Eric wrote Green Fields of France in 1975. He returned in 2005 to revisit the grave of Willie McBride . Afterward , he wrote Hallowed Ground reflecting on those 30 years . Too few will have heard Hallowed Ground , yet it’s right up there confirming Eric’s status at the very top of singer / songwriters
Lovely. When I was in Hong Kong Eric came twice to the folks festival there and I had a few beers with him. Lovely man. I perform this song from time to time - still gigging at 76.
Good on you i still have a realtion somewhere near.Albert in France yet to be found and another on a Japanese prisoner of war ship sunk by the Ameticans at he is with 800 of his mates
Might be worth them also hearing the men they couldn't hang's version. It's quite special with the late great Stefan Cush's delivery with passion and heart
@@abcasurname1544 thankyou for that, i have just listened to it. Very powerful and moving rendition. I watched a video too, when the stage was invaded, but they just kept on singing. June Tabor’s version is beautiful too,
I was unaware that John had died this year, I saw both Eric and John in a gig, possibly the last gig they played in the UK , a few years ago now in the Fisher Theater in Bungay, a small market town in north Suffolk. Eric Bogles songs have been fore most in my thoughts every November ever since that concert. This song has brought tears to my eyes many times over the years.
And there is a German version, way more political, by Hannes Wader. He has taken up the Eric Boglen melody and bits of the text and the rough idea. I love that one, too !! Hannes Wader, great figure of the 1970s-1980s, listen : ruclips.net/video/ZgzxQzWi4yg/видео.html Peace to you and all of us !
Unfortuanetely it is so correct to sing this song about the first world war in connection with the war going on in Ukrain in 2022.. Specially one should note the words in the last verse: "And I can't help but wander, oh Willie McBride Do all those who lie here know why they die, Did you really believe them when they told you the cause, Did they really belive 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 happen again, and again, and again" !
This is one of the heaviest, most powerful songs I know. I love it, and I get touched every time I hear it. Damn you humanity. Damn you intolerance. Damn you ignorance. Damn you all to hell.
This is a wonderful rendition of a magnificent heart-felt anti-war song. I am appalled that this year 2014, the Royal British Legion has thought it fit to delete the pièce de résistance of the song in today's formal Remembrances of WWI. I don't really care what the excuse may be for the deletion: it is unconscionable. The war mongers want to use words like sacrifice when murder would be more appropriate. So here are the two last verses to this, the most poignant of ant-war songs: 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 oh Willy 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 and dying it was all done in vain Oh Willy 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
Veronica Denyer While I agree that this is a great song, you really should give the correct lyrics. Listen to how the author sings it (above) it does not go: "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"He has much better style than to say "play" three times in a row.
@@tomtheeagle1 Thank you for correcting weseld1. Veronica Denyer had it absolutely right. And thank you, Miss Denyer, for "fleshing out" the lyrics as to convey the true message of Mr. Bogles beautiful tribute.
I remember this performance because I couldn't get there. The thought 'bugger!' comes to my mind because although this song is an anti-war lament this particular rendering is totally off the scale. Bloody wonderful! Regards The Glastonbury Ferryman
My paternal grandfather was one, he was part of the cannon fodder that was sent to The Somme. While he survived, he was a broken man ever after. Almost nightly he would wake in a cold sweat, his eyes hollowed in a primal fear as he would scream "Get under, lads, get under!". This would be a cry to his comrades to dive back into the trenches for an imminent gas attack. For something to leave such an indelible stain in the heart of a survivor, let alone to cause gruesome agonising muddy deaths and maiming so far from home, I cannot ever consider this justifiable or humane. To those who fought and died, plus those who returned, they should rightly be considered Noble dignified heroes. For those that sent them to the trenches however, my sentiments are as dark, rank and horrific as the trenches they filled with the dead.
Yes, and many upper class and public schoolboys. Read 'Goodbye to all that' by Robert Graves. Of 10 young officers who started, he was the only one ot survive.
I’m in my seventies now and can remember my great uncles and men who fought in the Great War. One of my uncles was gassed in the trenches and rarely spoke. He lived his life alone in an old Airstream trailer just sitting silently listening to an old radio drinking whiskey. This is one of the tragedies of modern war. The bastards who start the wars don’t give a shite about the ones they send to fight them and even less for the ones who return. Just look at how we treat the ones who fought in Vietnam, the Gulf Wars and the ones who were murdered as we pulled out of Kabul. Biden and the JCOS couldn’t care less about them and will never be brought to justice for the blood on their hands.
