1917: An Unforgettable Song about The Great War (1 Viewer)

PolarBear

PolarBear

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For all the WWI Collectors out there.
A stunning performance by Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_90DSPc9-s



1917

(By Dave Olney)

The strange young man who comes to me
A soldier on a three day spree
Who needs one night's cheap ecstasy
And a woman's arms to hide him

He greets me with a courtly bow
And hides his pain by acting proud
He drinks too much and he laughs too loud
How can I deny him?

Let us dance beneath the moon
I'll sing to you, "Claire de Lune'
The morning always comes too soon
But tonight the war is over

He speaks to me in schoolboy French
Of a soldier's life inside a trench
Of the look of death and the ghastly stench
I do my best to please him

He puts two roses in a vase
Two roses sadly out of place
Like the gallant smile on his haggard face
Playfully I tease him

Hold me neath the Paris skies
Let's not talk of how or why
Tomorrow's soon enough to die
But tonight the war is over

We make love too hard too fast
He falls asleep his face a mask
He wakes with the shakes and he drinks from his flask
I put my arms around him

They die in the trenches and they die in the air
In Belguim and France the dead are everywhere
They die so so fast there's no time to prepare
A decent grave to surround them

Old world glory old world fame
The old worlds gone gone up in flames
Nothing will ever be the same
And nothing lasts forever

Oh I'd pray for him but I've forgotten how
And there's nothing, nothing that can save him now
But there's always another with the same funny bow
And who am I to deny them

Lux aeterna, Luce-at e-is
Domine cum sanctic tu-is in aeternum
Qui-a pius es
Requiem aeternaum dona e-is Domine
Qui-a pius es
Tonight the war is over

Requiem aeternaum dona e-is Domine
Qui-a pius es
Et lux perpetua luce-at- e-is Cum sancris tu-is in
Aeternum qui-api-us es
Tonight the war is over

 
The first time I've heard this - and won't be the last.......The haunting melody and melancholy lyrics are nigh on perfect - stunning indeed.

Many thanks for posting.

Roy
 
Old Bill said:
The first time I've heard this - and won't be the last.......The haunting melody and melancholy lyrics are nigh on perfect - stunning indeed.

Many thanks for posting.

Roy
Click to expand...

Roy

Glad you liked it. It blew me away the first time I heard it.

That melody is very powerful and stays with you and the lyrics are worth 1000 books on the war.

You are absolutely right about this song. I had the same response to a video on the battle of the Somme that was part of the WWI exhibition at the Imperial War Museum. It made me better understand the horrors of the war. I actually teared up in the gallery.

Randy
.
 
May I recommend to the house

Centenary By Show of Hands featuring the great Jim Carter and his wife Imelda Staunton.

Also on this album two tracks just by show of hands

The Gamekeeper (compares the life of a gamekeeper on the red soil of Devon to the red blood stained soil of 1st July 1916)

The Padre


Or June Tabor's No Man's land

Regards to all

RAMC (Glynn)
 
RAMC said:
May I recommend to the house

Centenary By Show of Hands featuring the great Jim Carter and his wife Imelda Staunton.

Also on this album two tracks just by show of hands

The Gamekeeper (compares the life of a gamekeeper on the red soil of Devon to the red blood stained soil of 1st July 1916)

The Padre


Or June Tabor's No Man's land

Regards to all

RAMC (Glynn)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions Glyn

I wil post the music videos for these tonight.

Randy
 
LYRICS: June Tabor:No Man's Land / Flowers Of The Forest

Well, how do you do, Private William McBride,
Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?
And 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 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, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Cho: Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fir o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sound 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 loyal heart is your memory enshrined?
And, though you died back in 1916,
To that loyal heart are you always 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

3. The sun's 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 and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and ****ed.

4. And I can't help but wonder, no 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 that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
-------
Well how do you do, young Willie 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 working all day and I'm nearly done.
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the dead heroes of nineteen-sixteen.
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene.

Chorus :
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the dead-march as they lowered you down.
Did the bugles play the Last Post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the 'Flooers o' the Forest'.

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
Although you died back there in nineteen-sixteen
In that faithful heart are you ever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed and forgotten behind the glass frame
In a old photograph, torn and battered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame.

The sun now it shines on the green fields of France
The warm summer breeze 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 generaation that were butchered and ****ed.

Now young Willie McBride I can't help but wonder why
Do all those who lie here know why they died
And did they believe when they answered the cause
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain
The killing and dying was all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.

 
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