Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them

22 Apr 14 - 08:12 PM (#3621378)
Subject: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: gecko

Got the following cry for help today on FB from an old friend of mine, Keryn Archer who lives in Mission Beach, North Queensland. If anyone can help her, I know the 'Catters can!

'Need help guys - remember a song from my early days of Anzac cermonies - starts "We will remember them today, who from our homeland sailed away, so blithely and so willingly, to give their lives for you and me, have them in thy keeping." Googled it - no dice - anyone got the full set of lyrics? Would like to share it with our students on Anzac Day - 100th year of the outbreak of war - anyone know the rest of the lyrics or can search better than I can? *hopeful look*


YIU. gecko

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22 Apr 14 - 09:34 PM (#3621390)
Subject: ADD: We Would Remember Them (Smyth)
From: maeve

I conducted a google search using
"Anzac "blithely and so willingly, to give their lives for you and me"
The third result of three links to a thesis at MONASH UNIVERSITY "CLASSROOM MUSIC IN VICTORIAN STATE PRIMARY SCHOOLS 1934 TO 1981: CURRICULUM SUPPORT" by ALISON JILL FERRIS

Click on that link and download the thesis to see both music and lyrics.
Words and notation found in Appendex O, on page 295 of the thesis (but within the PDF form will be found on page 303).


Bene Gibson Smyth's 'We Would Remember Them' (also called 'Anzac Day') captures the innocence of the Australian boys who signed up for the Great War, with no idea of the horrors they would have to face:


WE WOULD REMEMBER THEM
(Bene Gibson Smyth)

We would remember them today
Who from their homeland sailed away
So blithely and so willingly
To give their lives for you and me.
Father guard their sleeping.

We would remember, too, the brave
Who of their dearest treasure gave
Their solace in the years to be
Pride in a lonely memory
Hear their quiet weeping

Then there are those who live apart
The maimed, the blind, the sad at heart/
Raise for them in their time of need
Friends who are friends in very deed
Have them in Thy keeping.

[From Special Day Songs. Words and Music by BENE GIBSON SMYTH. Published by Allan Co. Pty. Ltd.]

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22 Apr 14 - 10:11 PM (#3621392)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: Shimbo Darktree

Well done Maeve ... you win Googler-of-the-Day! I have spent the last two hours trying similar searches, and getting lots of unhelpful results. I was just about to send Gecko a "sorry - failed" message. I didn't think it would be that hard!

Shimbo

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23 Apr 14 - 01:14 AM (#3621407)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: gecko

You are a true champion Maeve. Thank you. I've forwarded your reply to my friend Keryn and I'm sure she'll be very appreciative. Thanks also to Shimbo Darktree - your efforts bore about as much fruit as mine did, though I did come up with some beautiful Anzac Day songs and poetry. Also took the time to really listen to Eric Bogle's recent Anzac day song. I was very impressed with the sentiments but it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.
Regards from gecko

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23 Apr 14 - 04:39 AM (#3621449)
Subject: ADD: Farewell to ANZAC (Cicely Fox Smith)
From: GUEST,bradfordian

Gecko, your friend may also be interested in this CICELY FOX SMITH poem about the ANZACS.
It has been beautifully set to music by Martyn Windham-Read

FAREWELL TO ANZAC
(Cicely Fox Smith)

Oh, hump your swag and leave, lads, the ships are in the bay —
We've got our marching orders now, it's time to come away —
And a long good-bye to Anzac Beach — where blood has flowed in vain
for we're leaving it, leaving it, game to fight again!
But some there are will never quit this bleak and bloody shore —
and some that marched and fought with us will fight and march no more;
their blood has bought til Judgment Day the slopes they stormed so well,
and we're leaving them, leaving them, sleeping where they fell.

Leaving them, leaving them — the bravest and the best —
leaving them, leaving them, and maybe glad to rest!

We did our best with yesterday, tomorrow's still our own —
But we're leaving them, leaving them, sleeping all alone.
Ay, they are gone beyond it all, the praising and the blame
and many a man may win renown, but none more fair a fame;
They showed the world Australia's lads knew well the way to die;
and we're leaving them, leaving them, quiet where they lie.

Leaving them, leaving them sleeping where they lie —
Leaving them, leaving them, in their glory and their pride.
Round the sea and barren land, over them the sky —
Oh! We're leaving them, leaving them, so quiet where they lie.

