Like any good song or poem it works on different levels. But literally what I take it is happening is that this young lad is out getting drunk, and feeling lost and a long way from home, and in a pub this old fella is telling him about his war experiences. Which basically consist of getting shot to bits with his mates, and then coming home and his girl isn't waiting for him.

It's essentially the Band Played Waltzing Matilda stuff. The words about arms and legs being scattered all around is a quote from a song about the Crimean War, the Kerry Recruit.

It ends with the lad staggering off, drunk and angry about the futility of it al, and he knows his girl isn't waiting for him back home either. He's recognising that he's in the same boat as the old wreck of a man, fucked up. And a poet at the same time.

Great song. And the jukebox - that's Johnny Ray and Philomena Begley playing. (And here are the words - except for a typo where the DT has sand where it should be sang.)