Worth hearing the Men They Couldn't Hang's version. It's quite special with the late, great Stefan Cush's delivery with passion and heart and appropriate anger. Very moving
“If any question why we died, / Tell them, because our fathers lied.” from Kipling’s Epitaphs of the War and he would know, Kipling worked with the English government to write pro-WWI propaganda, he pulled strings to get his very near sited son into the army, 6 weeks after landing in France John Kipling was killed in his first action aged 18 years and 6 weeks last seen screaming in the mud with his face mostly blown off by an exploding shell.
It is a song revealing the insanity of all wars. As an Irish American I grieve over our horrendous Civil War, the two World Wars, Korea, given my age, that terrible experience of Vietnam, and still it goes on in Afghanistan, and perhaps the worst of all the fraud of the war in Iraq. But the grief and sadness apply to all wars of all countries. Still, I hated beyond words, the War in Vietnam. VRF
I prefer the title, the Green Fields of France, no man's land sounds soo forlorn, hopeless, although, that is where they died, the green fields sounds more dignified and honorable...
Too many make too much money off WAR for to ever stop. I remember motor boating on the Mekong. The things you need to forget you never can. No, Willy, they didn't stop. They will never stop.
General Smedley Butler US marines wrote in 1935 : “In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War….How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle?….The general public shoulders the bill.… Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds…. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.”
In 2016, I walked along the Shankill Road, Belfast. Willie McBride was Northern Irish. I'm not. A cousin, roots firmly planted in the South Australian bush and outback, brought Bogle to my attention "This bloke, a Scot, tells us more about ourselves than any Australian"
Look at history dickhead generals who never saw the front line,sent thousands to slaughter,I lost an uncle I never got to know due to the incompetent idiots.
Eric wrote Green Fields of France in 1975. He returned in 2005 to revisit the grave of Willie McBride . Afterward , he wrote Hallowed Ground reflecting on those 30 years . Too few will have heard Hallowed Ground , yet it’s right up there confirming Eric’s status at the very top of singer / songwriters
Lovely. When I was in Hong Kong Eric came twice to the folks festival there and I had a few beers with him. Lovely man. I perform this song from time to time - still gigging at 76.
The only artist that personally replied to my text/question
October 21st 2024 who's listening 🎧. This puts a lump in my throat it's beautifully sad I've grown up to this love from Scotland
After 85 years we finally found our Uncle Sam Young's grave in Belgium ....this song means so much to our family
Good on you i still have a realtion somewhere near.Albert in France yet to be found and another on a Japanese prisoner of war ship sunk by the Ameticans at he is with 800 of his mates
@@henrycompton613 ❤
Great words and music.I saw Eric and John when they came to NZ many years ago.
Most beautiful anti war song ever… I taught it to all of my classes and hope they never forget it…
Might be worth them also hearing the men they couldn't hang's version.
It's quite special with the late great Stefan Cush's delivery with passion and heart
@@abcasurname1544 thankyou for that, i have just listened to it. Very powerful and moving rendition. I watched a video too, when the stage was invaded, but they just kept on singing. June Tabor’s version is beautiful too,
I had no idea we'd lost John, I saw him and Eric some years ago and their harmonies were beautiful, Rest in Peace John Campbell Munro...
Eric Bogle , this video trained me. Lovely and a classic !
How does this gem have 50 thousand views? Should be 50 million.
Sadly John Munro has passed away on Monday 7th May 2018. A great loss, he and Eric Bogle go back for many years.
Was not aware about John, he was brilliant.
I was unaware that John had died this year, I saw both Eric and John in a gig, possibly the last gig they played in the UK , a few years ago now in the Fisher Theater in Bungay, a small market town in north Suffolk. Eric Bogles songs have been fore most in my thoughts every November ever since that concert. This song has brought tears to my eyes many times over the years.
John Munro , such a loss
Aw, so sad to hear hat John has passed away.
Shocked and stunned.
I cry every time I play or hear this song . . . thank you, Eric.
Greatest anti war song ever written- simple, but devastating
I ain't gonna argue that, but also look at John Schuman's '19' and Eric Bogle's 'The band played Waltzing matilda'. Lest we forget.
=
Eric Bogle's "All the Fine Young Men" is another great one.
