To that loyal heart you're forever 19.
I think this is the most depressing song that the Dropkick Murphys have ever recorded. At first, I thought: "Aaaw, man. Dropkick Murphys playing piano and making a schmaltzy ballad? Ew!"
It made me a bit misty-eyed, which music does very rarely.
They didn't write it. It's an old song that's lots of people have remade, according to Google.
But still...
"The Green Fields of France"
Oh, how do you do, young Willie McBride,
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.
And I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the great fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they play 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?
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 you're forever 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?
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they play 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?
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 damned.
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they play 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?
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,
Oh, Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they play 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?
I can't stop listening to this song.
It made me a bit misty-eyed, which music does very rarely.
They didn't write it. It's an old song that's lots of people have remade, according to Google.
But still...
"The Green Fields of France"
Oh, how do you do, young Willie McBride,
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.
And I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the great fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they play 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?
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 you're forever 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?
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they play 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?
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 damned.
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they play 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?
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,
Oh, Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they play 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?
I can't stop listening to this song.