Green Fields of France
OffGuardian has covered the first World War at length. We have a category for it. We have deconstructed the old propaganda, watched in-depth documentaries, relived the historic trauma.
We believe it is a foundational, vital area of study. Important to teach us about our limitations as a people and society…and to prevent the manipulation of the population by a war-hungry state.
There’s room for infinite analysis. There’s a need for academic research. But sometimes, some days, you just need to remember the tragedy and the waste.
Sometimes, a poem and prayer are all that is needed.
We love this song because it doesn’t glorify or sanitise. It tells the story of one man, that could be any of a million, and it underlines the waste and pointlessness of it all.
Lyrics:
Well how do you do young Willy Mc Bride
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
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great falling in nineteen fifteen
Well I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or young Willy McBride was it slow and obscene?
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fifes 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?
Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in nineteen fifteen
In some faithful heart are you forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enshrined forever behind a glass frame
In an old photograph torn battered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame
Well the sun now it shines on the green fields of France
There’s a warm summer breeze it 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 gun 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 dammed
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fifes 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?
Well young Willy McBride I can’t help wonder why
Do those that lie here know why did they die
And did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war could end war
Well the sorrow the suffering the glory the pain
The killing the dying was all done in vain
For young Willy McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the fifes 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?
SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN
If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.
For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.
It’s been right there in plain sight staring at us for the last century, but because the Marxist establishment didn’t direct our attention to the glaring spotlight behind us, we failed to take a look behind and see the following… (1) The World War I Allies never did immediately send a naval expedition to Petrograd to easily topple Lenin & Bolshevik’s November 7, 1917 coup, thereby promptly returning Russia to the war, Russia’s involvement in the war being a critical variable for the Allies’ victory strategy against the Central Powers, proving (a) that the Allies knew they were going to win the war; (b) that the war was set up to (i) weaken the West’s influence in the world; (ii) weaken the West’s people’s confidence in their institutions and what those institutions stood for; and (c) one objective of the war was to settle into power the first above board… Read more »
As early as the 1930s the Catholic Church [“and other churches”] was being infiltrated by communists and the Vatican did nothing to counter this, and other religious institutions kept their silence… “As part of the program to destroy religion from within, the KGB, in the late 1950s, started sending dedicated young Communists to ecclesiastical academies and seminaries to train them as future church leaders. These young Communists joined the Church… at the call of the Communist Party… to implement its general line [unchanged policy] in the struggle against religion. In the present phase, secret agents in the Catholic and other churches are being used to implement Communist strategy . When they achieve their Communist world victory, they will use mass withdrawal of their agents to disrupt and destroy the churches. ” – KGB defector Major Anatoliy Golitsyn, ‘The Perestrpika Deception, pp. 116-117, 1995. https://ia800305.us.archive.org/27/items/AnatoliyGolitsyn/Golitsyn-ThePerestroikaDeception-TheWorldsSlideTowardsTheSecondOctoberRevolution1995.pdf “In the 1930’s, we put eleven… Read more »
My favorite song, always brings tears to my eyes. It aligns so closely with my own experieces and military service.
Human beings are the only species on Planet Earth, that I can think of, who have surmounted basic survival issues. Yet instead of acting as benign gods toward Mother Earth, we play the role of devil. Most of human suffering is caused by humans. Sadly, much of the suffering of other species is also caused by humans. The suffering we humans inflict on ourselves and others is often needless, pointless, wasteful, immoral and most shameful of all, shameless.
Thank you for the song I have been trying to remember what it was called. It used to be on an old anti war compilation CD I had years ago.
And yet within the same day as the silence of Lest we forget. Corbyn is being pilloried and attacked for his anti war stance. The Bastard doesn’t even want to drop a nuclear bomb on any one. Dear god what is wrong with them all. Hears to the white poppy I say.
Sorry, momentary lack of concentration. Should be here!.
You have to add Edward Thomas to this piece http://www.warpoets.org/conflicts/great-war/edward-thomas-1878-1917/ The propaganda for war is ever present. As many gathered in my town yesterday the relevance and irrelevance is sharply noted. The relevance of remembrance is astute. But my, how the propaganda survives and mutates. Most people do not see a difference yet the modern, illegal and putrifying notion of ‘war is the answer to everything’ remains and grips in its fervour. Old Man BY EDWARD THOMAS Old Man, or Lad’s-love,—in the name there’s nothing To one that knows not Lad’s-love, or Old Man, The hoar-green feathery herb, almost a tree, Growing with rosemary and lavender. Even to one that knows it well, the names Half decorate, half perplex, the thing it is: At least, what that is clings not to the names In spite of time. And yet I like the names. The herb itself I like not, but… Read more »
I once read a book by Robert Holdstock, a British fanatasy writer. The book was called “Avilion” and contained a poem about his grandfather in WWI France. The poem was called Fields of tartan and recounted how the pipers led the troops over the top and into the machine guns. For the troops slipping and sliding in the mud, they walked to their deaths across a field of mud, blood and tartan.
