Green Fields of France

Well how do you do, young Willy 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 walking all day and I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great fallen in nineteen-sixteen
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or young Willy McBride was it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did the play the fife lowly?
Did they sound 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?

Did you leave here 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 then forever behind a glass pane
In an old photograph torn, battered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame?

Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did the play the fife lowly?
Did they sound 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 now shines o'er the green fields of France
There's a warm summers 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"
Oh 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 drums slowly?
Did the play the fife lowly?
Did they sound 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?

Now young Willy McBride, I can't help but 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 wars?
For the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying were all done in vain
For young Willy McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did the play the fife lowly?
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down?
And did the band play the last post and chorus?
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?

Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did the play the fife lowly?
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down?
And did the band play the last post and chorus?
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?