This is what a ninth-century folk song sounds like.

When I heard it sung last night, the seventh and last verse sounded for sure like an interpolation from modern times (the era of summit conferences, UN peacekeepers, and opinionators’ talk of postnationalism), but I just cut-and-pasted it from a Lutheran hymnal that goes back to 1854. The ninth century was a thousand years before that.

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind 


In one the hearts of all mankind; 


Oh, bid our sad divisions cease, 


And be yourself our King of Peace. 


This gorgeously spooky version, by the Nashville duo The Civil Wars, includes only the first three verses. It has called forth dozens of YouTube cover versions from the heartland.