The Green Fields Of France lyrics

Song information

Artist: Dropkick Murphys
Album: The Warrior's Code

Lyrics

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 nineteen
When you joined the great fallen in 1916. (****)
I hoped you died quick, and I hoped you died clean
Oh willie mcbride, was it slow and obscene? ***

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they 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?

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 nineteen, ***
Or are you a stranger without even a name?
Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane, ***
In an old photograph torn, tattered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they 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 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, no barbed wire, no guns firing now! ***
But here in this graveyard, that's still no mans land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand, ***
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man, ***
And a whole generation were butchered and damned ***

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they 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?

And I can't help but wonder, no willy mcbride, ***
Do all those who lie here know why they died, ***
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause
Did they really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing and 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 drums slowly
Did they 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?

[from http://lyrics.doheth.co.uk]

"The Warrior's Code" album track list