Lyr/Tune Add: The War Game (Ewan MacColl)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WAR GAME (Ewan MacColl)
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 11:36 PM

I believe that this is a MacColl song - my copy omits this reference. The tune is VERY similar to what I believe is a splendid, plaintive song that I posted a few months ago - The Whaling Wife, written by Harry Robinson. I'll post this particular tune as soon as I can to MUDI. This song is far from recent, but if the recent crop of graduates I work with is any indication, this song should have been penned just for them. Regards, John

O Johnnie, O Johnnie, just listen to what I say,
It's the God's truth, I tell you, I'm not lying;
You can't swim the crawl or kick a soccer ball
When from radiation sickness you are dying.

You can't sprint down the track with a bullet in your back,
A punch won't stop a bomb when it's falling;
When you find yourself in trouble under eighty tons of rubble,
Don't expect to hear the referee a-calling.

You're no good on the trapeze, when you're cut off at the knees,
Or burned by napalm to a cinder;
And you don't feel at your best with a bayonet in your chest,
Or when a flame-thrower makes you burn like tinder.

You can wear your judo belt, but it won't be any help
When the poison-gas towards you comes a-drifting;
And a perfect swallow dive won't help you stay alive
When a mushroom cloud towards the sky is lifting.

So Johnnie, lad, get wise: wipe the sweat out of your eyes,
And cut the crooks and chancers down to size, lad,
With their state(s)men and their banks - their bombers, guns and tanks,
It's time to kick 'em out and take the prize, lad.

Subject: RE: LYR/TUNE ADD: The War Game (MacColl)
From: alison
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 03:12 AM

Tune is available at Mudcat MIDIs

slainte

alison