The Dubliners - When Margaret Was Eleven lyrics

My father said farewell and the
Band played tunes of glory
A giant man with ribbons, bedeviled dignity
A regimental sergeant
The backbone of the Empire
For God and righteous glory
Bound for High Germany

Sweet Lord
I was just seven when Margaret was eleven
They served us war for breakfast
And soldiers' songs for tea
"Your father's gone campaigning" was a
Way of not explaining
That soldiers are the living
Proof of our inhumanity

My childhood passed away midst the
Tales and lurid stories
Of manufacturеd glories and inhuman gallantry
I asked, "When is war ovеr?"
But no one deemed to answer me
And Margaret played that dreaded
Tune called High Germany

Sweet Lord
I was just seven when Margaret was eleven
They served us war for breakfast
And soldiers' songs for tea
"Your father's gone campaigning" was a
Way of not explaining
That soldiers are the living
Proof of our inhumanity

My father made it home
But he came without his reason
Two eyes of molten madness
A senseless fool of war
"He's just a child, " my mother cried
"to be dressed in full regalia
And paraded as a hero home from High Germany"

Sweet Lord
I was just seven when Margaret was eleven
They served us war for breakfast
And soldiers' songs for tea
"Your father's gone campaigning" was a
Way of not explaining
That soldiers are the living
Proof of our inhumanity

There'll be no tunes of glory
For Margaret and me