Procol Harum - Repent Walpurgis (1967)

"Repent Walpurgis" is the sole instrumental track on Procol Harum's first album, Procol Harum. Most rock enthusiasts regard it as the most powerful track on either the UK or US version of the LP. The title is a chance combination of two prevailing moods the band members had regarding the song. As composer Matthew Fisher explains: "I thought it was all very angst-ridden and hence suggested 'Repent'. Someone else (probably Gary or Keith) thought it evoked images of Walpurgis Night (demons and such). Eventually we decided to put the two together."

My video pays homage to the band and the song, but also to several ideas emerging from the title. One of these is obviously the night before May Day, Walpurgisnacht (or Walpurgis Night), the ancient Celtic festival held by witches in consort with Satan and the demonic forces. Today it is largely a festival celebrating the arrival of spring with dancing and drinking, but in some countries people still hold to the old traditions and dress up in costumes and masks and dance wildly about bonfires lit at night. Another idea is that Walpurgis was an English nun who went as a missionary to Germany and became abbess of Heidenheim. Again, the first of May, also Walpurgisnacht, is the day of celebrating her memory. However, in another concept, Walpurgis is known to many Italian fans as Fortuna, the blindfolded goddess who could bring about either good or evil fortune.

I have used several source films, mostly silent, to deal with all these themes. A kiss to Fortuna begins to the song, then on to Sister Walpurgis lying in her death bed, the ghost of the only man she ever loved kneeling at her bedside, unable to comfort her. He is led away by the Grim Reaper to a coach, despondent at the futility of his actions. The next scene finds female celebrants teasing a hag unable to gain admittance to an evil castle to join in Walpurgisnacht revelry. The scene shifts to the countryside, beyond an old graveyard, where the Devil and his demons frolic with witches around a roaring fire. Shift to the Bach Prelude No. 1 portion of "Repent Walpurgis" to find a young monk dreaming idyllically as he gazes out into the garden, only to be haunted by the ghost of a young woman with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love with. She may or may not be an apparition of Walpurgis. Then cut to a nun coerced by an unseen force to take a knife and commit murder. Thus begins the final segment portraying "The Loudun possessions" when the entire convent of nuns are thrown into an hysterical frenzy by the nun's actions and her altercation with the head abbess.

Thus, this video tells a story of sorts or seems to. But of course the title "Repent Walpurgis" has no story to it either and only appears to.

My favorite track off Procol Harum's first album. Enjoy.