Songs about World War I

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Jack Campin
Date: 17 May 12 - 07:13 AM

The songs written about WW1 long after the event are really about the time when they were written - Bogle's "Willie McBride" [No Man's Land] and "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" are songs about the Vietnam War.

Usually people do that when they don't have the imagination or courage to take on issues from their own time in their own terms. The godawful legacy of Jacobite cliche songs about 1745 is another example of the same process.

WW1 songs that actually date from WW1 are a lot more interesting.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Claymore
Date: 16 May 12 - 09:16 PM

At Frank Buckles funeral (the last known American survivor of WWI) we played both Over There and a song not mentioned above, Keep the Home-Fires Burning. I do not have the words, but as I recall they were as pure and plaintive as any of the so-called anti war songs. If someone could look them up, it would be worth it

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Flash Company
Date: 16 May 12 - 07:46 AM

If you want to see the Colonel, I know where he is,
I know where he is, I know where he is
If you want to see the Colonel, I know where he is,
He's pinning another medal on his chest.

I saw him, I saw him, pinning another medal on his chest,
Pinning another medal on his chest.

Then the same on down through the ranks, viz,

The Captain.... Shacked up with a French Countess
The Quarter-bloke..... Selling all the Company's Rum
The Sergeant..... Knocking off an old French whore
The Corporal...... Drunk upon the dugout floor
Until:-

But if you want to see the Private, I know where he is
I know where he is, I know where he is
If you want to see the Private, I know where he is
He's dying on the old barbed wire

I saw him, I saw him, dying on the old barbed wire,
(I saw him) Dying on the old barbed wire

The 'I saw him' in the last line spoken, not sung.
Used to sing this one as part of a group of songs around
Armistice Day, the others being 'Join the British Army', 'Any Complaints?' and 'I Don't Want to Join the Army'

FC

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: KHNic
Date: 15 May 12 - 05:07 PM

Nic P mentions "There is a song called "Lest we Forget" that I picked up in Barnsley FC many moons ago but naturally I have forgotton who wrote it."
The start is
If I just close my eyes I remember the day
Lord Kitchener called us to go
And at seventeen years I joined brave volunteers
What else was a young man to do.

It was written by Alun Rhys Jones, and recorded by Phil Hare on his "Living on Credit"

I recently sung the song at a memorial for Harry Patch. A truly magnificent song.

Subject: Lyr Add: AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA
From: GUEST,GUEST - Montreal
Date: 16 Jan 12 - 11:39 AM

Did anyone mention "AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RsKhOk7NxI

When I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915 my country said: Son,
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When the ship pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli

It well I remember that terrible day
When our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shell
And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell
He nearly blew us back home to Australia

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
Well we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then it started all over again

Oh those that were living just tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
I never knew there was worse things than dying

Oh no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind and the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the Band played Waltzing Matilda
When they carried us down the gangway
Oh nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

Now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glories
I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn
Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, their numbers get fewer
Someday, no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 16 Jan 12 - 09:58 AM

Then of course there's Kipling's "My Boy Jack" as sung by Peter Bellamy. Whilst there's scores of songs about the army in France, there seems to be very little about the Great War at sea, there's Les Sullivan's superb "Jutland", one or two by C Fox Smith, going back to Kipling there's his "The Mine-Sweepers", does anyone know of any other 'naval' & in particular Merchant Navy songs?

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: The Walrus
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 09:55 PM

Sorry, the last post was my, not logged in.

Tom

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 09:52 PM

Nobody seems to have mentioned "(The ladies go) Dancing at Whitsun"

Tom

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,Allan Conn
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 07:04 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrP0JqiRFe4

Calling Doon the Line (The Piper's Call) by Scocha

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,Bill
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 02:17 PM

If it's songs about WW1 you want you must check out Joe Solo. He is a local singer/songwriter who does many songs about WW1 as well as more contemporary fare. Go on his website here ...
http://www.joesolo.co.uk/
and check out Potter's Field.
His FB page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-Solo/29210823558

And no, I'm not Joe. Just a local chap who appreciates his work.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 03:54 PM

"Happed in Mist" as sung by June Tabor.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 03:12 PM

I have heard some great ones about horses.

I sing Gethsemane to Auld Lang Sine.

