This Disney+ show grows ever more popular as we travel through October toward Halloween. Every step along that path, each episode has focused on the song that is central to the story: The Ballad of the Witches’ Road. But the song isn’t always the same. (Spoilers for Agatha All Along episodes 1-4 ahead!)
The first episode, titled after the song’s opening lyric (“seekest thou the Road”) sets us on the journey outlined by the song the coven sings to open the gate that leads to the Witches’ Road. Each of the witches on this journey hopes to regain her lost power by traveling, but that will mean something different for each of them. Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) sings the same “sacred chant” lyrics as the rest, but she is secretly dancing to a different beat.
Alice’s mother, the rock goddess Lorna Wu (Elizabeth Anweis), left behind a platinum-level hit version of the ballad, with slightly different lyrics. Comparing the first verse from the two, the differences are immediately visible:
Seekest thou the Road I have learned the lesson To all that’s foul and fair Of all that’s foul and fair Gather sisters fire, Our love was forged in fire water, earth and air water, earth and air
We’ve seen the Witches’ Road test Marvel’s Coven of Chaos with water and fire so far with flooding houses and burning music studios. Episode 4 ends with what might be a trial of earth, as the witches are pulled underground. But it also saw them flying through the element of air on broomsticks, so we’ll have to stay tuned to know what’s next.
Lorna’s version of the ballad focuses on the more personal parts of the journey, offering to “risk this heart of mine” rather than the general promise of “glory shall be thine” as offered in the original. In episode 3, Alice explains that her mother was trying to open the Road every time she performed the song. Confiding in Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), she says that the whole crowd at her sold-out shows were her coven.
Some of the biggest departures in the songs’ meanings occur in the chorus. Both invite us to go down, down, down the Road. However, the chant tells us we are in a “circle sewn with fate,” while Lorna asks us to “follow me, my friend.” As the relationships in the show swing from antagonism to friendship, viewers can feel the tension between those concepts. Will they walk the road, as Lorna’s version says, “together and alone?” Or will only one of them find “glory at the end?”
Verse two raises some interesting questions regarding the true identities of some of the characters we’re on this jourrney with. In the original, the witches sing, “I hold Death’s hand in mine.” Along with fans speculating over the Teen’s real name, many are wondering whether green witch Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) is actually Lady Death, Thanos’ ultimate beloved and the Marvel universe’s personification of death itself. This is juxtaposed to Wu’s defiance in her lyrics: “to love that never dies.” Based on the conclusion of episode 3, we can assume that love is the one she shares with her daughter. But with Alice down for the count at the end of episode 4, we don’t know anything for sure.
The 1970s rock version of the ballad has one thing the original does not: a bridge. It contains instructions seemingly meant for Alice alone: “remember what I told you/ it’s the only way we survive.” Those these words might have gotten the daughter through a trial by fire, they might mean even more as the Road leads on.
Finally, the two cuts of the ballad hold hints about where Agatha All Along and the road will end. The original speaks of “tricks and trials,” which we’re already seeing plenty of as the miniseries heads to its conclusions. Lorna’s song, however, tells us “what’s lost is found, what’s fierce is bound,” which hints at reversals of fortune to come. The fierceness that’s bound might be Agatha’s power, or that of the Teen, revealed in episode 4 to be Wiccan, also known as Billy Kaplan, son of Scarlet Witch. Like his mother, this hero can warp reality. Scarlet Witch has used this power in the past to resurrect the dead and preserve those she loves. As Wu’s song says, we still have to “dance with death” but she also says, “I’ll see you at the end.”
This likely means we have not seen the last of this mother-daughter duo. And we shouldn’t count anyone out, no matter how dead they seem to have been. You can catch new episodes of Agatha All Along on Wednesdays at 9pm ET / 6pm PT on Disney+.
