Well how do you do, Private Willie McBride?
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside,
And I'll rest for a while in the warm summer sun?
I've been walkin' all day, Lord, and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 19-16
I hope you died quick, and I hope you died clean,
Or Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
Did they beat the drums slowly,
Did they sound the fife 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 of the Fo-rest?
And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart be-hind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 19-16
To that loyal heart are you forever 19
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Forever enshrined be-hind some glass pane?
In an old photograph, torn, tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown, leather frame
Did they beat the drums slowly,
Did they sound the fife 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 of the Fo-rest?
Well the sun's shining now on these green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently, the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished long under the plough
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 damned
Did they beat the drums slowly,
Did they sound the fife 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 of the Fo-rest?
And I can't help but wonder, Willie Mc-Bride
Do all those who lie here, know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you 'The Cause?’
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 a-gain, and a-gain!
Did they beat the drums slowly,
Did they sound the fife 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 of the Fo-rest?
Did the bugle sing The Last Post in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Fo-rest?
Close with this lovely lick from C*:
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