This one I wrote for last years "Write a Lincolnshire Folk Song" cvompetition but failed to make the final ten. It relates to the First World War and is called "Lincolnshire Lads Answer the Call"


Went down into Lincoln, my uniform shining,
A fiery young soldier, away to the war.
I said my goodbye to my dainty young sweetheart,
A knowin' I might never see her no more.
I marched far away' o'er the fens and to Grimsby,
And sailed far away 'cross the wild rolling sea.
I went with my regiment into the battle,
Not knowing my future and what was to be!

Two days without sleep, as we travelled the ocean,
The sickness it took us and turned us all green.
No food could we eat then, for none could we stomach,
We were looking much less than a fighting machine.
But we fought side by side, our bayonets thrusting,
The shots they rang out and so many men fell.
We moved on the enemy, killing and dying,
My legs disappeared, I was hit by a shell.

So many men died and more they were injured,
Back to Lincoln they brought those alive and in pain.
Now just half a man, I was vowing that I would
not ever be seein' my true love again.
But she being wilful, she made to my presence,
She held me so tight I could scarce catch the air.
She vowed that she loved me and would so for ever,
Her lifetime she now would devote to my care.

The war it was ended, with no side the winner,
But many sad losers confined to their beds
Some legs and arms missing all lost during combat,
Some mentally shot and some out of their heads.
'Twas so long ago I left Lincoln for battle,
A memory so distant but now after all.
I often look down for to see where my legs were,
They were lost to me only when I answered the call.

So to Lincolnshire men who are ready for fighting,
For all you young men who may choose to make war.
You may not come home whole of mind or of body,
And you may never see, your own homeland no more.

Mike Hill
(July 2007)