G'day all,

As I said in some other thread, it is a terrific song. I team it with a Henry Lawson poem from 1916; 'Scots of the Riverina' and just leave out the poem's family name to avoid confusion (the poem was originally about a family named Grahame but the name is only mentioned once) and as I end I slip into an unaccompanied 'No Man's Land'. It can bring tears to the toughest crowd!

As far as the name goes I would always call it what Eric Bogle called it - 'No Man's Land' but I'm sure Eric collects the royalties from the versions called 'Green Fields of France' ... or even (really confusingly) 'Flowers of the Forest'. After all, he is an accountant by training ... and a Scots one at that!

The really interesting thing to me is that Eric is so well known for two World War I songs when he is best enjoyed here, in Australia, as a very comic songwriter with a just slightly aslant view of Aussie habits and every now and then an very effective commentator on current events and trends. Still, the royalties from NML (or TGFoF - or FotF) and TBPWM keep him fat and sassy to keep us Aussies honest!

Regards,

Bob Bolton