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Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish
In Mudcat MIDIs:
Romans and English (from The Singing Game, Iona and Peter Opie)
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Subject: 'We are the Irish' From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 10 Mar 04 - 07:01 PM For some reason I started thinking about a song I once heard that had stuck in my mind, and I was going to start a thread to search it out; only before I did so I thought I'd try the "Lyrics and Knowledge search", and up came this post in a thread from 1999 about Irish children's songs with the words in passing. And here is the song: Are you ready for a war, for we are the English Are you ready for a war, for we are the English soldiers O yes we're ready for a war for we are the Irish Yes we're ready for a war for we are the Irish soldiers. Now we only have one arm.....English Now we have no arms at all...Irish Now we only have one leg...English Now we have no legs at all...Irish Now we are all dead and gone...English Now we're all alive again ...Irish. So I thought I'd start the thread anyway, because 1999 is a fair time ago, and it's an odd song and I wonder if anyone knows more about it. I heard it on a bus from a couple of students from Queens on the bus back from the Burntollet march back in 1969, the one that was ambushed on the road to Derry, and it's always struck me as sort of symbolically marking the start to the Troubles. |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: GUEST Date: 10 Mar 04 - 07:43 PM That is strange. I remember singing that in my primary school playground in about 1969/70. Only remember singing the first lines though....the "Are you ready for a war,we are the english" and "Yes we're ready for a war for we are the irish" part. Haven't thought about it since then and have no idea where we learnt it from. It was a Roman Catholic school in London and most of us had Irish parents. I imagine the teaching staff dissuaded us from singing it. |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: Leadfingers Date: 10 Mar 04 - 08:08 PM Another of the delightfully tasteless Irish Childrens songs . I dont know for sure but this one almost certainly dates back to a LONG time before the most recent silliness in Northern Ireland started in 1969. I had forgotten about this one myself -Most of us stopped doing the 'good' Irish chorus songs after the IRA took over the Civil Rights thing. |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: harpmaker Date: 10 Mar 04 - 09:02 PM peace & understanding, now chaps. |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: Miken Date: 10 Mar 04 - 11:42 PM I remember the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem singing this song as part of a children's medley on a recording from the early 60's. |
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Subject: ADD: Are You Ready for a War From: Joe Offer Date: 11 Mar 04 - 02:05 AM Tradition has a wonderful CD by the Clancy Children called So Early In the Morning: Irish Children's Songs, Rhymes, and Games. This CD titles the song "Are You Ready for a War." tune is "London Bridge Is Falling down." Are You Ready for a War Are you ready for a war, for a war, for a war Are you ready for a war, for we're the Irish soldiers Yes we're ready for a war, for a war, for a war Yes we're ready for a war for we're the English soldiers. (?)All around the doctors thieve (?).. Irish [Help, please] Now we've only got one ear.....English Now we've got no ears at all.....Irish Now we've only got one hand.....English Now we've got no hands at all.....Irish Now we've only got one eye.....English Now we've got no eyes at all.....Irish Now we've only got one leg.....English Now we've got no legs at all.....Irish Now we all are dead and gone...English Now we're all alive again ...Irish. |
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Subject: ADD: Romans and English From: Joe Offer Date: 11 Mar 04 - 02:24 AM In The Singing Game, Iona and Peter Opie have this version: Romans and English Have you any bread and wine, For we are the Romans, Have you any bread and wine, For we are the Roman soldiers? Yes, we have some bread and wine, For we are the English, Yes, we have some bread and wine, For we are the English soldiers. Will you give us some of it, For we are the Romans, Will you give us some of it, For we are the Roman soldiers? No, we'll give you none of it, For we are the English, No, we'll give you none of it, For we are the English soldiers. Then we'll tell our King of you, For we are the Romans, Then we'll tell our King of you, For we are the Roman soldiers. What care I for King or you, For we are the English, What care I for King or you, For we are the English soldiers. Are you ready for a fight, For we are the Romans, Are you ready for a fight, For we are the Roman soldiers? Yes, we're ready for a fight, For we are the English, Yes, we're ready for a fight, For we are the English soldiers.
