Liam Clancy - Green Fields Of France
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- CHORUS
Did they beat the drum 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"
Well how do you do young Willie McBride?
do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside
and rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun
I've been walkin' all day and I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
when you joined the great fallen of 1916
Well I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Willie McBride was it slow and obscene CHORUS
And the beautiful wife or the sweetheart for life
in some faithful heart are you forever enshrined
and although you died back in 1916
in that faithful heart are you forever nineteen?
or are you a stranger without even a name
enshrined forever behind a glass pane
in an ould photograph torn tattered and stained,
fading to yellow in a brown leather frame? CHORUS
Now the sun shines down on the green fields of France
a warm summer wind makes the red poppys dance
The trences have vanished under the plows,
there's no gas no barbed wire, there's no guns firing now
but here in this graveyard it's still No Man's land,
the countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
for man's blind indifference to his fellow man,
to a whole generation that was butchered and damned CHORUS
Now Willie McBride I can't help wonder why
Do those who lie here do they know why they died
Did they really beleive when they answered the call
did they really believe that this war would end wars
Forever this song of suffereing and shame
the killing the dying was all done in vain
for young Willie McBride it's all happened again,
and again, and again, and again and again
my childhood .my teenage years ,my adult life. now my old age still great ,was allways great never to come agian the clancy where the best
Rest in Peace Liam Clancey, great song
Simply brilliant! Best ever Ballad singer to come out of Ireland! RIP
This song makes me miss my son. He died the day before Thanksgiving 2014 and I have yet to cry like I think I should. I lay over his grave and I only feel anger.
LarryEF ahhh. how desperately sad you must be. I have no "good" words to share with you. I lost my father 4 decades ago. I am still angry. My hope for you is only to cherish the sweetness you had with your son. May you find solace...sometime, somewhere. I'm guessing that your beloved son would want that for you.
so sad to hear my friend
+LarryEF Fear not. The mourning will come. The anger, while not ever leaving, will become bearable.
+LarryEF Crying can be unpredictable. It will come when you least expect it, and it will sooth you when it does. Be well.
this song is for you and your son living
What a singer -he was the world's greatest interpreter of how to sing a ballad or a rebel song.
What a beautiful voice. Hope you are singing in heaven happily.
Breaks my heart every time I hear it.
Liam Clancy has the best voice on the world :P :D
what a voice. i grew up listening to the clancy brothers. great singers.
Liam Clancy.. legendary irish man, pride of tipperary
Probably the best version of this song I've heard.
After having listened to all singers who ever sung, Liam Clancy is number ome, two and three. Who is on fourth place I don't know.
Tommy Makem
episcophagus june tabor
This song never fails to bring tears to my eyes
Liam had the ability to tear us from this world of comfort and make the past so real. He sang as though he cared.
Tears are an enigma to me. Everybody thinks that you cry because you have been hurt physically or emotionally. Why are there tears in my eyes and rolling down the front of my face. I think it's because they beat the drum slowly and they played the fife lowly... I don't even know Willie McBride. What's with that?
You're just a big softy.
Shamrockrancher Aren't we all ?
***** Indeed!
I've got a big, tough guy friend. I played this for him. He cried like someone took his last $50.
I found Eric Bogel's email address on-line one day, almost by accident. I wrote him a letter and I thanked him for this wonderful song. It's one of the few songs that have touched me so. And Liam performs it so touchingly.
+Wyatt It's because you are a human being with normal human feelings. Do not ever apologise for your feelings.
"They beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly"
This is also a line in the chorus to "The Streets of Laredo".
Probably an English soldiers song re-scripted and retained in America after the British surrender to General Gates.
'As I walked out in the streets of Laredo'
'I walked in the streets of Laredo one day'
'I met a young cowboy all dressed in white linen'
'dressed in white linen and cold as the clay'
Anybody out there know the English version???
