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The Green Fields of France - Lyrics

This song was written describing WW1, the war that was to end all wars.  It did not.



The Green Fields of France - Lyrics

Oh how do you do, young Willy McBride.

Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside.

And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun.

I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done,
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great fallen in 1916.
I hope you died well
And I hope you died clean.
Oh young 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 in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind,
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined.
Although you died back in 1916,
In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen.
Or are you a stranger without even a name?

Enclosed then forever behind a glass pane,
In an old photograph torn, battered, 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 in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
The sun now shines o'er these green fields of France.
There's a warm summer breeze that makes the red poppies dance.
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds.
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard it's still no man's land.
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand.
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
To a whole generation that 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 in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
Now young Willy McBride I cant help but wonder why.
Do those who lie here know why did they die?
Did they believe when they answered the cause?
Did they really believe that this war would end wars?
For the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the shame,
The killing and dying were all done in vain.
For young 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 in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: John Loesberg / Eric Bogle / Trad
Music by The High Kings




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