassies, Dublin Gulch, and Brobdingnagian Bards.

This is Quest & Chorus #310

0:27 - The Irish Lassies “Hammer Up Whisky Down” from Immigration Stories

5:20 - WELCOME TO QUEST & CHORUS

Welcome to Quest & Chorus, where ancient stones still speak and songs remember what trees never forget. I’m your bard, Marc Gunn, also host of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, and typically host of this show as Folk Songs & Stories, but today, we call it Quest & Chorus.

Quest & Chorus is a 6-part podcast series. I fuse Celtic and folk music, science fiction and fantasy, and travel into a podcast with a quest. In each episode, you will get a clue to unlock a secret reward. And at the end of the season, you will combine all of those clues to unlock an even bigger amazing reward.

And today we walk not into a forest—but into a field that feels like one. The Alignments of Carnac stretch across the land like rows of rooted giants. They are silent. But not still. And if you listen… they speak in echoes. Today we talk of nature, of memory, and also of what I learned about food waste.

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FOOD

1. Freezing fruit
2. Composting
3. Planting
4. Pickling vs fermenting
5. Soups
6. Granola

You don’t have to do it in one day. It’s taking me several years. And it doesn’t have to be perfect. You just have to be open to learning.

Check out Sustainable Jungle and One5C. They have a lot of real, practical and non-judgemental tips on how to be more eco-friendly with your food and your life.

If you’re new to the show, please follow us. You can do that at PubSong.com.

UPCOMING SHOWS

• NOV 8: IrishFest Atlanta, Roswell, GA with Inara
• NOV 14-16: CONjuration, Duluth, GA
• NOV 22: Georgia Renaissance Festival Fall Fling, Fairburn, GA
• DEC 6: Georgia Renaissance Festival Fall Fling, Fairburn, GA
• DEC 7: Nerdy Wonderland at The Lost Druid, Avondale Estates, GA @ 12 - 5 PM.

15:37 - Dublin Gulch "Sarah Daly/The Copper King's Daughter" from Tap 'Er Light

Please leave a comment on the podcast show notes at pubsong.com or wherever you listen. Email pictures of where you're listening to follow@celtfather . I’ll send you a free gift and you can learn more about how to follow this podcast.

19:59 - NEWS

• Celtic Christmas Music releases the first official episode of the season.
• Looking for volunteers to work the Nerdy Wonderland table and promote the event. It takes place Dec 7.
• New Band with Inara–May Bloom. Planning to release an Album Pin and Single

A big thanks to my…

GUNN RUNNERS ON PATREON

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Follow me on Patreon for behind-the-scenes stories, ad-free episodes of Pub Songs & Stories, and a few free MP3s to take home. It’s free to follow — but if you toss a coin in the bard’s hat, you’ll help keep the music playing every week.

TODAY’S SHOW IS BROUGHT TO BY CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of people on a relaxing adventure to one of the Celtic nations. We don’t see everything. Instead we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join me with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts, blogs, videos, and photos.

Sign to the Celtic Invasion Vacations mailing list at CelticInvasion.com.

In 2017, I led a Celtic Invasion of Brittany. You can read about our search for the Holy Grail in France. In the meantime, it’s time for the…

QUEST & CHORUS of ALIGNMENTS OF CARNAC

Over 3,000 standing stones stretch in careful lines through the fields of Carnac. No one knows exactly why they’re here. Were they a celestial map? Some say they mark burial grounds. But walking by them, I didn’t feel like I was in a graveyard. I felt like I was among the elders. It reminded me of Fangorn Forest, home of the Ents.

In The Lord of the Rings, Fangorn is a place where time moves slowly. Trees remember battles that men have forgotten. Carnac is a lot like that. The stones are not dead. They’re just waiting.

I can’t help but wonder who placed them here, so careful and deliberate. The stones of Carnac weren’t raised by elves or Ents, but by real people. Neolithic builders, thousands of years before written history. Here’s what we know about them.

HISTORY OF THE ALIGNMENTS OF CARNAC

The Alignments of Carnac in Brittany, France, are one of the most remarkable prehistoric monuments in Europe. They consist of long rows of standing stones (menhirs) and other megalithic features that stretch across the landscape.

Archaeological studies show that many of the stones date from between about 4,800 and 3,500 BC — some recent research suggests parts were erected as early as 4,600 BC.

The site is not a single line but a complex of alignments: four major groups (for example, Ménec, Kermario, Kerlescan, Petit Ménec) that lie in the commune of Carnac and its surroundings.

Originally, these stones were erected by Neolithic peoples who lived in what we now call Brittany. Their purpose remains a subject of debate: some propose they were ritual or ceremonial, others suggest funerary meaning, or perhaps linked to astronomical patterns or seasonal calendars.

Over the millennia, many stones were removed, toppled, or reused in local buildings, especially in historic times. The word “alignments” refers to the visible rows of standing stones that still remain.

Today, the Alignments of Carnac are protected as important heritage sites. Research continues to refine their dating and function, and the monuments remain a remarkable testimony to the ambition and organisation of prehistoric communities.

