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20 Oct 08 - 03:15 AM (#2470495) Subject: Where Are The Roses From: GUEST,Alex Robinson I am not sure of the title of this song.I heard it on a recording a friend brought back from England in 2007. It was a fairly poor quality recording of a singing session, I believe in Towersey England in 2007. It is a song about people who went into No Man's Land to retrieve the wounded I assume in World War 1. I have gone through the recording and taken down what seem to be the lyrics. I will post them below. Hopefully someone can help as I like the song and would like to sing it. Where Are The Roses Jim lay alone by, a roadside in Flanders Thrown from his horse, in a tangle of ?? Then came a voice, as it, spoke, from nowhere You'll be alright, chum, there are far worse than you. Just a few pills, and a ? full of water Gave him the hope, and the will to go on Then the ?? left him, to tend to another A father, a brother, a husband a son Chorus Where are the roses, of no man's land Where are the roses, that held out a hand To the wounded, andfrightened, the injured and dying Where are the roses ???? After the shooting, a boy he, lay there ??????, you are safe now boy Then a hand brushed his fingers And a voice said, I'm here son ????????????? And from them he was saved Boy, I'm so glad, to see you ?? It's lucky we saw you, said the man with no gun Then the ?? left him, to tend to another A father, a brother, a husband, a son Chorus Where are the roses, that grew in the meadows That looked on the slaughter, of the khaki and grey With a bagful of ?? ,of honour and courage Who searched for the living, by night and by day What, sort of man, does it take to be smiling When inside he's screaming, for the strength to go on But he knew he was needed, to tend to another A father, a brother, a husband, a son Chorus I hope someone recognises this and can help Thanks for that Alex |
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20 Oct 08 - 03:39 AM (#2470504) Subject: RE: Where are the roses From: Mick Pearce (MCP) The song is Les Sullivan's Roses of No Man's Land from his CD Echoes of Mingulay. You've got quite a few errors in the transcription apart from the missing words, but I haven't time to post at the moment. If noone else corrects it I'll see if I can post it later. (Strangely, I thought the song had been posted already, but I can't find it on a quick look). Les posts here occasionally, so perhaps he'll come along and sort it out! Mick |
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20 Oct 08 - 04:35 AM (#2470524) Subject: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: GUEST,Les Sullivan Thanks for the interest you have shown in my song. Interestingly enough recently I have discovered my own grandfather served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and I wrote this song for them some years previously. Do you have a MySpace if so you can contact me via my email http://www.myspace.com/lessullivan ROSES OF NO MAN'S LAND (Les Sullivan) Jim lay alone by a roadside in Flanders Blown from his horse in a sky full of lead Then came a voice as if spoken from nowhere You'll be alright chum there are far worse than you Just a few pills and a mouthful of water Gave him the hope and the will to go on Then the rosebud had left him to tend to another A father, a brother, a husband, a son CHORUS Where are the roses of no mans land Where are the roses that held out a hand To the wounded and frightened, the injured and dying Where are the roses that flower in hell. After the shelling a boy he lay buried Who the hell knew he was missing at all Then a hand brushed his fingers and a voice said 'one here sir' Men dug like demons and from death he was saved 'Boy I'm so glad to see you' said the soldier 'It's lucky we saw you' said the man with no gun Then the rosebud had left him to tend to another A father, a brother, a husband, a son Chorus Where are the roses that grew in the meadows That looked on the slaughter of the khaki and grey With a bag full of potions, an armour of courage Who searched for the living by night and by day What sort of man does it take to be smiling When inside he's screaming for the strength to go on But he knew he was needed to tend to another A father, a brother, a husband, a son Chorus As I own the copyright I am happy for it to be sung I only ask that people mention that I wrote it. PS what country are you posting from? |
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20 Oct 08 - 07:20 AM (#2470581) Subject: RE: Where are the roses From: oldhippie Great song, Les. I'll have to look around for the CD. |
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20 Oct 08 - 02:38 PM (#2470985) Subject: RE: Where are the roses From: Herga Kitty Th poor quality recording might be of us... Derek Burgess and I sang Roses of No Man's Land in the barn of the Three Horseshoes at Towersey in Tony and Pearl's lunchtime singaround on Sunday 26 August 2007. Les was also there and joined in. (We also sang Mike O' Connor's The Best of Autumn.) Les has given us permission to record it when we make our own CD - hopefully next month at the same studio as Les recorded his, courtesy of George Papavgeris.... Kitty |
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20 Oct 08 - 03:47 PM (#2471041) Subject: RE: Where are the roses From: Leadfingers There are one or two worse singrwiters than Les Sullivan ! And a few worse singers too ! The CD is well worth getting ! |
