The Green Fields Of France

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 been walkin' 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 young Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene? Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly? Did they sound the Death March as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post and chorus? And did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest? Did you leave Éire a wife or a sweetheart behind? In some faithful heart, is your memory enshrined? And though you died back in 1916 In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen Or are you a stranger without even a name Enclosed and forever behind a glass frame In an old photograph, torn, battered and stained And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame? Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly? Did they sound the Death March as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post and chorus? And did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest? The sun, now it shines on the green fields of France There's a warm summer breeze that 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 fife lowly? Did they sound the Death March as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post and chorus? And did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest? Well young Willie 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 would end war? Well the sorrow, the sufferin', the glory, the pain The killing and dying were all done in vain For young Willie McBride, it all happened again And again, and again, and again, and again Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly? Did they sound the Death March as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post and chorus? And did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest? Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly? Did they sound the Death March as they lowered you down? Did the band play the last post and chorus? And did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?