Buckle on your sword and away we go, on a cold and frosty morning Other versions have English and German soldiers. The tune is interesting - definitely NOT "London Bridge," although the last verse sounds like "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush." The first half of the MIDI is the standard tune, and the second half is the final "buckle" verse. Click to play |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 12 Mar 04 - 07:28 AM Like a lot of good songs you can read this one either way. Depending I suppose on whether that last line is "Now we're all alive again, we are the Irish soldiers" or just "Now we all are dead and gone..", repeated for the Irish as well as the English. And another way would be ending it not with "Now we're all alive again we are the Irish soldiers," but "we are the Irish people." What it makes me think of is "And eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves us all toothless and blind". It seems likely to me that this is really intended to be sung with the playground game in which when you drop a ball for lose a hand, or go down on one knee, and so forth. Sort of anatomical strip poker. |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: Kevin Sheils Date: 12 Mar 04 - 07:55 AM There's a version recorded by Alan Lomax from Schoolchildren in Trinidad in 1962 which uses the Roman/English soldier format as in Joe's post above but after the we will give you none of it verse follows an interesting pattern of We will bring a policeman etc We aint 'fraid no policeman etc We will bring a big-foot man etc We aint 'fraid no big-foot man etc We will bring a sore foot man etc We aint 'fraid no sore footman etc We will bring a jigger-foot man etc We aint 'fraid no jigger-foot man etc Then the are you ready for a fight verses It's on The Rounder "Brown Girl in the Ring" CD in the Lomax collection. |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: GUEST,chloe w Date: 08 Dec 06 - 07:10 AM Came across your thread whilst googling the title of a Manx song. We have an 8 bar tune collected in the Isle of Man during the 1890s by Dr. J. Clague and W.H. Gill. Their words are: Are you ready for a fight? We are the Rovers. We are ready for the fight, We are the Roman soldiers. The tune is almost identical to the Joe Offer's midi tune. |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: GUEST Date: 08 Dec 06 - 04:19 PM Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem recorded it on an album called "Live at Carnegie Hall" from 1962 as part of the Children's Medley. The tune wasn't "London Bridge" though. |
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Subject: RE: 'We are the Irish' From: Cluin Date: 08 Dec 06 - 04:47 PM We are the robots. It's still like fuckin' root canal. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST Date: 12 Apr 09 - 10:17 PM I remember one of my relatives singing lines like "We will fetch our big bull dog" And "We will fetch our big tom cat". |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST,Irish Chicago Guest Date: 20 Aug 13 - 08:58 PM My father used to play this on a Clancey Bros album when I was very young (probably 1967-68-69. I still have it on an LP. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: Jim Carroll Date: 21 Aug 13 - 04:46 AM FROM CHILDREN'S GAMES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR LESLIE DAIKEN 1949 JIM CARROLL Warlike games have always appealed to boys above a certain age, and nowhere more than in the places of Ireland near where actual battles or sieges took place. The persistence of the Martial Games has been most extraordinary. It is a subject which has received little attention from historians or folklorists, although it offers fascinating scope for those who would ordinarily try to probe the aggressive instincts of the human race. Foreign elements are more quick to respond to this behaviour than in emulating other customs of the ancient country in which they would take root. For example, it is of considerable historical interest to note that the Huguenot community in the south of Ireland formed a branch of the Irish Volunteer Corps in 1780 for their children who delighted in playing at fighting games1 among themselves. ROMAN SOLDIERS The Game of Conquest most widespread among English children is that known as The Roman Soldiers, in which the players divide up into two equal sides. Standing in two lines, A (the Romans) and-B (the English), they face each other a few yards apart, and begin to exchange parley in sung verses alternately. Both sides then stand still, point their left arms at each other and shout "Shoot! Bang! Fire!", and then engage in a fight. After a general scuffle, both sides form a ring and walk round, singing and going through the various actions described in the verses. The antiquity of this game is fairly evident from the text. Frag¬ments of the "words-of-command" appear to have crept into some of the street rhymes referred to in other chapters. Just as the Roman Invasion of Britain is remembered in this game, so the British brought it with them to several cities. In garrison towns like Tipperary, a version has been noted in which the opening challenge runs: Are you ready for a fight? For we are Irish soldiers, A nice adaptation made by the children themselves. Of course, the same