June Tabor - No Man's Land / Flowers of the Forest lyrics

Well, how do you do, Private William McBride?
Do you mind if I sit
Down here by your graveside?
And rest for awhile 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 glorious fallen in 1916
Well, I hope you died quick and
I hope you died clean
Or, Willam McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drum slowly?
Did they sound the pipe lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er you
As they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "The
Last Post" in 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 faithful heart are
You always nineteen?
Or are you just a stranger
Without even a name
Forever enclosed behind some glass pane
In an old photograph
Torn and tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in
A brown leather frame?

Did they beat the drum slowly?
Did they sound the pipe lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er you
As they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "The
Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play "The
Flowers of the Forest"?

Well, the sun it shines down on
These green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently and
The red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished now under the plow
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard it's
Still No Man's Land
And the countless white crosses
In mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation who
Were butchered and damned

4 and 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?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory
The shame the killing, the dying
It was all done in vain
For Willie McBride, it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Well how do you do, young Willie 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 Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene

Did they beat the drum slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the dead march
As they lowered you down
Did the bugles play the Last Post and chorus
Did the pipes play the
'Flooers o' the Forest'

And did you leave a wife
Or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is
Your memory enshrined although you died back
There in nineteen-sixteen
In that faithful heart are you ever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed and forgotten behind the glass frame
In a old photograph
Torn and battered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame

The sun now it shines on
The green fields of France
The warm summer breeze 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 no man's land
The countless white crosses stand
Mute in the sand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
To a whole generaation that
Were butchered and damned

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 sorrow, 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