Of course they sang Keep the Home-Fires Burning and There's a Long, Long, Trail a-winding..beautiful songs to this day.

And one that is so awesome, undoubtedly sung by Germans in WWI, but of an earlier war, is Ich hatt' einen Kameraden..now translated into many languages and sung even today for fallen in Afghanistan etc. mg

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: goatfell
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 02:40 PM

and they sang this song durning the second world war as well but called it SUDA BAY

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: goatfell
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 02:39 PM

An Australian song called SULVA BAY [Suvla Bay]

Subject: Lyr Add: MARCHING INTO FLANDERS
From: Paul Davenport
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 02:34 PM

I once wrote a backwards song (no tune) about the Angels of Mons…backwards because its from an odd perspective. Maybe this'll explain?

MARCHING INTO FLANDERS

We were marching into Flanders
Through a sea of mud and mire
And the chill wet breath of fear blew through our ranks
We had our brave commanders
And we'd even got a choir
Till we came to where the Somme had burst its banks.

                O rise up, the tide it is turning
                Rise up to defend our cause
                For this is the lesson worth learning
                And this is the war to end wars

We were naught but youths a-trembling
In that cold uncertain dawn
As we listened for our orders and commands
But amidst our brave dissembling
On that bleak October morn
We all prayed our lives were safe and in God's hands

At the clouds that gathered then
In that scarlet autumn sky
Someone pointed, and our shivering turned to awe
In the clouds, a mighty host
Ten thousand men, we watched them die
And we shuddered at the bravery we saw

Rank on rank the spectres came
Through a sea of mud and blood
Dun jacketed with helmets like our own
Broken pieces in a game
Most were buried where they stood
And they fell in waves like corn when it is mown

We beheld the earth to rise
And embrace each falling lad
But we saw the gleam of courage in each face
And those hopeful, bright young eyes
Warmed what spirit we still had
Then we onward marched with faster, lighter pace

So we crossed the Somme and turned
Moving north to meet our fate
Where and whence that vision came, no man here knows
We passed through towns that burned
But now, consumed with hope not hate
At Agincourt we stood and drew our bows.

Paul Davenport © April 2008

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 12:53 PM

Dick, I had the same impression when I saw it on the big screen in 1969.

American critics didn't "get" it and still don't. My English professor (who specialized in film) said, "It's obviously about Vietnam. But a Vietnam movie should be set in Vietnam."

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 11:28 AM

Possibly tangential, but I just got around to seeing the move "Oh What a Lovely War", and it flatly blew me away. If anyone has access to Netflix or something like, I'd strongly recommend it.THe musical background consists of songs that had currency in 1914-1918, and the acting, directing and cinematography are superb.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 10:47 AM

My mother used to sing a version of this song that said there stands a man with a big pop gun
ready to a shoot you if you start to run.

What about a slavery song?

Joyce Gettleman

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 04:10 PM

You can hear a recording of Here We Are! Here We Are!! Here We Are Again!!!, sung by Fredrick Wheeler, at YouTube. It was taken from an Edison Wax Cylinder. The lyrics are exactly as given above, at 01 Apr 08 - 08:53 PM.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 11:55 AM

I have found among my mother's things sheet music. Its titled "I'm Off for a Place Somewhere in France (But I'm Coming Back from Berlin)." If anyone would like to have it please email me at [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 02:43 PM

Gethsemane has been mentioned several times, but I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Peter Bellamy's setting of it.
Also, didn't Iron Maiden write one about WWI? [Paschendale]

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: trevek
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 02:27 PM

The Fureys have a song called "Gallipoli".

Also seem to recall Mike Harding singing a song called "The Accrington Pals" about the smallest regiment in the British Army (which was wiped out at the Somme).

Also, maybe "(Right Away) Salonika"

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 05:11 PM

Roy Brown and Wop May

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Beer
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:09 PM

Thanks for sharing this song machree01. It's the first time I've heard it. Very much appreciated.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,machree01
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:39 PM

Jerry Lynch singing A Silent Night, Christmas 1915, written by Cormac MacConnell. the truce on the Front Line, World War One.


http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=JT0ysO58KXE

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:33 PM

Another reference book would have to be WHAT A LOVELY WAR!, edited by Roy Palmer, which includes songs from the Boer War to 1990. The songs included are generally songs composed by the military personnel, rather than the armchair poets of the day, or by more contemporary singer-songwriters.

Cheerly,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:27 PM

As seen from the other side - Jon Harvison's "Sibylle's song" - "The Kaiser said, we'd be home before the leaves had fallen from the trees"...

Kitty

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 01:19 PM

From a Yank's perspective, a lot of the music associated with WWI was not connected as much to battle as to the romantic notions too many still had of warfare. Songs like "Over There" were meant to "jack up" the public and the troops. "Lili Marlene" was said to have been sung on both sides.

I have been reading a book about the last day of the war. Generals, sitting on their well-padded arses well back of the action, were still sending "cannon fodder" into the trenches even after they knew that the armistice had been signed ending the war. The Kirk Douglas speech to the uncaring general in "Paths of Glory" pretty well characterizes the leadership - elitist generals who had no empathy or care for the individual soldier. The absolute futility of the back and forth stalemate in the trench warfare consumed much of a generation of young men on both sides.

Therein lies the real stuff of song and story. You can tell, from the tone and depth of the songs from England and from the continent the depth of their loss.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 10:35 AM

There is a song called "Sestra" (Nurse) by the Russian band Lyube. The words are from WWI, but the music is theirs. It's about a dying soldier in the hospital asking the nurse to write a letter to his wife saying that he is ok.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: topical tom
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 10:20 AM

Sorry! I goofed again.Another try.I Didn't Raise My Son To Be A Soldier An interesting anti-war song and an interesting site.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: topical tom
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 10:16 AM

An unusual anti-war song of world war 1

Subject: Lyr Add: ON THE WIRE (Robert W. Service)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 09:18 AM

Robert W. Service also served in World War 1 in an ambulance unit and composed a book of poems based on his experience. Here's one that I find particularly haunting:

By Robert W. Service, in RHYMES OF A RED CROSS MAN, published by Barse & Hopkins, New York, US, © 1916, pp. 74-77.

ON THE WIRE

O God, take the sun from the sky!
It's burning me, scorching me up.
God, can't You hear my cry?
Water! A poor, little cup!
It's laughing, the cursed sun!
See how it swells and swells
Fierce as a hundred hells!
God, will it never have done?
It's searing the flesh on my bones;
It's beating with hammers red
My eyeballs into my head;
It's parching my very moans.
See! It's the size of the sky,
And the sky is a torrent of fire,
Foaming on me as I lie
Here on the wire . . . the wire. . . .

Of the thousands that wheeze and hum
Heedlessly over my head,
Why can't a bullet come,
Pierce to my brain instead,
Blacken forever my brain,
Finish forever my pain?
Here in the hellish glare
Why must I suffer so?
Is it God doesn't care?
Is it God doesn't know?
Oh, to be killed outright,
Clean in the clash of the fight!
That is a golden death,
That is a boon; but this . . .
Drawing an anguished breath
Under a hot abyss,
Under a stooping sky
Of seething, sulphurous fire,
Scorching me up as I lie
Here on the wire . . . the wire. . . .

Hasten, O God, Thy night!
Hide from my eyes the sight
Of the body I stare and see
Shattered so hideously.
I can't believe that it's mine.
My body was white and sweet,
Flawless and fair and fine,
Shapely from head to feet;
Oh no, I can never be
The thing of horror I see
Under the rifle fire,
Trussed on the wire . . . the wire. . . .

Of night and of death I dream;
Night that will bring me peace,
Coolness and starry gleam,
Stillness and death's release:
Ages and ages have passed, --
Lo! it is night at last.
Night! but the guns roar out.
Night! but the hosts attack.
Red and yellow and black
Geysers of doom upspout.
Silver and green and red
Star-shells hover and spread.
Yonder off to the right
Fiercely kindles the fight;
Roaring near and more near,
Thundering now in my ear;
Close to me, close . . . Oh, hark!
Someone moans in the dark.
I hear, but I cannot see,
I hear as the rest retire,
Someone is caught like me,
Caught on the wire . . . the wire. . . .

Again the shuddering dawn,
Weird and wicked and wan;
Again, and I've not yet gone.
The man whom I heard is dead.
Now I can understand:
A bullet hole in his head,
A pistol gripped in his hand.
Well, he knew what to do, --
Yes, and now I know too. . . .
   
Hark the resentful guns!
Oh, how thankful am I
To think my beloved ones
Will never know how I die!
I've suffered more than my share;
I'm shattered beyond repair;
I've fought like a man the fight,
And now I demand the right
(God! how his fingers cling!)
To do without shame this thing.
Good! there's a bullet still;
Now I'm ready to fire;
Blame me, God, if You will,
Here on the wire . . . the wire. . . .

When I posted this poem on the Oldpoetry website, I was able to include a photo of a Russian soldier "on the wire." Here's a link to that photo and a whole lot more poems by Service: Click here for website!

I haven't dared try to set this poem to music but maybe someone else will find a way to do it. If Eric Bogle can succeed with "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" there may be hope for this poem and its message.

Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: YOU'RE A GOOD MAN ALBERT BROWN
From: Nerd
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 12:26 AM

"Banks of Sicily" is about the Second World War, I believe.

How about this, by XTC:

"YOU'RE A GOOD MAN ALBERT BROWN (Curse You Red Barrel)"

Well you're a good man Albert Brown
And you was wounded in the war
And though you shot some people down
You're still a good man Albert Brown
Well you're a good man Albert Brown
Though you are drunk upon the floor
And if you're buying the next round
Then you're a good man Albert...

Brown was the colour of the mud across the Somme
Red was the blood you spilled upon it
Pink were the fingers of the nurse who dressed your wound
White was the starch upon her bonnet
And you married that nurse
And her name was Else
And then along came dad

...I'll have another pint of...

Brown is the colour of your old walking boots
Green is the cash you'd love to squander
Gold is the colour of your wife's faithful heart
So get yourself home, no more to wander
And you married that nurse
And her name's still Else
And another child was had
You're a good man Albert Brown

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Beer
Date: 01 Apr 08 - 11:00 PM

Mothers, Daughters, Wives.
Missing in Action
A Single Maple Leaf
Letter From The Trenches
Not sure about this one: Banks of Sicily

Beer (adrien)

Subject: Lyr Add: HERE WE ARE AGAIN (C Knight, K Lyle)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Apr 08 - 08:53 PM

This is on an album called "Glory of the Music Hall, Vol. 1," where it is called HERE WE ARE AGAIN.

From the sheet music at National Library of Australia:

Hit of the "Cinderella" pantomime.
HERE WE ARE! HERE WE ARE!! HERE WE ARE AGAIN!!!
(THE BRITISH ARMY'S BATTLE CRY.)
Written and composed by Charles Knight and Kenneth Lyle.
Sung by Mark Sheridan.
Melbourne: Allan & Co., c1914.
"By special arrangement with Francis, Day & Hunter, London and New York"

1. The poets, since the War began, have written lots of things
About our gallant soldier lads, which no one ever sings.
Although their words are very good, the lilt they seem to miss;
For Tommy likes a tricky song, the song that goes like this:

CHORUS: Here we are! here we are!! here we are again!!!
There's Pat and Mac and Tommy and Jack and Joe.
When there's trouble brewing, when there's something doing,
Are we downhearted? No! Let 'em all come!
Here we are! here we are!! here we are again!!!
We're fit and well, and feeling as right as rain.
Never mind the weather. Now then, altogether:
Hullo! Hullo! Here we are again!

2. When Tommy went across the sea to bear the battle's brunt,
Of course he sang this little song while marching to the front,
And when he's walking through Berlin, he'll sing the anthem still.
He'll shove a "Woodbine" on and say, "How are you, Uncle Bill? CHORUS

3. And when the boys have finished up with Hermann and with Max,
And when the enemy's got it where the chicken got the axe,
The girls will all be waiting, 'midst the cheering and the din,
To hear their sweethearts singing, as the ship comes sailing in: CHORUS

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 06:01 PM

Standing in Line by Lester Simpson, The Rose of York by Ken Thompson & Leslie Hale, and Tunes of Glory (aka When Margaret Was Eleven) by Pete St John haven't been mentioned, I think. Susanne (skw), probably cookieless.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Micca
Date: 01 Jul 06 - 09:08 AM

Then the Somme came along on a fine summer day
And he's nicked by a bullet quite early
And a nose full of gas kept him out of the way
As his unit was mown like the barley

for My Grandfather, on this (and every) anniversary of the Ist day of the Somme, He died 40 years later of complications caused by Gas and a piece of shrapnel they found in his chest at the post-mortem

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 01 Jul 06 - 08:12 AM

. . . or I suppose you might have meant Boris Vian's Le Déserteur (did Fairport ever do that? They did have a thing about doing stuff in French for some reason) but that was about the colonial war in Algeria . . .

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 01 Jul 06 - 07:43 AM

The Deserter (Fairport Convention first on Liege & Lief) is scarcely WWI. It's a C18 broadside usually called Ratcliff/Radcliffe (or some variant thereof Highway. The bit about the Queen's Barracks and Prince Albert is a Victorian update.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,ifor
Date: 01 Jul 06 - 07:39 AM

Listen out for 'Down upon the Dugout Floor' by Coope, Boyes and Simpson. It is very moving. I also heard them do a WWI song cycle back in about 1996 at Sidmouth which was fantastic. They had some Belgian musicians on stage with them and it was a wonderfully moving concert at the Ham and my very first introduction to the festival.
Ifor

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,NicP
Date: 01 Jul 06 - 07:31 AM

There is a song called "Lest we Forget" that I picked up in Barnsley FC many moons ago but naturally I have forgotten who wrote it.
The start is
If I just close my eyes I remember the day
Lord Kitchener called us to go
And at seventeen years I joined brave volunteers
What else was a young man to do.

Whoever it was did rather a good song about a greyhound as well - Rob somebody?
I'll do some trawling in the addled recesses of my memory and see if I can come up with it, 'cos it's well worth tracking down.


BTW has anyone mentioned (Don't Despise) The Deserter (Fairport Convention, Old New Borrowed Blue)

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Dave Earl
Date: 01 Jul 06 - 06:47 AM

Among them was my Great Uncle on my mothers side and a second cousin on my fathers side.

Another cousin of my mothers was killed at Scapa Flow on HMS Hampshire (with Lord Kitchener)

Dave

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: The Shambles
Date: 01 Jul 06 - 06:39 AM

Over 20,000 British troops were killed during the Battle of the Somme on this one terrible day in 1916..

To put that statistic into some context, that was as many US troops killed in the whole of the Vietnam war.

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Dave Earl
Date: 01 Jul 06 - 05:04 AM

As mentioned Les Sullivan has written several songs relating to WW1.

I particularly like his "Jutland".

Dave Earl

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Jun 06 - 06:25 PM

Gary-

Good choice for a contemporary song about World War 1.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 30 Jun 06 - 05:17 PM

Tanglefoot's "Vimy"

-- Gary

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: GUEST,Puck
Date: 30 Jun 06 - 02:01 PM

What a thoroughly rewarding and interesting thread. thanks to all contributors

P

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: The Shambles
Date: 30 Jun 06 - 01:57 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Dilger

Subject: Lyr Add: GETHSEMANE (Rudyard Kipling)
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 30 Jun 06 - 12:15 PM

This was written after the war so perhaps is allowed.
As mentioned, Kipling's only son was lost in the war. He spent the rest of his life searching for the grave.
This is from memory, i.e. as i do it.

GETHSEMANE
(Rudyard Kipling)

The garden of Gethsemane,
In Picardy it was,
And there the people came to see,
The English soldiers pass.

We used to pass, we used to pass,
Or halt as it might be,
With gas masks stashed, in case of gas,
Beyond Gethsemane.


To the garden of Gethsemane,
There came a lovely lass,
And all the while I talked to her,
I prayed my cup might pass.

As the officer sat on the bench,
And the men sprawled on the grass,
And all the while we halted there,
I prayed my cup might pass.

It did not pass, it did not pass,
It did not pass from me,
I drank it in the cloud of gas,
Beyond Gethsemane.

Especially poignant at Easter for those who know their New Testament

Subject: RE: Songs about World War I
From: Matt_R
Date: 30 Jun 06 - 12:12 PM

I forgot "Snoopy versus the Red Baron"!