WW1 Song Lyrics

The Green Fields Of France
by Eric Bogle


Oh how do you do, young Willy McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great fallen in 1916
Well I hope you died quick
And I hope you died clean
Or Willy McBride, was is it slow and obscene


Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart you're forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name 
Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame


Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The sun shining down on these green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished long under the plow
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard that's still no mans land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation were butchered and damned


Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And I can't help but wonder oh Willy McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause
Did you really believe that this war would end wars
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying it was all done in vain
Oh Willy McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

**

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
by Eric Bogle

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?

**

Send Me Away With A Smile

Little girl don't cry 
I must say goodbye
Don't you hear the bugle call? 
And the fife and drum beats all 
With the flag wave ov'er us all 
Tho I love you so 
It is time to go
And the soldier in me you'll find 
When on land or sea 
Many boys like me
You would not have me stay behind?

Chorus:
So, send me away with a smile little girl
Brush the tears from eyes of brown.
It's all for the best 
And I'm off with the rest 
With the boys from my hometown.
It may be forever we part little girl
But it may be for only a while. 
But if fight here we must
Then in God is our trust. 
So, send me away with a smile.

When I leave you dear
Give me words of cheer
To recall in times of pain. 
They will come towards me
And will seem to be 
Like the sunshine after rain. 
Amid shot and shell
I'd remember well. 
You must be a soldier too. 
And through this war I am fighting 
for My country, my home, and you.

Refrain:
It may be forever we part little girl 
But it may be for only a while. 
But if fight here we must 
Then in God is our trust. 
So, send me away with a smile.


Fallen Soldier
by Frederick Forsyth

(of The Day of the Jackal)


Sleep in peace, Fallen Soldier, where your kinsfolk here have laid you
While we who are left tread so safe up above
You are home from the fight, from the clamour, from the danger
Laid in the breast of the land that you love
We should have told you more how deeply we loved you
We knew not how short was the while
To kiss and to hold, to cherish your presence
The sound of your laughter, the sun of your smile
When you first marched to the colours
You were young and oh so handsome
You pulled on your badge, standing straight, standing tall
And you gave us your promise, your sworn word of honour
And in your last moment you gave us your all
So sleep Fallen Soldier, here in your homeland
Wrapped in our flag until when
On some far distant morn you hear his last reveille
Then you and your comrades… will march once again