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20 Oct 08 - 09:13 PM (#2471342) Subject: RE: Where are the roses From: GUEST,Alex To all who have posted, many many thanks.Thanks so much Les for writing and sharing this great song. To Kitty and all who were at that session thanks for singing. To whoever recorded it, despite the quality not being studio quality, it certainly introduced me to some songs I had not heard. So thanks so much. It's amazing this world we live in. A friend of mine is in England, someone gives her a copy of a recording which she brings back to Australia shares with me and here we are. Incidentally I live in Brisbane Australia and have started late as a singer but am enjoying the experience immensely. My Grandfather was killed near Ieper (Ypres) in Belgium in August 1917. He and his young family had emigrated to Australia from Scotland in 1912. He then headed back over to Britain in 1916 as a soldier and was killed the next year. So songs like Where are the roses resonate quite strongly with me.Once again to all thank you. By the way this is my first posting to Mudcat. All the best from Australia Alex |
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21 Oct 08 - 01:55 PM (#2471982) Subject: RE: Where are the roses From: GUEST,leeneia Thanks, Les, for posting this wonderful song and for giving permission to perform it. |
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21 Oct 08 - 01:58 PM (#2471985) Subject: RE: Where are the roses From: GUEST,Les Sullivan Many thanks to Mick Pearce, Leadfingers and oldhippie for responding to this thread. Yes Alex you are right strange things happen in this world I have just been contacted by a shanty group in New Zealand who heard one of my songs (Deadeye Sound) in Polish in Poland and asked me for he words in English. So many things appear to happen by sheer chance. Both my sisters, incidentally, live in Perth Australia. My grandfather by the way, survived the 1st world war and I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather, he shared the fate of so many others. Oldhippie at the moment you can only obtain my CD's from me either by post or at gigs, the internet distributor unfortunately having gone out of business. |
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21 Oct 08 - 02:05 PM (#2471991) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: Joe Offer Les, I really enjoyed the recordings on your MySpace page. Any chance you'd like to post a recording of "Roses" so we can hear it here in the U.S.? Thanks for posting the lyrics. It's a very moving song. -Joe- |
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21 Oct 08 - 03:00 PM (#2472051) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: Leadfingers Les - get onto Dick Greenhouse and get your CD on CAMSCO ! |
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21 Oct 08 - 05:47 PM (#2472197) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: GUEST,Pauline If you like this one you might also like Harvest of Iron which is another one of Les's great W.W 1. songs and on his Echoes of Lowlands CDs. Pauline |
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22 Oct 08 - 05:18 AM (#2472546) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: GUEST,Les Sullivan Roses is now posted of MySpace so you can have a listen but get your hankies ready. The picture is from Talbot House, Poperinge, Belgium (home of TocH) and inspired the first few lines. I still find this a difficult song to sing (emotionally not technically) |
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22 Oct 08 - 06:05 AM (#2472566) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: Banjiman Les, As you already know, I think this is a great song. I've been learning it too.... hope you don't mind if I perform it at the odd singaround? The album is great as well......buy it if you haven't got it! Cheers Paul |
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22 Oct 08 - 06:07 AM (#2472567) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: Joe Offer Thank you very much, Les. -Joe Offer- |
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22 Oct 08 - 07:00 AM (#2472585) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: Sailor Ron Another song by Les that certainly should be wider known is "Jutland". Whilst there are many fine songs [including Roses of no man's land"] about life & death in the trenches, "Jutland", as far as I am aware is the only one written about the Royal Navy & those who died at sea. |
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22 Oct 08 - 10:38 AM (#2472763) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: Keith A of Hertford Except the one he wrote about the sailors who went to the front. Menin Gate I think. |
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22 Oct 08 - 05:21 PM (#2473142) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: GUEST Sorry, Keith what do you mean by the sailors who went to the front? I do know the song you mean, I think. Is it the one about the bugle being played at 8 at the old Menin Gate? Pauline |
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22 Oct 08 - 05:58 PM (#2473175) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: Snuffy Sailors who went to the front |
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23 Oct 08 - 04:20 AM (#2473464) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: Keith A of Hertford Look again at the lyrics Pauline. Menin Gate, Les Sullivan |
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23 Oct 08 - 02:30 PM (#2473963) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: GUEST,Les Sullivan Thanks snuffy I hadn't seen that link before its very interesting. See you at Alcester Winter Fest in February |
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23 Oct 08 - 02:34 PM (#2473968) Subject: RE: ADD: Roses of No Man's Land (Les Sullivan) From: GUEST Sorry Les, silly me! Pauline |