Bogle had a trilogy of fine anti war songs - this one, the band played waltzing matilda and all the fine young men
And there is a German version, way more political, by Hannes Wader. He has taken up the Eric Boglen melody and bits of the text and the rough idea. I love that one, too !! Hannes Wader, great figure of the 1970s-1980s, listen : ruclips.net/video/ZgzxQzWi4yg/видео.html
Peace to you and all of us !
I've managed to get to 30 years old and not heard this song ,my dad and uncle played it on Saturday night and I nearly cried . Amazing .
D Day anniversary 2024. I come back (again) to listen to Eric and John & reflect.
Saddest and most beautiful song ever ❤️
Unfortuanetely it is so correct to sing this song about the first world war in connection with the war going on in Ukrain in 2022.. Specially one should note the words in the last verse: "And I can't help but wander, oh Willie McBride Do all those who lie here know why they die, Did you really believe them when they told you the cause, Did they really belive 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 happen again, and again, and again" !
This is one of the heaviest, most powerful songs I know. I love it, and I get touched every time I hear it. Damn you humanity. Damn you intolerance. Damn you ignorance. Damn you all to hell.
what about . DAMN YOUR EYES ?. all is micky mouse mac. never forget that.
Absolutely beautiful and very well done!!!❤️❤️✝️✝️👍👍👍👏👏🌹🌹🌹🇱🇷🇱🇷💕💕💓💗
This is a wonderful rendition of a magnificent heart-felt anti-war song. I am appalled that this year 2014, the Royal British Legion has thought it fit to delete the pièce de résistance of the song in today's formal Remembrances of WWI.
I don't really care what the excuse may be for the deletion: it is unconscionable. The war mongers want to use words like sacrifice when murder would be more appropriate. So here are the two last verses to this, the most poignant of ant-war songs:
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 oh Willy 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 and dying it was all done in vain
Oh Willy 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
Veronica Denyer While I agree that this is a great song, you really should give the correct lyrics. Listen to how the author sings it (above) it does not go: "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"He has much better style than to say "play" three times in a row.
+weseld. Try listening to the original recording then you should come back and apologise.
@@tomtheeagle1 Thank you for correcting weseld1. Veronica Denyer had it absolutely right. And thank you, Miss Denyer, for "fleshing out" the lyrics as to convey the true message of Mr. Bogles beautiful tribute.
P0
@@seaskimmer9071 I think we get da picture. Sad but true song. What about the defenceless children in da womb. Now why did they die???
Don't know which I love more, his song or his story !
This gets me every time I hear it.
Beautiful recording SO much. Enjoyed ❤️❤️
Still have my vinyl copy of 'Now I'm Easy'...
and he wrote 'The band played Waltzing Matilda' as well (another anti-war classic)
You f ing legend Eric
I remember this performance because I couldn't get there. The thought 'bugger!' comes to my mind because although this song is an anti-war lament this particular rendering is totally off the scale. Bloody wonderful!
Regards
The Glastonbury Ferryman
Carry on eric..you r needed..RIP John..come to America next st Pat day
Unfortunately, only the dead know the end of war.
sums it up working class sent to die RIP all u brave men
My paternal grandfather was one, he was part of the cannon fodder that was sent to The Somme. While he survived, he was a broken man ever after. Almost nightly he would wake in a cold sweat, his eyes hollowed in a primal fear as he would scream "Get under, lads, get under!". This would be a cry to his comrades to dive back into the trenches for an imminent gas attack.
For something to leave such an indelible stain in the heart of a survivor, let alone to cause gruesome agonising muddy deaths and maiming so far from home, I cannot ever consider this justifiable or humane. To those who fought and died, plus those who returned, they should rightly be considered Noble dignified heroes. For those that sent them to the trenches however, my sentiments are as dark, rank and horrific as the trenches they filled with the dead.
Aw this made me weep buckets 😭😭 Our young men sent off to war like.cannon fodder. Sadly many never to return. 😭😭
That great saying LIONS LEAD BY DONKEY'S
Yes, and many upper class and public schoolboys. Read 'Goodbye to all that' by Robert Graves. Of 10 young officers who started, he was the only one ot survive.
Was at a recital at Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, when Bogle performed this.
