I have just found out that "There's a Long, Long, Trail" was MUCH beloved by my Oz Grandfather, who died as a result of a WWI TB infection (he was a Medical Orderly in France).

The song was written c. 1914 by Alonzo Elliot (music) and Stoddard King (words) and I have a great version on CD by John Roberts and Tony Barrand ("A Present From the Gentlemen" Golden Hind, 1992), where they also do "The Valley of the Shadow" and "The Old Barbed Wire" from the Great War.

It may be classed as a rather "sentimental" song by today's world, but I have long been drawn to it and love to sing it in harmony with my partner - strange that I should now discover this link to my ancestral past too!!


Cheers! R-J