Battle of the Somme: July 1-November 18, 1916. British Empire losses on the FIRST DAY were 19,240 killed and 38,230 wounded or missing. In the 141 day campaign tracking casualties was an in-exact science. Total casualties of dead, wounded and missing from both sides range from a LOW 860,000 to 1,183,000. IF only this really had been the war to end all wars. Just an opinion, but I think Liam Clancy's version of this song is the best. Rest in peace Willie McBride.
You are right!!! Thumb up
I think the best version of this song is from "The Fureys and Davey Arthur" but this version is great too.
Two of my grandmother's brothers were killed in action in WWI. One in 1915 at Vimy Ridge; he was 22. The other on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1st, 1916; he was 20. Both of these men were from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. My grandmother was 15 when Samuel died, and 16 when John died at Beaumont Hamel. It is one hundred years this year...the Battle of the Somme, human slaughter.
Stuart Donnelly h
According to Adam Hochschild in "The War to Start All Wars", The Germans fired 1 million artillery rounds in five hours to start this battle. If that is not man's indifference to his fellow man, I don't know what is.
@golly22001 The song is actualy called "No Man's Land" (both Willie McBride and Green Fields Of France are alternative titles for the song which other people have adopted for it). It was inspired by Bogle's visit to war cemetries in northern France. The song which was inspired by the Anzac Day march etc was his "And The Band Played Waltzin Matilda"
I haven't heard this in years, even though I was lucky enough to be introduced to the The Clancy Brothers good and early. Great band, easy to listen to because they sounded so good. Never cheesy - Irish pop-trad (or any pop-trad, for that matter) so often strays beyond the bounds of good taste. Liam's voice is extraordinary - so much soul without ever needing to break into a sweat.
Think of my father who is gone every time I hear this beautiful song. Thank you so much for uploading. Such a melancholy tune.
Beautiful! This song moves me. Liam sings it as only he can
God Blee Liam - Rest in Peace and thank you for 48 years entertainment
The irony of this, as in another of Eric’s great songs “the Band played waltzing Matilda” helps to highlight the absurdities of war and the realities of suffering. Building peace is hard work, given the vested interests in exploitation and creating conflict in which millions of people are induced to suffer.
Too true. The world would be a nice place if people didn't keep fighting each other over spupidness. (Money, land, religion etc.) Maybe the world be better without humans full stop!
My grandfather has a Shamrock by his graveside .Ferme Buterne Armentieres /Houplines KIA 3 May 1915
+michael cushing Bless Him eire is always with him
Not much I can say really. RIP!
How can 6 people, anywhere, not like this??
May the sun always shine and the wind be always at your back Liam.
i listened to it 10 times in a row! great
I love this song. My dear Grampa And his identical twin brother went to fight in The Great War in France. He wept as he told us children of the rats and the lice, the blood and the gore in the foxholes in France. Grampa and his brother were only fourteen years old.
With all the loss of young life and smashed dreams of WW1 you think that some lessons would have been learned
Great song beautifully sung
To take a quote from Willie Guthrie, " the worst of men must fight and the best of men must die ". We have not learned much have we ?
Beautiful!
A very solid interpretation of this song.
TY Liam,
TY Vito...
Liam touched something within all of us. That something said there has to be a place for kindness, for love, for people and for the human condition.
A sad song but I simply love it.
The part that tears at my heart is "and again...and again...and again...and again..."As long as we...Ireland, the USA, the Brits, everyone...live in a system that promotes conflict and greed, it WILL happen again. after WWI people said they would not stand for the 1% controlling all the wealth and profiting from our dead. WHAT HAPPENED?
WHat happened was the great depression .The manipulated failure of the stock market in 1929 , If they have you worried about where your next meal is coming from , you are less likely to complain about the bigger picture !
Barry Fruchter we died with fuck all in all the wars from an Irish Catholicos so fuck it no one gives a fuck about us and did they any aa
We all trapped sir. Trapped.
i love thios song becouse it may be my reletive, but that means nothing to the brave souls who laid down for us, if i could give anything back i would, im stuck just with memoreies and highlights of your brave times, god bless yer, thank you .