Unfortunately, I can’t find a reprint of the poem but it has stayed with me through the years. I wish they read it to children.
Thanks for this. Couple of minor points.
I’m surprised that the song is Ireland’s favourite folk song, given that they have so many fantastic songs of their own. It’s been covered extensively by many Irish bands and singers, but the writer, Eric Bogle, is actually Scottish.
The lyrics should be “the great fallen” not “the great falling”. I’d be very surprised if Eric made that mistake in his original version of the lyrics.
sweet sounds, for something so sickly……deserves a deeper reach imo, progressive metal perhaps ?
Doctor…,
I agree that the version attached to the article is a little too ‘nicely’ sung. Of course the impact and sense of meaning is in the words and that is the point of the article, but I do prefer this version sung by Finbar Furey. It is the passion and rawness that he brings to the song enhanced by the less than perfect audience participation that I find particularly moving. I saw the Fureys performing several times in the 1980s and they always sang this song which, without fail, prompted the audience to join in as one.
agreed Judy – that is an improvement. Thanks.
but still, not raw enough, imo.
Feed the War Cannibal – RATM, Bulls on Parade.
[VIDEO]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L4YrGaR8E4[/VIDEO]
Eliot’s Lines for an Old Man is one of my favourite poems… Lines for an Old Man by TS Eliot The tiger in the tiger-pit Is not more irritable than I. The whipping tail is not more still Than when I smell the enemy Writhing in the essential blood Or dangling from the friendly tree. When I lay bare the tooth of wit The hissing over the arched tongue Is more affectionate than hate, More bitter than the love of youth, And inaccessible by the young. Reflected from my golden eye. The dullard knows that he is mad. Tell me if I am not glad! __________________________________ I’d rather be reporting on the absolutely appalling stuff that’s going on in France at the moment, but it’s difficult to do so. This TS poem is seen as one of his minor pieces, yet I think it’s one of his best pieces, and… Read more »
Bloody hell, the formatting in this comment section is tres difficile.
And for the record, I’m not an old man; I’m 55 years old, and quite fit.
I have the same problem inserting copied lyrics. Even if I transfer them to Notepad and back, whenever I post them on Off-G, they always come out double spaced.
Human rights are separate, inalienable to mankind, rights. But the governed in nearly every nation has allowed those that control the nation state (government) to decide what the rights are and when to honor them. Something is wrong with this picture? Human rights should be the top level of all domains | | | | | | | USA UK French Saudi Israeli Russian China govt govt govt. govt govt Govt govt. Adopting this premise. that Nation states must serve mankind. We need a new court the human rights court and a new set of laws<=the laws of humanity The folks in government are the governed with respect to the laws of humanity. No government has the authority to allow any of its elements to violate a law of humanity. The humans that the governments governed, are subject to the laws of the government for all matters not a matter… Read more »
Smokey: Of course you are absolutely right and morally justified. But, unfortunately: we have been through the process you advocate – with which I am in total solidarity – and we do not live in that world. Please read this brief history of the London Agreement 1945: http://www.crimesagainstpeace.org/ The London Agreement – or Nuremberg Charter – is the supposed foundation of all current International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Which has been abrogated by all major signatories – most obviously the US. IHL only really exists as a tool of the corporate revolution to demonise and eventually prosecute any dissenting persons: whilst itself being immune. They are above the law they created. It goes deeper than that. The corporations themselves are legal persons – particularly under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. State governments are also legal persons. This confers limited liability on the natural persons that constitute both. This… Read more »
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bolivia xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It looks like there’s been some kind of military coup in Bolivia with Evo Morales forced to resign.
This has got the fingerprints of the Neocohens and the CIA all over it.
World’s largest reserves of lithium and all sorts of resources.
No doubt the BBC will shortly explain to us how he was a “dictator” who had to be overthrown and how wonderful this is.
The CIA? No, the Almighty mossad again!
Mankind is truly Lost in Space.
Surrounded by nothing making sense
but the wing flaps of a Butterfly.
He, who has no respect for Life, will
experience only Death. Inescapably.
When will the Universe give mankind
its fortune cookie that recommends:
“Try better next time.”?
Eric Bogle – fantastic songwriter. The horror and waste of war is something of a specialist subject of his – ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ is another outstanding one.
Spot on Mike.
Here it is> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI
Our sycophantic Prime Minister at the time, Billy Hughes, would have sacrificed another 60,000 Australian lives given his way.
Fortunately, the union movement in Australia stopped his conscription bill.