Notes:

From a book of World War 1 poetry called WAR VERSE, edited by Frank Foxcroft, published by Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, US, © 1918, pp. 153-154, and originally printed in the magazine "The Spectator."

This poem focuses on the abandonment of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in 1916. Thousands of Australian troops were mowed down by the Turks, and their were bitter recriminations resulting from this failed invasion.

Charley Noble

bradfordian (sans cookie)

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23 Apr 14 - 08:03 AM (#3621534)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: maeve

gecko and Shimbo Darktree- I'm glad I could help. Sometimes Mr. Google needs a certain phrase, and not always the obvious one! It's a lovely song, and it was good to see the notation.

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23 Apr 14 - 09:04 AM (#3621548)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: GUEST,sciencegeek

here is the link to "The ANZAC - Bravest Thing God Ever Made", a 1916 poem by William Henry Ogilvie set to a march by May Summerbelle. It was dedicated to all the ANZAC including her brother.

I tried to find an mp3 or youtube track for this to include in our NEFFA workshop on ANZAC DAY, but no joy there. and my sight reading is too pathetic to get a good feel for the tune. maybe if I'd tracked it down 2 months ago...

anyhow, I've had some lovely emails from down under as I tried to track it down & one that wondered just how we in the USA regarded ANZAC Day. I think that it's our Memorial Day that comes closest to what ANZAC Day means to Australia & New Zealand. Both came from wars that helped to define our respective countries.

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23 Apr 14 - 09:14 AM (#3621554)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: GUEST,sciencegeek

and... here is the link that got left off above... duh... technoklutz

http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.mus-an6162115-s3-e

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24 Apr 14 - 09:51 PM (#3622110)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: Joe Offer

For the record, Anzac Day is celebrated in Australia and New Zealand on April 25 to honor the members of ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

I thought the holiday would be spelled ANZAC Day, but apparently it's Anzac Day.

-Joe-

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24 Apr 14 - 10:25 PM (#3622114)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: Sandra in Sydney

my friends Chloe & Jason Roweth have CD of WW1 songs - The Riderless Horse - lyrics & liner notes The riderless horse was led through the streets of Australian towns to the beat of a military drum...
"The Empire needs you! Who will fill the saddle?"

This unique combination of over 30 songs and poems from the time, arranged and performed by Chloe & Jason, provides a rare insight into a young nation's experience of the First World War, both in the trenches and on the home front. After all, no-one knows better than those who were there.

MP3s including several WW1 songs

sandra

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25 Apr 14 - 04:58 AM (#3622175)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: Leadfingers

Last night , while a lot of Maidenhead Folk Club were remembering St George's day I sang Mister Bogles' classic - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda for Anzac day

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25 Apr 14 - 05:48 AM (#3622185)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: Dennis the Elder

Mr Bogle was accused of being anti ANZAC after this song was first released. He did inform me that this was far from the truth and that he was anti war not anti ANZAC.
There is no doubt he was sincere when he said this.
I too will be singing this song at Wath Folk Club on Sunday when we are featuring songs associated with ANZAC Day and the Gallipoli landings, my grandfather was in the area of the Dardanelles around this time. When I asked my grandfather what it was like all he would say is"you do not want to know".
The Cecily Fox Smith poem above is excellent and if time permits I will try to get hold of the tune and sing this also.
ANZAC Day is certainly worth remembering 99 years since the Gallipoli Landings. We still have a lot to learn.

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25 Apr 18 - 05:34 AM (#3919826)
Subject: RE: Anzac Day lyrics please?
From: GUEST,Verity

Thank you Maeve
We sang this at high school always makes me cry. And feel close to my dad ( decent)

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01 Feb 19 - 01:07 AM (#3974312)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: GUEST,Peter T

You wouldn't believe how many years I have tried off and on to find out the words to this song. Having a couple of the words wrong did not help!

I have fond memories of being in primary school sitting at my desk, with the words of the song on a printed pamphlet in my hands, waiting for the music to start on the school PA.

