Here is an anti-war song by Kurt Tucholsky/Hanns Eisler that is also on the Dagmar Krause LP and deserves to be known more widely. The melody is lovely, though I have never been too sure about the chords. If anybody had this knowledge and could post them it would be appreciated. Lyrics below, from memory:


THE TRENCHES

Mother, for what did you raise your son?
Why did you struggle with him twenty years?
Why was it to you he would always run
And quietly he'd whisper in your ear?
Till the day they came and took him away...
For the trenches, mother, for the trenches.
For the trenches, mother, for the trenches.

Young man, can you still remember Dad?
How he'd take you on his shoulder for a ride?
How he'd always have a penny for his lad
And count to ninety-nine while you would hide?
Till the day they came and took him away...
For the trenches, young man, for the trenches.
For the trenches, young man, for the trenches.

See those French and English workers yonder?
Side by side they sacrificed their lives.
Shot to pieces, every life was squandered,
For a place a metre deep in mud.
All the young men, even boys, who gave,
Their lives for a lonely mass grave,
Their lives for a lonely mass grave.

Don't be so proud of your scars and medals,
Don't be proud about glory days gone by.
You were sent to the trenches by the ogres,
The envy of industry, the madness of the state.
You were good enough as carrion for the crows,
For the trenches, comrades, for the trenches.
For the trenches, comrades, for the trenches.

Think of the moans and the rattle of the guns,
Yonder are fathers', mothers' sons.
Making ends meet with the daily grind,
Don't you want to shake hands with your own kind?
Reach out your hands and greet your fellow men,
Across the trenches, people, across the trenches.
Across the trenches, people, across the trenches.