Sincerely brilliant
I’m in my seventies now and can remember my great uncles and men who fought in the Great War. One of my uncles was gassed in the trenches and rarely spoke. He lived his life alone in an old Airstream trailer just sitting silently listening to an old radio drinking whiskey. This is one of the tragedies of modern war. The bastards who start the wars don’t give a shite about the ones they send to fight them and even less for the ones who return. Just look at how we treat the ones who fought in Vietnam, the Gulf Wars and the ones who were murdered as we pulled out of Kabul. Biden and the JCOS couldn’t care less about them and will never be brought to justice for the blood on their hands.
magic, brilliant!!!
Níl ach an marbh feicthe ag deireadh an chogaidh.
Mar sin féin, guth iontach.
Translation ? Only the dead have been seen at the end of the war. However, a great voice.
Greatest anti war song along with the German version (Es ist an der Zeit) and the Welsh version (Mae Gwaed ar eu Dwylo).
Lovely version by the man himself. A million times better than the version promoted by the British Legion this year.
Robbin - I take it you mean the British Legion version was a travesty? I posted this last year. Is the BL version doing the rounds again?
***** He does. I had to learn it last year as part of an event. Long time since I've had to learn a new song and it took a while - lots of verses!
I can only repeat my comment that Eric Bogle is a genius songwriter and performer.He has no peers.
Great version, only can be sung by Eric
For Willie McBride it all happened again.And again and again and again.Sigh
Can't beat the original.
This is a monumental anti war song . Very moving . Along with waltzing Matilda just monumental
Wonderful
Wonderful!!...Tony in Normandie,
strumming along on uke
John Munro ... RIP
Most impressing anti war song i ever heard.....
Worth hearing the Men They Couldn't Hang's version.
It's quite special with the late, great Stefan Cush's delivery with passion and heart and appropriate anger.
Very moving
“If any question why we died, / Tell them, because our fathers lied.” from Kipling’s Epitaphs of the War and he would know, Kipling worked with the English government to write pro-WWI propaganda, he pulled strings to get his very near sited son into the army, 6 weeks after landing in France John Kipling was killed in his first action aged 18 years and 6 weeks last seen screaming in the mud with his face mostly blown off by an exploding shell.
Truth Seaker There’s me thinking it’s the British government.Right enough I wish it was the English government,if you know what I mean.
Kipling is also responsible for epitaph known unto God
Oh the futility of war!
I hear you, brother.
It is a song revealing the insanity of all wars. As an Irish American I grieve over our horrendous Civil War, the two World Wars, Korea, given my age, that terrible experience of Vietnam, and still it goes on in Afghanistan, and perhaps the worst of all the fraud of the war in Iraq. But the grief and sadness apply to all wars of all countries. Still, I hated beyond words, the War in Vietnam. VRF
The Times reknowned for its accurate reporting.
What a geat evening i a great venue
I prefer the title, the Green Fields of France, no man's land sounds soo forlorn, hopeless, although, that is where they died, the green fields sounds more dignified and honorable...
Gone yer sel boys like yer flag and love yer song Eric I bet your nick name was tattie Am a right
Too many make too much money off WAR for to ever stop. I remember motor boating on the Mekong. The things you need to forget you never can. No, Willy, they didn't stop. They will never stop.
General Smedley Butler US marines wrote in 1935 : “In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War….How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle?….The general public shoulders the bill.… Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds…. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.”
absolut aktuell!
I paid my respects at many a 'Willie McBride's ' grave. #wewilltememberthem
In 2016, I walked along the Shankill Road, Belfast. Willie McBride was Northern Irish. I'm not. A cousin, roots firmly planted in the South Australian bush and outback, brought Bogle to my attention "This bloke, a Scot, tells us more about ourselves than any Australian"
I'd love to hear that played on a 12 string...
Great idea!
The second greatest is Australia's unofficial anthem: Dancing Mathilf
Still eating the bull? Beautiful song, I love it but it's for those that are unaware
Phew.
That old lie, Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori. (Owen).
I agree. That's outrageous.
Brendan chilloot ffs.
:
dude anti war, your right but the germans had a say in peace
Lol
0
2:19 black humor, not very funny
No black humour there,it is a tribute to those who lost their lives in the slaughter that was the Great war.
Look at history dickhead generals who never saw the front line,sent thousands to slaughter,I lost an uncle I never got to know due to the incompetent idiots.
Total Shite…
No need to be so hard on yourself!!
@@johncampbell2979 😂😂😂Well said.
Most beautiful anti war song ever…I taught it to my classes and hope they never forget it…