Lest We Forget

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01 Feb 19 - 09:54 AM (#3974377)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: Helen

The trick when Googling for song lyrics is to use quotation marks for phrases. Maeve, back in 2014, said that she Googled for:

Anzac "blithely and so willingly, to give their lives for you and me"

The quotation marks tells the search engine that you want those words in that order, or something very similar - if you have misspelled a word or substituted a different word.

I have never heard of this Anzac song. We never sang this one for the Anzac commemorations when I was at school in central east coast NSW.

Yes Joe, it's usually spelled Anzac, not ANZAC unless it is referring to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps specifically. It has become a word in the Oz language, based on the acronym.

Background of the word 'Anzac'

"Historically, ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) was an acronym devised by Major General William Birdwood's staff in Cairo in early 1915. It was used for registering correspondence for the new corps. After the landing at Gallipoli, General Birdwood requested that the position held by the Australians and New Zealanders on the peninsula be called 'Anzac' to distinguish it from the British position at Helles. Not surprisingly, the word was soon applied to the men of the corps who became 'Anzacs'."

Anzac biscuits

I like the gooey ones. Some people like them crunchy.

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01 Feb 19 - 05:20 PM (#3974450)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: Jack Campin

I just got sent a link to this song recorded by Melihat Gülses, Lament for Salonica. Another part of the same campaign. The Allies decided to turn the city into a battlefield; it never recovered and its ancient multi-ethnic culture was obliterated by decades of state-sponsored racism. The immediate casualties were mostly Bulgarian soldiers - 200,000 dead, nearly twice as many as on both sides at Gallipoli. Gülses's song is about the "third army" of women and children driven into exile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EJGWTOxdbk

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02 Feb 19 - 12:28 AM (#3974498)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: Helen

Thanks for the link to that beautiful, sad song, Jack, and the information about Salonica.

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10 Nov 21 - 07:16 PM (#4125809)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: GUEST,Glenis

Thank you Maeve, for your research. I began first line today and followed down many a dead end, until I found your post.
As I paused today at 11.00am the song began in my mind. I can still sing most of it, but wondered about the blanks my mind could not provide. Now you have helped me.
I also began singing it as I stood on the sand at Anzac Cove back in 2011. I was the only one of the group I was with who could remember that moving song. I learned it in 1952 when at Primary School. The ABC broadcast the Anzac service to us in our classrooms back in those days. I’m pretty sure the song had been taught to us (as were many songs) through the wonderful ABC Songs and Singing program that went out every Tuesday afternoon 2.45pm.

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10 Nov 21 - 09:01 PM (#4125817)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: GUEST,Glenis

I don’t know why the date says 10h Nov.   I typed the above on 11Nov., Remembrance Day. So that is why at 11.00 o'clock, the song came I to my mind. That song has always touched me.

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10 Nov 21 - 10:45 PM (#4125826)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: rich-joy

Sadly Jack, your link for "Lament for Salonica" is now dead - do you know of another??

Cheers, R-J

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10 Nov 21 - 11:31 PM (#4125828)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: Sandra in Sydney

Glenis, Mudcat central is in Pennsylvania.

sandra in sydney Thu 11 Nov 3.31,20pm

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11 Nov 21 - 02:32 AM (#4125836)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: DaveRo

MELİHAT GÜLSES "SELANİK'E AĞIT

I recommend the book Salonica, City of Ghosts by Mark Mazower.

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11 Nov 21 - 08:52 AM (#4125869)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: rich-joy

Thanks so much Dave, for that link and book info.

When I arrived in Darwin, NT in 1983, I lived very close to the Salonika Crossing area, which was the 1st railway station on the original Darwin (aka Palmerston) - Larrimah (Birdum) line, established in the 1880s.
(Darwin has long had a sizeable Greek population) ......


Cheers, R-J
Down Under

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11 Nov 21 - 10:02 AM (#4125873)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: GUEST,Jack Campin

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19 Apr 22 - 05:03 AM (#4139524)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: GUEST

Score and Words here

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22 Apr 22 - 08:16 PM (#4139930)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anzac Day? / We Would Remember Them
From: GUEST,GUEST Joan

As Glenis says, I too remember singing this in school & the ABC music book that went with the broadcasts.
The lyrics came unbidden into my head the other day when a friend said he would be singing some songs at an Anzac remembrance ceremony.
And then I found this thread while chasing up the words I had forgotten.

What a pity the world hasn't learnt despite all the 'remembering'

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