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The Green Fields Of France (No Man's Land)

Eric Bogle
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Original"No Man's Land" - An Irish parody by Crawford Howard and Fintan...
THE GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE (NO MAN'S LAND)

Well how do you do, Private William McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your grave side?
A rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone that you were only 19
when you joined the glorious fallen in 1916.
Well I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, William McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart are you always 19.
Or are you just a stranger without even a name
Forever enclosed behind some glass-pane
In an old photograph torn and tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?

Well the sun it shines down on these green fields of France,
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance.
The trenches are vanished now under the plough
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard it is still No Man's Land
And the countless white crosses in mute witness stand.
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation that was butchered and downed.

Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?

And I can't help but wonder now Willie 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 them that this war would end war?
But the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame -
The killing, the dying - it was all done in vain.
For Willie McBride, it's all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.

Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipe lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?
NO MAN'S LAND

Have you heard the old song about Willie Mc Bride?
If I hear it again, it'll turn me insides!
For its sung in the Springtime and its sung in the Fall
- And mostly by people who can't sing at all!
You go out for a drink on a Saturday night
For a pint and a song, and things are alright
Until some drunken bowsey sits down by your side
And he asks for the one about "Willie Mc Bride"!

Well you say you don't know it but this will not do
For now he's determined to sing it to you
So he spills half your drink and starts off in a key
That was never invented on land or on sea
And as time goes by sure the whole thing gets worse
For you soon realise that he knows every verse!
With his arm round your shoulder - 'cos now he's your friend
He's going to sing the damn thing to the end!

You go out to the Gents for a quarter of an hour
And you watch the TV in the old public bar
And then you come back thinking that he will tire
But he's still going on about gas and barbed wire!
And ten minutes later you're all in a trance
For he's up to his oxters in the Green Fields of France
The crowd are all quiet, you wont hear a peep
Does he not realise they've all gone to sleep?

Ah Willie Mc Bride, why the hell did you die?
The trouble you'd have saved if you'd come back alive
And got a wee job or signed "on the brew"*
We'd not have to listen to songs about you!
But still I don't know but I'm glad that you're dead
With the green fields of France piled on top of your head
For the trouble you caused since the day that you died
- Shooting's too good for you, Willie Mc Bride!


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