The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #92616 Message #1772535
Posted By: Geordie-Peorgie
30-Jun-06 - 05:22 AM
Thread Name: Songs about World War I
Subject: Lyr Add: DEATH OF A SOLDIER (Ron Trueman-Border)
Ron Trueman-Border's "Death Of A Soldier"
DEATH OF A SOLDIER
He was court-martialled one morning in May There on the battlefield they dragged him away The charge was desertion. He was sentenced next day In the year of our Lord, Nineteen Fifteen
His name was McMichaels. His age, 20 years A ragged foot soldier in the bold Grenadiers Like a million before him, just a boy volunteer Sent to fight for his king and his country
The church bells will ring and the ravens will sing And the rifles will sound in the square-o And by the old barracks wall a soldier will fall Far from the green fields of old England
With the big guns a-roaring, the smoke in his eyes He kept the late watch - midnight to sunrise And while death danced around him and screams rent the skies Like a statue he stood there 'til morning
The dawn brought the nightmare on home to him then Shell-shocked, he wandered past the wounded and slain And on to Jerusalem he walked in the rain Leaving all, but the madness, behind him
The church bells will ring and the ravens will sing And the rifles will sound in the square-o And by the old barracks wall a soldier will fall Far from the green fields of old England
The sergeant-at-arms took his rifle away When they found him days later in a ditch-water grave He had his arms round a dead man, a German they say And he was singing "The Rose Of Trelawney"
His Mother is weeping, his sweetheart the same For death and dishonour, a grave with no name Just the Lily-Of-The-Valley for all England's shame And who'll mourn the death of this soldier
The church bells will ring and the ravens will sing And the rifles will sound in the square-o And by the old barracks wall a soldier will fall Far from the green fields of old England
On the albums "Trust" by Ron Trueman-Border and "Angels" by George Wilson