Lyr Req: Dargai (Edmund L. Hill)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dargai (Edmund L. Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 05:51 PM

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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dargai (Edmund L. Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 03:01 PM

Dargai is in the Dagshai Hills. Became an important quarry site.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dargai (Edmund L. Hill)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 02:22 PM

The 9/8 march "The Heights of Dargai" was renamed for the occasion - it was originally "the Dagshai Hills" after an earlier and less memorable battle. It's often played after "The Battle of the Somme" (also a 9/8 march).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dargai (Edmund L. Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 02:10 PM

The "Heights of Dargai," one of the Tunes of Glory, was written to commemorate a battle in which the actions of Gordon Highlander piper Findlater causes a sensation throughout the British Empire.
Midi here:
Pipe Band Music

Scroll down to 'Other Tunes'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dargai (Edmund L. Hill)
From: Wolfhound person
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 02:08 PM

There is also a tune called "Dargai", a fiddle tune written in bagpipe style by J Scott Skinner which could be played on GHB.

Paws

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dargai (Edmund L. Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 01:47 PM

Dargai is a mountain in NW Pakistan; on its side a pass to Afghanistan.
The British and the Russians were attempting to dominate the area of Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier.
The assault to control the Pass at Dargai took place during the Second Afghan War, Tirah Campaign, of 1897; the Afghan and NW Frontier Pashtuns were strong and held the area.
The first assault was by Gurkhas, who were pinned down by intense rifle fire.
The second assault was by the Devonshire Regiment, also pinned down.
The third assault was by the Gordon Highlanders and the Third Sikhs, and they won the heights.

Piper Findlater piped with his comrades as they stormed the heights; he was cut down by wounds to both legs but continued piping until he fainted. He survived, and received the Victoria Cross. For a time thereafter, no longer able to serve, he made a living telling the story in the music halls.
One tune he played repeatedly while wounded was "The Haughs of Cromdale."
Another piper in the assault, named Milne, received the Military Cross.

Partly as a result of his stories, and the outcry resulting from poor treatment of wounded veterans, improvements were made in their support.

Subject: Lyr Req: Dargai (Edmund L. Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 01:26 PM

Lyr. Add: Dargai
Lyrics Edmund L. Hill

1
"The Gordon Highlanders will take the crest,"
Our Colonel cried, and an answering cheer
Swept from rank to rank as we lay at rest,
And the Colonel smiled to hear.
Then up we charged at the steep hillside,
And never a heart but beat with pride,
Though every minute a soldier died,
As we stormed the pass at Dargai.
2
Far above on the fire-swept hill we saw,
Scattered here and there, the brave Warwick's dead,
And behind we heard a battery roar
As the shells screamed overhead.
And all around us the bullets struck;
And at first I tell you I tried to duck,
But there warn't time, so I prayed for luck,
As we stormed the pass at Dargai.
3
Then as we got neared the rock-bound top;
The shrapnel before us no longer burst,
But never a man of us wished to stop,
Though choking and maddened with thirst.
For our bagpipes played us up the hill,
And through the din rose their music shrill
That filled our hearts with mad lust to kill,
As we stormed the heights at Dargai.
4
Then all of a sudden the music stopped
As a volley burst from the rocks ahead,
For the piper near me spun round and dropped
And I thought that he was dead.
For he lay stretched out upon the ground,
But I hadn't fired another round
Ere I heard once more the brave old sound,
As we stormed the pass at Dargai.
5
Then I turned to look and I saw him lie,
Hard wounded but playing for all he knew;
And the rear ranks cheered as they hurried by,
While the bullets round them flew.
And every man of us yelled with pride,
And dashed like one at the steep hillside,
Where every second a foeman died,
For we stormed the pass at Dargai.
6
When proudly our flag waved overhear,
Telling those below we had won the day,
We went to look for our wounded and dead,
Thick strewn on our upward way.
We searched all round for our piper, till
We found him fainting upon the hill,
And his weak hands grasped the bagpipes still,
That had piped us on to Dargai.

Edmund L. Hill, c1913, "Poems," pp. 3-4, The Electrician Printing and Publishing Co., London.

A true story, from the Second Afghan War, 1897, rivaling the story of the Charge of the Light Brigade in the earlier Crimean War.

The history will be summarized in the next post.