We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Green Fields of France

from Loose Cannons by The Jolly Rogers

/

lyrics

Well, how do you do, young Willie McBride,
Do you mind if a sit here, down by your graveside?
And rest for awhile, ‘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,
Or Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fief 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 “Flower of the Forest”?
Now, did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined?
Although you died back ther in 1916,
In some faithful heart are you forever 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Enclosed down forever, behind a glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and battered and stained,
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame?
[CHORUS]
Now look how the sun shines on the green fields of France;
There’s a warm summer’s breeze, and 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,
Where the countless white crosses in mute witness stand,
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
To a whole generation that was butchered and damned.
[CHORUS]
Now, Willie McBride I can’t help wonder why,
If those that lie here know why they had died?
And did they believe when they answered the call,
Did they really believe that this war would end wars?
The sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain,
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain.
For young Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
[CHORUS] x2

credits

from Loose Cannons, released September 1, 2007
w/m: Eric Bogle

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

The Jolly Rogers image

The Jolly Rogers Kansas City, Missouri

Pirates before pirates were cool. The Jolly Rogers were born as the Earth still cooled, waaaay back in 1991. Bringing maritime music, sea shanties, drinking and bawdy songs to audiences before pirates were all the rage, they've been a main stage act at venues across America and Europe. ... more

contact / help

Contact The Jolly Rogers

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like The Jolly Rogers, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now