![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Veteran's / Armistice Day Reminiscing
Two songs that I have swimming in my head. Gratuitous lyric / video sharing:
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 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fir o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sound 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 loyal heart are you forever 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?
The sun's 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 and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
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.
And I can't help but wonder, no 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.
There are lots of youtube clips of this if you want, and the popular Dropkick Murphy's version, but for me it's best a capella - and I have an mp3 of one of my high school friends signing it that does it justice. (but I'm too lazy too upload unless someone asks for it)
Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino
The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino
Czy widzisz te gruzy na szczycie? Do you see those ruins on the top?
Tam wróg twój się kryje jak szczur! There your foe hides like a rat!
Musicie, musicie, musicie! You must, you must, you must!
Za kark wziąć i strącić go z chmur! Grab his neck and cast him from the clouds!
I poszli szaleni, zażarci, And they went, mad, heedless,
I poszli zabijać i mścić, And they went, to kill and avenge,
I poszli jak zawsze uparci, And they went stubborn as ever,
Jak zawsze za honor się bić. As always - for honour - to fight.
Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino Red poppies on Monte Cassino
Zamiast rosy piły polską krew... Instead of dew, drank Polish blood...
Po tych makach szedł żołnierz i ginął, On them, the soldier went and died,
Lecz od śmierci silniejszy był gniew! But the anger was more potent than death!
Przejdą lata i wieki przeminą, Years will pass and ages will roll,
Pozostaną ślady dawnych dni!.. Traces of bygone days will stay,
I tylko maki na Monte Cassino Only the poppies on Monte Cassino
Czerwieńsze będą, bo z polskiej wzrosną krwi. Will be redder having quaffed Polish blood.
Runęli przez ogień, straceńcy! They charged through fire, convicts,
Niejeden z nich dostał i padł... Countless were hit and fell,
Jak ci z Samosierry szaleńcy, Like the cavalry at Samosierra,
Runęli impetem szalonym They charged with furious momentum
Jak ci spod Rokitny, sprzed lat. Like those at Rokitno years ago.
I doszli. I udał się szturm. And they got there. And they won.
I sztandar swój biało-czerwony And their white and scarlet standard
Zatknęli na gruzach wśród chmur. They placed on the ruins `midst clouds.
Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino... Red poppies on Monte Cassino...
Czy widzisz ten rząd białych krzyży? Do you see this row of white crosses?
To Polak z honorem brał ślub. Polish soldiers did honour there wed.
Idź naprzód - im dalej, im wyżej, Go forward - the further, the higher,
Tym więcej ich znajdziesz u stóp. The more you'll find at your feet.
Ta ziemia do Polski należy, This soil belongs to Poland,
Choć Polska daleko jest stąd, Though Poland is far away,
Bo wolność krzyżami się mierzy - For Freedom is measured in crosses
Historia ten jeden ma błąd. History has this one fault.
Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino... Red poppies on Monte Cassino...
Ćwierc wieku, koledzy, za nami, Quarter of a century, colleagues, behind us,
Bitewny ulotnił się pył The dust from the battle is gone
I klasztor białymi murami And the white walls of the monastery
Na nowo do nieba się wzbił... Again reach to the sky...
Lecz pamięć tych nocy upiornych But memory of those terrible nights
I krwi, co przelała się tu - And blood which was spilled here -
Odzywa sie w dzwonach klasztornych, Echoes in the monastery's bells
Grających poległym do snu...! Putting the fallen to rest...!
Ironically, the Russian Red Army did a very nice rendition of it:
And in contrast, there's the 1940s crooner version:
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 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fir o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sound 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 loyal heart are you forever 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?
The sun's 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 and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
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.
And I can't help but wonder, no 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.
There are lots of youtube clips of this if you want, and the popular Dropkick Murphy's version, but for me it's best a capella - and I have an mp3 of one of my high school friends signing it that does it justice. (but I'm too lazy too upload unless someone asks for it)
The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino
Czy widzisz te gruzy na szczycie? Do you see those ruins on the top?
Tam wróg twój się kryje jak szczur! There your foe hides like a rat!
Musicie, musicie, musicie! You must, you must, you must!
Za kark wziąć i strącić go z chmur! Grab his neck and cast him from the clouds!
I poszli szaleni, zażarci, And they went, mad, heedless,
I poszli zabijać i mścić, And they went, to kill and avenge,
I poszli jak zawsze uparci, And they went stubborn as ever,
Jak zawsze za honor się bić. As always - for honour - to fight.
Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino Red poppies on Monte Cassino
Zamiast rosy piły polską krew... Instead of dew, drank Polish blood...
Po tych makach szedł żołnierz i ginął, On them, the soldier went and died,
Lecz od śmierci silniejszy był gniew! But the anger was more potent than death!
Przejdą lata i wieki przeminą, Years will pass and ages will roll,
Pozostaną ślady dawnych dni!.. Traces of bygone days will stay,
I tylko maki na Monte Cassino Only the poppies on Monte Cassino
Czerwieńsze będą, bo z polskiej wzrosną krwi. Will be redder having quaffed Polish blood.
Runęli przez ogień, straceńcy! They charged through fire, convicts,
Niejeden z nich dostał i padł... Countless were hit and fell,
Jak ci z Samosierry szaleńcy, Like the cavalry at Samosierra,
Runęli impetem szalonym They charged with furious momentum
Jak ci spod Rokitny, sprzed lat. Like those at Rokitno years ago.
I doszli. I udał się szturm. And they got there. And they won.
I sztandar swój biało-czerwony And their white and scarlet standard
Zatknęli na gruzach wśród chmur. They placed on the ruins `midst clouds.
Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino... Red poppies on Monte Cassino...
Czy widzisz ten rząd białych krzyży? Do you see this row of white crosses?
To Polak z honorem brał ślub. Polish soldiers did honour there wed.
Idź naprzód - im dalej, im wyżej, Go forward - the further, the higher,
Tym więcej ich znajdziesz u stóp. The more you'll find at your feet.
Ta ziemia do Polski należy, This soil belongs to Poland,
Choć Polska daleko jest stąd, Though Poland is far away,
Bo wolność krzyżami się mierzy - For Freedom is measured in crosses
Historia ten jeden ma błąd. History has this one fault.
Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino... Red poppies on Monte Cassino...
Ćwierc wieku, koledzy, za nami, Quarter of a century, colleagues, behind us,
Bitewny ulotnił się pył The dust from the battle is gone
I klasztor białymi murami And the white walls of the monastery
Na nowo do nieba się wzbił... Again reach to the sky...
Lecz pamięć tych nocy upiornych But memory of those terrible nights
I krwi, co przelała się tu - And blood which was spilled here -
Odzywa sie w dzwonach klasztornych, Echoes in the monastery's bells
Grających poległym do snu...! Putting the fallen to rest...!
Ironically, the Russian Red Army did a very nice rendition of it:
And in contrast, there's the 1940s crooner version: