Memorial Day songs

Subject: Lyr Add: LET THEM IN^^
From: mactheturk
Date: 27 May 00 - 09:01 AM

My favorite Memorial Day song is called "Let Them In". It has been recorded by John Gorka and David Wilcox. It is actually an anonymous poem found in a hospital in the Philippines during World War II. I wish the song was better known and used on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. I think it's a great song, written by a great writer that we will never know.

LET THEM IN

Let them in, Peter. They are very tired.
Give them couches where the angels sleep, and light those fires.

Let them wake whole again, to brand new dawns,
Fired by the sun, not wartime's bloody guns.

May their peace be deep.
Remember where the broken bodies lie.
God knows how young they were to have to die.
God knows how young they were to have to die.

So give them things they like. Let them make some noise.
Give dance hall bands, not golden harps to these our boys.

And let them love, Peter, for they had no time.
They should have trees and bird songs and hills to climb.

A taste of summer in a ripened pear,
And girls sweet as meadow wind with flowing hair.

And tell them how they are missed, but say not to fear.
It's gonna be alright with us down here.

Let them in, Peter. Let them in, Peter. Let them in, Peter.

Peace,

Mac.

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HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 29-Dec-00

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 27 May 00 - 09:31 AM

Very moving, Mac.
Brings to mind Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Streets of London. I'm also thinking about Each Night at Nine, though I've only heard it once or twice. The story I got was that it would bring comfort to boys serving overseas in World War II to think they could link their thoughts with a loved one back home "each night at 9."

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From: Mbo
Date: 27 May 00 - 09:50 AM

I knew a man called him Sam 'the Cane'
Few folks even knew his name
But a hero yes was he
He left a boy, came back a man
Still many just don't understand
About the reasons we are free
I can't forget the look in his eyes
Or the tears he cried
As he said these words to me

All gave some, some gave all
Some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all

Now Sam 'the Cane' is no longer here
But his words are oh so clear
As they echo throughout our land
For all his friends who gave us all
Who stood the ground and took the fall
To help their fellow man
Love your country, live with pride
And don't forget those who died
America can't you see?

--Mbo

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From: mactheturk
Date: 27 May 00 - 02:46 PM

Mbo,

Great words! Who wrote it?

Thanks ,

Mac

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From: Mbo
Date: 27 May 00 - 05:55 PM

The song was written by Billy Ray Cyrus & his wife. He sings it on his debut album "Some Gave All."

--Mbo

Subject: Lyr Add: 11:11^^
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 27 May 00 - 07:39 PM

On Garnet Rogers latest album, a track called "11:11"... seems to be a traditional New Brunswick tune called Derwentwater's Farewell that he put lyrics to... (I may be wrong in that...)

11:11

Ah the glorious few are all the fewer here
In the cold November Air
The crowd draws silent their collars raised
To the edges of the square
The children's choir sings "In Flander's Fields"
The band plays "Over There"
The old heroes still try to dress the line
As the chaplain leads the prayer

For the glorious few no longer stands so straight
As they did long years before
When they faced a hard and cruel fate
On a far and distant shore
Their tunics faded green and blue
Poor shelter from the cold
The memories made yet raw and new
At the calling of the roll

The heads are bowed in silence now
At the tolling of the hour
The first few falling flakes of snow
Drift gently on the flowers
All piled and stacked against the stones
Petals fluttering in the air
The eyes that stare down through the years
At the one no longer there

The taste of lost and wasted years
So bitter on the tongue
White breath in clouds in the autumn cold
Frail chests with medals hung
In battle ribbons red and gold
In the pale November sun
The hands and faces grown so old
While the heart stays ever young

For the glorious few are all the fewer here
The old soldiers form the square
The wind blows hard and shakes the leaves
And stirs the thin white hair
Of these fading brave and fragile souls
As the bugler plays "Last Post"
The snow falls thick and faster still
And turns them white as ghosts

Good gods it's hard to type through tears....
{~`

Subject: Lyr Add: Memorial Day^^
From: GUEST,Alex
Date: 27 May 00 - 07:53 PM

James McCandless of Chicago wrote this musical family snapshot. It's on his CD "Sea of Freedom"

MEMORIAL DAY

Grandma got after my cousin and me,
Scolding, yet smiling, shaking her head.
"Don't you throw rocks down the well anymore,
But I suppose boys will be boys," she said.
Joyce and Callista were cooking the food,
Chicken and spuds and roasted ears.
Poor little Margie got stung by a bee,
So we gave her some ice-cream to soothe her tears.


CHORUS: Grandpa played a hornpipe on the old violin
And Babe played accordion.
As the sun went down on Memorial Day
At the family reunion.

