Want to do this with some light percussion and a guitar. I'll record when I get time but wanted to throw the lyrics out

Bm
A long long time ago
A
a story told through the years
Bm     (etc)
a minstrel sang his songs out loud
to all that cared to hear
A simple boy with simple needs
a desperate time of evil deeds
with a voice that filled men's hearts with joy
in a dire time of need

He sang about the better times
the springtime and the sun
He loved his life in the open fields
with nature he was one
He drank from the streams and ate from the land
his home was where he stood,
Singing his songs was his joy in life
he spread it where he could

One day some men came to spread the word
"religion" they did tell
They didn't know what to make of him
so they threw him in a cell
A heretic they called him,
his songs a blasphemy
He sat in that hole for two long years
before they set him free

He didn't know what caused those men
to act the way they did
so he played his songs like always
for the townfolk and their kids
Those men of God took him again
and told him he was wrong
they burned him at the steak that night
for singing out his songs

Well that was a long long time ago
or so the legends say
but the music from those days of old
can be heard to this day
if you've ever made up a song
and for other people played
the spirit of that minstrel boy
lives on in you today

yea the spirit of that minstrel boy
lives on in us today

Pan the Man!!!!!

I can see him in his bells and hat! Singing this song.
A bit Pithonesque but I can get over that!
Yes thank god people are not into minstrel stakes anymore!
Though there are a few minstrels I would gladly burn as heretics!

this has strong folk sung appeal...
music can resonate these words even more so...
I really dig Brendan Perry from Dead Can Dance
and it was the first thing I thought of when I put a melody in my head...

hope the best for accompanying this with music...