No Man's Land

(from 2014)

World War 1 is in the news at lot at the moment, but given that this year is the centenary of its start that has a certain logic.

As well as the “war poets” there are several folk singers who have given their view (generally anti-war) on those events. One of the best is Eric Bogle. Three of his songs stand out. “The Gift of Years” and “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” both tell things from an Australian perspective. The latter song was voted as one of the top thirty Australian songs of all time by the Australasian Performing Rights Association.

I once learned the latter, but found I was unable to sing it when it came to it.

Perhaps the most well known – because it has been recorded by Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, the Clancy Brothers, the Fureys (who had a monster hit) and many others - was The Green Fields of France (also known as No Man’s Land).

The last verse goes:

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.

Triva time – the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has graves for ten different Willie McBrides.