David Roe: The Music

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I have sung this ballad regarding the futility of war a thousand times, but it takes on new meaning now. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Regina Marie- Queen Mother of us all- Mary- would give this song of peace to an Irish American DA when he needed the words that would express our sorrow. When I was 18 and she was 19, she taught me so much, and now I’m 47 and she’s still 19 and still trying to get through to me that tolerance, an open mind, and a loving heart will triumph over all. The songs on F.O.R. are not for sale. Feel free to copy and distribute it any way you want. But, when you give or receive a copy, please make a donation to the NY State Troopers Foundation WWW.NYSTROOPERSFOUNDATION.ORG in Reggie’s memory.

Well, how do you do, young Willie McBride, Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?
And rest for a while in the warm summer sun, I've been working all day, and I'm nearly done.
I see by your gravestone you were only 19 When you joined the brave fallen in 1916,
Well, 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 the play the pipes lowly?
Did they sound the Death March as they lowered you down?
Did the band play 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 forever 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name, Enclosed and forgotten behind a glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered 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.
Look how the sun shines from under the clouds. There’s no gas and 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. And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.
Now Willie McBride, I can't help but wonder why, Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did they really believe them when they answered the call? Did they really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the pain, The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For young Willie McBride, it all happened again, And again, and again, and again, and again.