Thank you Roger Graham for providing historical facts of which i was unaware, despite this song always holding a strong appeal for me.
Heard many other singers cover this, but Liam knocks it out of the park,
Some variation in the lyrics from the Furey's great version of the song. The great fallen of 1916 in the Feury's, 20,000 British soldiers died on day one of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916, many of them, like Willie McBride, from Northern Ireland.
+John McDermott No such thing as Northern Ireland in them days mate. We were all Irish as a nation. 36th (Ulster) and 16th (Irish) both fought and died at the Somme. Alibiet in different months
+John McDermott : And many from the Newfoundland Regiment. My grandmother's brother, John Swain Snow, died on July 1. 1916 at the Somme, and his body decayed for more than a year by the Danger Tree, before his identifying tags were recovered and sent to the family in Harbour Grace. Another brother, Samuel Snow, was killed in action at the battle of Vimy Ridge, April 2017.
+David Berry. You poor fuck. Even a song as beautiful as this cannot dissuade your malice. All the comments I read here are from good and compassionate human beings...... except yours. So sad. Hope you rejoin the human race some time soon.
John McDermott sure makes for a conflicting day in nfld. On one hand you got Canada day, a day of celebration. On the other hand you got the anniversary of the battle of Beaumont-Hamel, the day almost an entire generation of young men got wiped out.
@dustysailor1 I've been to them a few times. It brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye everytime. All those white crosses make it the saddest place I've ever visited.
just found this guy,loving it
I do not think I have ever heard this song before. Very beautiful indeed!
I can't wait to see Liam... he's playing outside of Pittsburgh early march... I've got tickets.
my own thoughts too, especially when visiting our national cemeteries and reading stranger's stones.
A TRULY GREAT RENDERING OF THE GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE .
my favorite version of this song
It takes a much stronger man than I to sing this aloud, let alone be able to do it in front of a crowd. :(
Thank you for the heads-up!
My favorite version by far.
@tombs009 I think it's safe to say that an troop who's half an education this song means something...french german, italian, british, scots, irish, turkish etc...
I went to the Somme this summer and played this song as I sat in front of a CWGC cemetery and cried like a baby
after watching this and "The band played Waltzing Matilda", I have to listen to "All God's Creatures Have a Place in the Choir" to bring my spirits back up.
love it!
Best Irish Singer EVER!!!
this is AWESOME
a great version of this song
Excellent. Thanks for this. It's much closer to Bogle's original than the better known McDermott & Fureys versions (despite him getting the year wrong :))
19-year-old Private William McBride is buried in the Authuille Military Cemetery, near Albert and Beaumont-Hamel, where the Inniskillen Fusiliers were deployed as part of the 29th Division. The 19-year-old Private William McBride can be found at Grave A. 36, near the back of the Cemetery.
An Armagh historian Trevor Geary, has traced the Willie McBride (12/23965) to Roan Cottage, Roughan, Lislea in County Armagh BT60 3AF. This was based on the gravestone at Authuile Military Cemetery.
R.I.P Liam Clancy
RIP Liam
This song was played at my school in assembly.
REST IN PEACE LIAM
love it :)
This wonderful song was sung at Liam's graveside after a rainbow appeared.
No man among us hasn't cried upon the 3rd verse
Close your eyes and imagine yourself in that hell at 19 years old ~ we owe so much for those poor souls who paid the ultimate price so we can enjoy what we have today…and today people whine because they cannot afford the latest gadgets ~ sad.
UKIPPER What is infinitely sadder is that we think gadgets matter at all.
UKIPPER i was in a similar hell so i do not have to imagine but worst nevet enjoy what you hsve today god bless you mate
These people did not need to lose their arms, their legs, and indeed their lives. WW1 was a senseless waste of human life.
Quite excellent.
