Rebel songs?

Question

I heard my dad singing an Irish rebel song today, I've never hear it before, can someone tell me what it is.

It went something like;

I stood by your graveside..

Saw you were only 19..

__________ in 1916

.......

Did they _____ the drums beating

Thanks!

Answer 1

As you can see it's not a rebel song but it is a lovely song sung for the fallen - no matter what war and in what fashion the young man died.

The song was written by Eric Bogle.

After a visit to the war cemeteries in France in the early seventies Bogle turned a traditional Scottish lament into a dramatic fictitious conversation with Private William McBride. Maybe Bogle was inspired by an headstone he had seen, but probably the man and the name are equally fictitious.

Piet Chielens, coordinator of the In Flanders Fields War Museum in Ypres, Belgium, and organizer of yearly peace concerts in Flanders, once checked all 1,700,000 names that are registered with the Commonwealth War Commission. He found no less than ten Privates William McBride.

Three of these William McBride's fell in 1916, two were members of the Northern Irish Regiment, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and died more or less in the same spot during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. One was 21, the other 19 years old. "The law of the greatest numbers does beat even the most poetical license", Chielens remarks.

The 19 years old Pte William McBride is buried in Authuille British Cemetery, near Albert and Beaumont-Hamel, where the Inniskilling Fusiliers were deployed as part of the 29th Division.

Answer 2

Its the green fields of france sung by the fureys and davey arthur here are the Lyrics

Well, how do you do, young Willie 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?

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 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?

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.

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.

Answer 3

Green Fields of France. It's lovely.

Answer 4

the song is called 'the green fields of france' by davey arthur and the fureys, an album which i highly recommend

Answer 5

hum...............

Answer 6

This looks to be a song by Eric Bogle, either called 'William McBride, No Man's Land' or 'The Green Fields of France,' which is about the First World War.  Here's a link to info about it:

http://www.aftermathww1.com/mcbride.asp

There appear to MP3 links on this page, which will allow you to hear the song.  Knowing of June Tabor's artistry (she's amazing!), I would recommend her take on the song without even hearing it.

Hope this helps you ...

Answer 7

thats not an Irish rebel song.  that song was originally written by a scot Eric Bogle about the events of World War 1 and a scottish soldier Willie McBride who participated and died on the green fields of France in 1916

great song nonetheless but not Irish, though easily confused http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntt3wy-L8...

Answer 8

It's a song called The Green Fields of France. The Fureys and Davy Arthur do it, google them and you'll probably get the text somewhere. It's a great song.