Lyr Req: Harry Brewer (Nick Burbridge)

Subject: Harry Brewer or Bruar
From:
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 07:39 PM

Heard this song of Irish origin - any ideas for lyrics, music, writer, composer, etc.

Subject: RE: Harry Brewer or Bruar
From: CraigS
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 07:05 PM

There are lots of Irish songs written to honour local heroes, usually set to an existing tune and published in the local newspaper. This sounds like one of those ...

Subject: RE: Harry Brewer or Bruar
From: Sorcha
Date: 04 Sep 02 - 11:05 AM

Apparently it's on The Levellers album World Turned Upside Down. Scroll to the bottom to order.

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Subject: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer
From: Ljung
Date: 08 Jun 03 - 01:50 AM

Hi Is there anyone that can help me with the lyrics to a song I heard in Scotland just a week ago. The singers were the North Sea Gas. It is called Harry Brewer. Thank you in advance.
Ljung

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer
From: masato sakurai
Date: 08 Jun 03 - 02:05 AM

Sound example is at the North Sea Gas site.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer or Bruar
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Jun 03 - 09:53 AM

Here's what I pieced together from a couple of sound samples:

HARRY BREWER
(Nick Burbridge)

...shore
Where thousands of poms (?) with their rattling guns
Made you march through the battery's roar.

CHORUS: So where are you now, Harry Brewer?
You're lyin' in some dirty hole
With the sun beatin' down on the ol' battleground.
May God give a rest to your soul.

There are officers safe in the barracks...

There are hundreds who'll beat on the drums
And thousands who'll carry the guns,
But if you must die of torture 'tis better to fall
For the rights you'll hand down to your sons. CHORUS

North Sea Gas, Dark Island, Scotdisc CD 689, 2003.
Levellers, World Turned Upside Down, Hag 006.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer or Bruar
From:
Date: 22 Mar 04 - 05:33 PM

Evening all.
I wrote Harry Brewer about my grand-uncle nearly twenty years ago! My version is on a McDermott's 2 Hours vs Levellers album, World Turned Upside Down (Hag Records). For more information on this and others, and the link between the bands, have a look at www.burbridgearts.org - and if you want to contact me there, I'll be happy to send you the lyrics. But I'm only too glad it's thought of as a traditional song now.
Good luck.
Nick Burbridge

Subject: Lyr Add: HARRY BREWER (Nick Burbridge)
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 06:00 AM

HARRY BREWER
(Nick Burbridge)

CHORUS: Where are you now, Harry Brewer?
You're lying in some dirty hole
With the sun beating down on the old battleground
May God give rest to your soul

1. It was in Kingstown in 1916
You enlisted to fight for the king
You all sailed away on a morning in May
And that was the last you were seen
For they threw you into battle
Like dogs on Salonika's shore
Where Ataturk's Huns with their rattling guns
Made you march through the batteries' roar

2. There are officers safe in the barracks
And medics installed by the beds
While the poor fools of war get cut down by the score
And the blood flows from their heads
Still, they gave you a fine decoration
For serving the cause of their nation
And all that you cost was a wee silver cross
And your name on a stone by the station

3. But back home where your family were grieving
There were others out fighting for freedom
On the Post Office steps with their heads held erect
They went down for a cause they believed in
They'd not die for the few that accused them
They'd not fight for the crew that abused them
But they'd hold their ground for a land of their own
And nobody's going to refuse them

4. So here's to you now, Harry Brewer
I'm not saying you could have known better
There were thousands like you who sailed over the brew
And came back in a government letter
There are hundreds who'll beat on their drums
And hundreds who'll carry their guns
But if you must die at all, sure, it's better to fall
For rights you'll hand down to your sons


from http://studiogaijin.livejournal.com/17490.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer (Nick Burbridge)
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 22 May 13 - 05:06 AM

I heard this sung in Hertford last week.
It was sung well and it makes a good song, but the sentiments saddened me.
Those soldiers mostly did fight for a cause they believed in, and do not deserve to be mocked.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer (Nick Burbridge)
From: GUEST,John Dun at work
Date: 22 May 13 - 11:46 AM

It is important to know what the songwriter is trying to say.

The same piece of writing can be interpreted in many different ways by many different readers.   I read this more as the wasteful slaughter of men by the powers that be against the views of objectors to war.

I believe that soldiers in an 'organised army' very rarely fight for a cause.   They are given a job to do and they fight for their mates who are all in the same position as them, nearly every act of bravery that I can think of involves soldiers putting themselves at risk for their comrades and not for their governments.

The song highlights the choice people can make about war and what the writer thinks, I don't see any mocking of the fallen.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer (Nick Burbridge)
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 22 May 13 - 01:05 PM

There were only a tiny proportion of professional soldiers in the army of WW1.
Many were volunteers, and all the Irish soldiers volunteered for that fight.
Volunteered for a cause they believed in just like, and not in contrast to, those in the Easter Rising.
To call them "poor fools of war" is mocking, as is describing their lovingly tended war graves as "lying in some dirty hole."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer (Nick Burbridge)
From: GUEST,John Dun still at work
Date: 22 May 13 - 02:37 PM

Interpretation Keith, I read 'lying in some dirty hole' with reference to the battlefield in the next line as being lost and left on the field in line with the implied non caring attitude of the powers that be.

The 'poor fools of war' is a phrase an objector would have used at the time and like it or not reflects the strength of opinion of the user.

This is a good song about objectors and volunteers and just like all good songs creates emotion.   The sentiments sadden you... the story makes me think...   something else to someone else.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer (Nick Burbridge)
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 22 May 13 - 03:25 PM

It is a good song John.
I think NB is sneering at poor Harry, but as you say, interpretation.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Brewer (Nick Burbridge)
From: GUEST,Richard
Date: 22 May 13 - 06:01 PM