Liam clancy has one heck of a voice
beautiful song, beautiful clancy :)
class video, 5*****
Albert211@.com.N.S.
Very moving
Corrected lyrics :
CHORUS
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o’er you as they lowered you down
Did the bugles sing the Last Post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the "Flowers of the Forest”
- - - - - -
1. Well how do you do, Private William McBride?
D’ya mind if I sit here down by your graveside
An’ I’ll rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been walkin' all day and I'm nearly done
‘n ’ I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the dead heroes in 1915
Well I hope you died quick, and I hope you died clean
Or Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
CHORUS
2. And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
And ‘though you died back in 1915
In some faithful heart are you forever nineteen?
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enshrined forever behind a glass frame
In an ould photograph torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a bound leather frame?
CHORUS
3. Well the sun’s shining on these green fields of France
A warm wind blows gently and the red poppys dance
The trenches have vanished under the plows,
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard it is still No Man's Land,
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man,
To a whole generation who was butchered and damned.
CHORUS
4. ‘n’ I can't help but wonder, now 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
For the suffering, the sorrow, ‘n’ the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain
For, Willie McBride, it's all happened again,
And again, and again, and again and again
CHORUS
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o’er you as they lowered you down
Did the bugles sing the Last Post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the "Flowers of the Forest”
A lot of great Irish singers have covered this song... That is kind of the reason why lots of Irish think of our fallen grandfathers and ancestors who died in this war when we listen to this song. They fought alongside Britain against Facism, even though the actions of Britain towards Ireland left a lot to be desired at that time and in the very recent past. So spare a thought for them and that difficult decision they had to make. I know I do. My grandfather was lucky, he was in RAF and was very young at the time. He never made it into battle but another few months and he would have got the call. I got most of my info from him. RIP. I think its credible. Another apt song is "many young men of twenty"
During WWI Germany was a monarchy, not a fascist state. Serbia started the war by assassinating an Austrian nobleman. Austria then delivered an ultimatum to the Serbs. They ignored it. Austria then declared war. The Germans were bound to a self-defense treaty with Austria-Hungary. That is how they entered the war.
Actually the whole thing spun out of control.
Austria Hungary wanted to give the Serbs a slapping around, and thought that russia would not intervene
Russia saw Austria Hungary troop build up as a massive invasion into Serbia.
France was treaty bound as we Germany/Prussia, as UK to neutral Belgium.
Germany thought they could knock out France first which involved going through Belgium. Germany thought UK would get involved anyway out of interest of protecting empire.
Turkey knew they would be carved up by the winners so picked a side.
Allies needed japan to attack German navy in china. This spurned Japanese expansion in china.
Germany thought it could draw UK resources away by taking the war to India, Africa, etc.
Arab support by promised independence to them, but were double crossed.
Balfour act was targeted at Russian/USSR Jews like Trotsky, in hope USSR would give support to Allies.
Btw the ultimatum to the Serbs was designed so the conditions were going to be unacceptable. Austria Hungary hoped they would not accept, and planned to attack regardless.
The kaiser, czar and British King were first cousins.
Austria Hungary was made up of many second class ethnic groups. Interestingly the archduke shot in Sarajevo recognised this and wanted to balance the empire where ethnic groups had more say and power
The Jews got blamed for military losses by both sides.
At no stage did anyone talk to each other. They simply assumed what the other was up to, and reacted. None of the players really had a plan and no clear reasoning or objectives, well maybe apart from wanting to settle old scores
Conor White The arabs got double crossed on their independence promise, yeah sounds familiar to chruchill and de valera, he knew churchill would not honor it and so ireland stayed neutral for the 2nd world war
A Interesting fact for you Niall
More Irish from the South Volunteered in WW2 than the number from the so called loyalist north!
Conscription not enforced in either part.
This was the same in ww1, where once again more Irish volunteered from the 26 counties than the 6 that would be gerrymandered by the crown.