game is reflected in the pattern of Cowboys and Indians, Gangsters and G-Men and other modernisations. That it came to Ireland by way of the English soldiery is the case contended here, and its persistence in Dublin, notably in the SLUMS, IS due to the influence of English rule. O'Casey, (I Knock at the Door) in fact, in the quotation of the game, reveals the local irishisms in the very opening line, i.e. "We are ready for to fight . . The extract reads: "... a green sash to go across his breast; blue belt round his waist; and many coloured strips waving gaily from his cap. Then armed with a home-made wooden sword, he turned himself into a warrior, a conqueror of many, bent on battle, free from terror, ready to strike at the first enemy that came near, as he strode along streaming with coloured orders presented to him by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Whenever a chance came he would share his treasure with a group of Catholic boys, just home from school, decorating them with minor-coloured strips, changing them into soldiers, sergeants, with an ensign carrying a many-hued paper flag, and a drummer bearing on his hip a tin, veiled in strips of yellow and blue, rallying away for dear life, while the boys sang at the top of their voices, We are ready for to fight, We are the Rovers; We are all brave Parnell's men, We are his gallant soldiers! a song Johnny didn't like, for he was afraid that, in some way or another, it had a connection with the Fenians. . . ." Now the vowel conversion of "We are the soldiers", or "We are the Romans" into "We are the Rovers" has a bearing on a song of this class formerly sung in the streets of Belfast by mill- doffers in a truculent mood. "Rovers" means a special type of linen workers. The version, collected by Hugh Quinn, is as follows, the last four lines offering another example of how topicality ousts traditionalism in words to an old tune. They refer to a keenly contested election between Senton, a Nationalist candidate, and Foster, a Unionist, for a seat representing West Belfast in the early nineties. Senton won by a narrow majority: Do you want to breed a fight We are the Rovers, For it's if you want to breed a fight Oh, we're the jolly fine Rovers, Senton at the head of the poll We are the Rovers And Foster looking up his **** Oh, we're the jolly fine Rovers, All these verses preserve the ancient trochaic measure, which was the popular stress of the Roman soldier, and the literary conti-nuity of the original English Singing Game, with its metrical rhythm of tum-ti tum-ti, turn turn turn enhanced by the beat of the melody, contains all the best qualities of narrative balladry. Have you any bread and wine? For we are the Romans: Have you any bread and wine? For we are Roman soldiers. Yes, we have some bread and wine . . . For we are the English soldiers. Then we will have one cup full For we are the Roman soldiers. No, you shan't have one cup full For we are the English soldiers. Then we will have two cups full For we are the Roman soldiers. No, you shan't have two cups full For we are the English soldiers. We will tell the 'Pope of you For we are the Roman soldiers. We don't care for the Pope or you For we are English soldiers. We will tell the King of you For we are the Romans. We don't care for the King or you For we are the English. We will send our cats to scratch For we are the Romans. We don't care for your cats or you For we are the English. We will send our dogs to bite . . . For we are the English. We don't care for your dogs or you For we, etc. Are you ready for a fight? For we are the Romans. Yes, we're ready for a fight For we, etc. FIGHT TAKES PLACE Now we've only got one arm . . . For we are the Roman/English. Now we've only got one leg. . . For we are, etc. Now we've only got one eye, etc. Now we've only got one ear, etc. In some versions, in the sixteenth verse the two sides, instead od fighting, join hands and dance round in a ring singing as follows: Then we'll join in a merry ring For we are the Roman /English Thhnen we'll joing in a merry ring For we are Romn/English soldiers Gomme devotes some pages to variants of an English game called 'We are the Rovers, but the above version is taken from Cecil Sharp's Collection in No. 1109 of Novello's school songs (London) |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: Mo the caller Date: 26 Aug 13 - 06:06 AM I learnt part of this song just after WW2 from my mother who was born just after WW1 The only verse she sang was Are you ready for a fight? We are the English. Yes, we're ready for a fight . We are the German soldiers. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST,Nur Soliman Date: 15 Oct 13 - 07:01 PM I apologise for contributing to this thread so late, but I've been madly searching for an extant audio of this song and can't find a single thing! As a 1990s child, I used to sing along to this on a tape cassette full of children's songs (sung by a children's choir), and the lyrics were closest to the version recorded by Iona and Peter Opie, but instead with something along the lines of: "Will you have a pint of ale? / We are the Romans? / Will you have a pint of ale for we are the Roman soldiers. A pint of ale won't serve us all / We are the British / A pint of ale won't serve us all, for we are the British soldiers. Will you have a barrel of ale? / etc. etc." Does this sound familiar to anyone here? The tune was mostly like the MIDI file linked above, but with some differences in the notes (I can still sing it perfectly, like the cassette version I had), but I just wonder why there's nothing available that we can find, a classic children's song that is forever a golden moment in my childhood, this quiet child sitting in her bedroom playing or reading and singing along to this song which filled her imagination. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST,annabel simms Date: 24 Oct 13 - 08:39 PM The version we sang at school in Leeds in the 1950s was: We are all King George's men (sometimes it was Saint George) We are the English We are all King George's men We are the English army We are all St Patrick's men We are the Irish We are all St Patrick's men We are the Irish soldiers Do you want a cup of tea? We are the English Do you want a cup of tea We are the English army We don't want your lousy tea We are the Irish We don't want your lousy tea We are the Irish soldiers Are you ready for a fight? We are the English Are you ready for a fight We are the English army Yes, we're ready for a fight We are the Irish Yes, we're ready for a fight We are the Irish soldiers General mayhem ensued as the two lines attacked each other and that was the end of the game. I had no idea it was so old. I recognised the Midi tune given at the top of this thread as the same one we marched to. This game has gone down extremely well with my nephews and niece, born in the 1990s. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST,cheryl Date: 15 Sep 15 - 08:47 AM We used to sing this as a game, in two lines facing each other, singing Are you ready for a fight we are the English marching forward to the opposite line the other line than sang Yes we're ready for a fight we are the Germans marched forward, the other line going back. this was done a couple of times and I cant remember how but a shout went up and we all ran at each other and that was the end of the game. Went to catholic school in Jarrow. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST Date: 11 Mar 16 - 11:38 AM I was reading the lyrics and thought how the 'bread and wine' bits could be brought into the age of modern tecbnology: "We won't give you bread and wine/eeh eye over (My Auntie used to sing those words, not 'we are the Rovers) You can order it online, you scrounging bunch of soldiers." I'm not serious, it just made me laugh when I thought of it. I'd love to track down a full recording of this song. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST Date: 21 Aug 19 - 03:04 PM Are you ready for a fight, we are the champions, You are the losers 2004 version lol |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST,Pseudonymous Date: 21 Aug 19 - 06:29 PM "All these verses preserve the ancient trochaic measure, which was the popular stress of the Roman soldier" ?????????????? English 'metre' isn't quite the same as Latin 'metre' really, even if some of the same names are used. In English it's about the different amounts of stress put on syllables; in Latin the system worked differently, being more about length of syllable, which added 'spice' to the task of translating from the one language into the other. Looking at Wikipedia, it says the trochee was particularly popular in medieval Latin poetry and that it suited as the final syllable is never stressed. Looking at the lines quoted, many of them have a stress at the end. So not looking very trochaic. In respect of words intended to be sung, or even chanted, we are in a whole different ball game anyway. The stresses of the musical metre/chant may not be those of spoken language. Not at all convinced by the 'popular stress of the Roman soldier', who might have spoken any one of a host of languages within the Empire, and was unlikely if the equivalent of a 'squaddy' to have done much verse composition. But happy to be further informed, as usual.... |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: Jim Carroll Date: 22 Aug 19 - 02:47 AM GUEST,Nur Soliman - (recorded version) This was recorded twice by the BBC in the 1950s, once in Sidbury, in Devon, the other in Cumberland (below) - (the recordist "D.W.", I assume was Fr. Damien Webb) If anybody is still looking for it I can send the Devon recording, Jim Carroll Children in Workington, Cumberland. 1.15 30956 N.d (D.W.) 'Have you any bread and wine/ For we are the Romans Yes, we have some bread and wine/ For we are the English.... Then we will have one of those.../ No you shan't have one of those/ Then we will have two sacksful/No.... Then we'll tell the king of you/ We don't care for the king or you/ Then we'll send our (?) cat/ We don't care for the cat or you/ Then we'll send our dog to fight/ We don't care for the dogs or you/ Are you ready for a fight/ Yes, we're ready for a fight Now we're on the battlefield/.... SHOOT BANG FIRE'. (This is repeated with gusto after each of the following verses): |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Are You Ready for a War?/We are the Irish From: GUEST,Polterpunk72 Date: 16 Mar 23 - 04:23 AM "All around the Battlefield", Would make more sense, Aye? ;-) Bless you!! |
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