The green fields of France

Irish trad. song
Arranged and transcribed by Cizirfh (1997)

. . .
How do you do,
Young William McBride,
Do you mind if I sit
Here down by your graveside.
And rest for a while
'neath the warm summer sun.
I've been working all day and
I'm nearly done.
I see by your gravestone
You were only nineteen
When you joined
The dead heroes
Of nineteen sixteen.
I hope you died well
And I hope you died clean.
Or William McBride,
Was it slow and obscene.
Did they beat
The drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the deadmarch
As they lowered you down.
And 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 faithful heart
Is your memory enshrined
Although you died back
In nineteen sixteen
In that faithful heart
Are you forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger
Without even a name
Enclosed and forever
Behind the glass frame
In a old photograph,
Torn and battered and stained
And fade to yellow
In a brown leather frame.
Did they beat
The drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the deadmarch
As they lowered you down.
And did the band
Play the Last post and chorus.
Did the pipes
Play the Flowers of the forest.
. . .
The sun now shines
On the green fields of France
There's a warm summer breeze
It 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 guns firing now
But here in this graveyard
It's still noman'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 damned.
Did they beat
The drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the deadmarch
As they lowered you down.
And did the band
Play the Last post and chorus.
Did the pipes
Play the Flowers of the forest.
Now young Willie McBride
I can't help but wonder why
Do all those who lie here
Know why they died
And did they believe
When they answered the cause
Did they really believe
That this war would end wars
Well the sorrows,
The suffering, the glory.
The pain
The killing and dying
Was 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 deadmarch
As they lowered you down.
And did the band
Play the Last post and chorus.
Did the pipes
Play the Flowers of the forest.

Soft karaoke
Words
guitare
tin whistle
ambiance
synchro texte
concertina
basse
bodhran
u.pipe 1
u.pipe 2

The green fields of France, Irish Trad. song
Arranged and sequenced for GM by Cizirfh (1997)