Yet the media portray the supposed brave loyal ulster men!
Even leaving aside the fact that Ulster is a Irish province not represented by the 6 counties, it shows the bias that all too many Irish just let pass.
Sorry, much as I love Liam, Finbar Furey sings this one with a great sense of feeling
And yes Bob Dylan him nd liam were friends, and weird enough only last week I was at a session in liams first house, lovely small cottage near a cliff edge in waterford, we had the guitars out nd played away into the early morning.. walking home watching the sun rise, was 1 of the better nights out .....
Does not this song and many of his others ,depict the futility of war and the senseless way ordinary people are used as pawns to gratify the greed of the elite. There are no heros in war just dead people who have died for something they dont realy understand .
Just don't forget what Eowyn of Rohan said about that, first to the noted swordsman Aragorn and then more pointedly to the witch king of Angmar and his horse.
@hibraisil Eric Bogle ( the writer ) was referring to the Battle of the Somme, hibraisil. His original version stated 1916 instead of 1915.
It's a very, very close call between, Liam Clancy and Finbar Furey, Liam's voice is just awesome, but Finbar has the backing, how do you choose?
@SullivanNiall yes
Also, no one sings And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda like Liam.
Two of the greatest anti war songs.
Universal Soldier is also great.
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand to mans blind indifference to his fellow man.
So true.. so sad.
is it just me or was not enough of a deal made of his death?? I didn't hear for ages either. a national treasure.
Good night, Liam. Sleep well.
anto o'r
Just realize that the lyrics of this song would go perfectly sung to the tune of Clancy's "Patriot Game"
its on youtube, undder teh clancy brothers and robbie o'connell teh green fields of france
Only reason I can think of changing it from 1916 to 1915 would be people thinking this song was about the Easter 1916 Revolution. If ya look at the first verse alone it could be a tribute to those great men. Actually the first 2 verses.
My grandfather Andrew was 19 in 1915
The killing and the dying was all done in vain, for Willie McBride it's all happened again...... and again, and again, and again, and again........ and it is still happening. When will they ever learn, when will they ever, ever learn?
Liam had a voice like honey, the only other singer that equalled him is Luke, both were absolutely incomparable
@orphangun I'm darned if you're not right. Liam is.
@Stoopchow if you listen to outhers songs most will change a few things within the song, its the folk process
Actually, Bogle correctly recalled the grave marker. British Army Graves Registration has records of two "William McBrides" who were killed at The Somme, one was 26 and one was 19.
@golly22001 The song isn't written about Aussie war experience. Bogle wrote this song shortly after moving to Oz but he wrote it in Europe shortly after visiting one of the many military war graves there. It was about WWI in general. Waltzin Matilda was specifically about Aussie experience but this isn't
...so sad
Please listen to the song:
"The Great War The Writers"
Thanks.
A good rendition this but best I ever heard was from a female and have yet to find one as good
My apologise, it was posted by " LordDrakoArakis ". Thank you. And I do not know know these ladies but, I have never been so moved by any other version. I would just like your thoughts. And I don't mind being disagreed with.
The chorus sounds very similar to the Streets of Loredo chorus.
Good God. Maybe sometime Willy in some better world far from this one, you won't die at 19.
I would humbly state that, though there are many great versions of this song ( certainly Liam's is ), my favorite was done by a group of relatively unnknown young ladies called " The Merry Wives of Windsor " after Shakespeare's play. You can hear it on Utube. It was posted by LordDrakoArakins and he did anime pics to compliment the song. It is quite moving. But to me, the MWOW sing this better and with more emotion than anyone. I would appreciate your thoughts.
I agree with you on that.
The total number of casualties in World War I, both military and civilian, was about 37 million: 16 million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 6.8 million civilians.
Goodbye my old friend,i,ll see ya soon.from an old fart of an
Ulsterman,
SLAINTE
@yiddos1971
Everyone has their own favourite. Paddy was fantastic though. Great story teller.