Don built a lean-to by the side of a tree,
Mother took pictures, made everyone smile.
Archie pitched horseshoes with an Indian kid
And the clanging of ringers echoed for miles.
My uncles got into political talk,
The cold war and stuff I knew nothing about.
Dad walked me down to the fish hatchery
And he lifted me up to look at the trout.

(chorus)

Up in the mountains above the timberline,
A trickle of water comes out of the ground.
From this humble beginning it goes on to be
The mightiest river that ever ran down.

(chorus)

As the sun went down on Memorial Day
At the family reunion.

---

HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 29-Dec-00

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From: Banjer
Date: 27 May 00 - 10:03 PM

One that comes to mind is an old timer sung by Elton Britt, called "There's A Star Spangled Banner Flying Somewhere"

Subject: Lyr Add: The Blue and the Gray^^
From: Susan A-R
Date: 27 May 00 - 10:04 PM

I still go for the song that appeared in Atlantic Monthly (??) shortly after the incident in Mississippi that started the entire tradition, called the Blue and the Gray. When we've sung it (Hardtack and Homespun, somewhere out there in mp3land) we have cut some of the verses, but here it is in all of it's victorian heart on your sleeve splendor

The Blue and the Gray

By the flow of the inland river
Where the fleet of iron has fled
Where the blades of the grave grasses quiver
Asleep are the ranks of the dead
Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the judgement day
Under the one the blue
Under the other the gray

From the silence of sorrowful hours
The desolate mourners go
Lovingly laden with flowers
Alike for the friends and the foe
Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the judgement day
Under the roses the blue
Under the lillies the gray

No more shall the war cry sever
Nor the winding rivers be red
They banish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves of our dead
Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the judgement day
Tears and love for the blue
Love and tears for the gray.

I'll go vind the author's name. The melody is also gorgeous.

Susan

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From: Banjer
Date: 27 May 00 - 10:35 PM

Look here what I found. Our own Joe Offer is responsible for this entry....
There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere.

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From:
Date: 28 May 00 - 06:39 PM

The Elton Britt poem/song is populist. The words are written to appeal to surface emotion. I'm sure his song helped a lot of people thru difficult times, it reaffirmed patriotism which at the time need affirmation. It's rite in there with "O Say can you see." On a more profound level a poem which sprang from the same war which gave us our Memorial Day, is Eric Bogel's "Green Fields of France." He writes: "I can see by your graveside you were only nineteen, when you joined the glorious fallen in 1916." This pays tribute to the Allied war dead but slams the nations for making so monstrous a thing as world war. "The suffering, the dying it was all done in vain, for Willy Mc Bride it's all happening again." Elton Britt's way to to remember the fallen is to urge us to commit all, even die for our country. A better way to memoralize the dead is to question the forces at work in the world which makes this killing happen. Some hyper people out there will note some hypocricy in my celebrating an Eric Bogle song, but so be it. -- Sincerely, Harold

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From: Banjer
Date: 28 May 00 - 07:01 PM

Beg to differ but our Memorial Day began in the form of General Order 11, issued by General John Logan on the 5th of May in 1868. It was originally conceived to remember the dead of both sides of our nation's Civil War.

As for your views on patriotism, at the time that song was written, this nation's patriotism was at an all time high; no 'reaffirmation' was needed. Further if you feel that your freedoms and rights are not that important to you, I feel sorry for you. I would lay down my life to preserve mine! (And yes, even yours, whether you wanted them or not!)

But then isn't that what this day is all about? To preserve the memory of those who gave their all so that we might have different opinions and not be punished for them?

These forces in the world of which you speak are ancient. All through history and even before recorded history, mankind has had to struggle with powers of oppression, thank whomever you consider holy that their persistence and dedication won out! Banjer(not Hyper, just thankful for the sacrifices of our forefathers)

Subject: RE: MEMORIAL DAY songs
From: Abby Sale
Date: 29 May 00 - 03:42 PM

Hmmm. I like to sing "timely" sings, if I know one. That is one that somehow represents the actual day. As "Jesse James" on his Birthday or "Captain Kidd" on May 23rd, his hanging day. Or "Greenland Fisheries" on any slack day. I was (as others here, perhaps) hoping for a good trad song somehow associated with Memorial Day. Oh well.

But I do have one suggestion - Clicky, "GIVE ME MY YELLOW HOSE."

This is appropriate as today, Memorial Day, is our 60th or 90th (or anyway, a very Big number) anniversary and I always sing that one to "celebrate" weddings and anniversaries. Good tune, too.

I'm just not sure of the correct phrase to use -- "We're Memorializing our anniversary." Or "We're in deep mourning for..." Or "We're in funery for..." Hmm...