References:

• Musee de Prehistoire:The Carnac Alignments
• Göteborgs universite: Menhirs of Carnac
• Alignments of Carnac Wikipedia
• Carnac Tourism: The World Famous Standing Stones
• Internet Sacred Text Archive: Menhirs and Dolmens

LEGENDS & MYTHS OF CARNAC

There are actual legends connected to the Carnac stones. One of the most widely told involves Saint Cornély. According to Breton tradition, Cornély was being pursued by soldiers. He and his oxen fled, and the stones of Carnac are said to be the soldiers turned to stone as a result of divine intervention.

Another version says the stones were dancing at midnight on Christmas Eve, and people who saw them would be crushed beneath as the stones marched to the sea.

While these legends don’t claim to explain the actual Neolithic origins of the stones, they illustrate how later generations understood and imagined the dramatic rows of stones in their landscape.

MY THOUGHTS on CARNAC

• Your walk through Carnac: Describe how it feels to be watched by stone that might remember more than you do. PLUS
• Environmental reflection: These monuments lasted thousands of years. What are we building that will last that long?
• “Heart of Fangorn” as a prayer for the planet: This song speaks for trees, for roots, for voices we ignore in our haste.
• In Fangorn, the Ents stand watch over the woods. At Carnac, the menhirs stand silent on the moor. If they could speak, what would their witness be?
• The Ents of Fangorn resist change; the stones of Carnac endure it. When do you find yourself standing still while everything else moves?

27:48 - Brobdingnagian Bards “Heart of Fangorn” from Memories of Middle Earth

• Get the “They Come In Pints” album pin to own Memories of Middle Earth and enter the forest
• Listen to the song recorded live at Dragon Con 2024 in a Bootleg Concert from our Podcast.
• You can also hear the song on a past Bards podcast episode that was recorded right before we flew off on the second Brobdingnagian Tour of Ireland in 2008.

HEART OF FANGORN

Lyrics and music Marc Gunn

Long before men tread Middle-Earth,
Before the dwarves and elves gave birth,
There sprouted a race for the trees' defense
In the heart of Fangorn, there live the Ents.

Ha-room… Ha-da-ra-room.
Ha-room… Ha-da-ra-room.

Patient farmers they tend the woods.
Gaurdians of stems and of roots.
They hear the arbors' laments and wails
From falling axes and tearful trails.

Ha-room… Ha-da-ra-room.
Ha-room… Ha-da-ra-room.

For Living Creatures all roam the land,
But hasty judgements make careless hands.
One thoughtless word from a thoughtless king
A thousand creatures die beneath the trees.

Ha-room… Ha-da-ra-room.
Ha-room… Ha-da-ra-room.

The rivers will flow though their course may change.
The birds are born and will fly away.
Men will come and men will go,
But the Ents remain through the melting snow.

Ha-room… Ha-da-ra-room.
Ha-room… Ha-da-ra-room.

Mark it down. Because the stones are not silent. They’re just slow to speak.

This is the final episode named Quest & Chorus. For that matter, it’s also the final episode of Folk Songs & Stories, at least by those names. I ran a poll on Patreon to see what name people liked the most. The most popular name was Pub Songs & Stories. So we’re moving back to that name.

That said, Quest & Chorus is not gone forever. This is just the beginning. I really liked this special feature and so in some episodes in the future, I hope to include a quest and chorus for you.

I also realized that the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, my award-winning flagship program, is a great show. But over the past decade, the podcast has become more and more dominated by instrumental Celtic music. Which is fantastic. I love a great set of tunes as much as the songs. But I feel like the singers and the songwriters lost out a bit.

I started playing music because I wanted to be a songwriter. I love all styles of music. I love learning how to write songs. Writing Celtic and folk songs are one of the reasons I continue to create music.

So another thing I will be doing with a section of the podcast is to continue to promote the singers, songs, and songwriters that I find whether on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast or wherever.

A great example is the interview that I’m sharing next time on the podcast. I interviewed Mikey Mason about his songwriting techniques. The things that inspire him to write a new song and share it each and every week for several years now.

I’m trying to write more songs myself, and I will continue to share them over on Patreon but hopefully every month I will have a new song that I can share in this podcast as well.

Additional References:

• Listen to History of Celtic Brittany on the Celtfather Travel Podcast
• Postcard: Fortresse Largoet + 2022 Podcast Planning & Strategies
• Pub Songs Podcast #162: Carnac Celtic Concert
• Celtfather: Secret History of the Celts Revealed
• CIV 2017: Arrived in Paris

31:10 - CREDITS

Thanks for listening to Pub Songs & Stories. This episode was edited by Marc Gunn & Mitchell Petersen.

You can follow and listen to the show on my Patreon or wherever you find podcasts. Sign up to my mailing list to learn more about songs featured in this podcast and discover where I’m performing.

Clean energy isn’t just good for the planet, it’s good for your wallet. Solar and wind are now the cheapest power sources in history. But too many politicians would rather protect billionaires than help working families save on their bills. Real change starts when we stop allowing the ultra-rich to write our energy policy and run our government. Let’s choose affordable, renewable power. Clean energy means lower costs, more freedom, and a planet that can actually breathe.

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