alternative Green Fields of France lyrics ?

growler

I killarney a few weeks back we had a bit of a session in the Lakes hotel, one of the lads sang a version of the Green Fields of France which turned the whole song on its head , was written from the point of view of Willy McBride correcting errors in the original song and was very funny.. chorus of ...

"they didn't beat the drums slowly,
they didn't play the pipes lowly,
they didn't sound the death march as they lowered me down,
and the coffin was plywood and porous and the band played football near the forest "

etc.

while it might offend some traditionalists it was very funny indeed (after a few pints) and I'd love to find these lyrics if I could, nothing on google that I can find.

Anyone heard it or know where / who it may have come from ?

thanks
Dave

spurious

From:http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6024

"Willie MacBride's Answer To Finbar Furey"

Well, hello Finbar Furey, this is Willie MacBride
I can see you as you sit there down by my graveside
And I loved your song about me, sure it made me sound great
But there's one or two things that I'd like to put straight
I was 40 not 19 as you sang in your song
You subtracted the years on my gravestone all wrong
And the way that I died it was foul & obscene
You see I choked on a chicken bone in the Army canteen


CHORUS: They didn't beat the drum slowly, they didn't play the fifes lowly
Didn't sound the Dead March as they lowered me down
And me coffin was plywood & porous
And the band was having a picnic in the forest


Yes, I left both a wife & a sweetheart behind
When the wife she found out, well she near lost her mind
Though I gave her of my best, I never treated her cheap
But in her faithful heart I'll be forever a creep
Ah, but now I'm a hero & your song was so kind
I'm big, strong & handsome in everyone's mind
But I scrawny & knock-kneed, I'd frighten the crows
I'd a cauliflower ear & a wart on me nose
CHORUS
Well, now , Finbar Furey, I can't help wondering why
You sit talking to gravestone with a tear in your eye
And sure, look at you now, you've had such an attack
I bet this is the first grave that's answered you back
You're as white as a sheet & you're shaking & sick
Do you know something Finbar, you're as thick as a brick
This is not the voice of a spirit long lost, it's your ol brother Eddie
I'm behind a white cross
CHORUS

growler

thanks a million!! that's the one!

Frank Woods

Hi,
I've hears a funny/alternative version of this song sung, where the lyrics are slagging the length of the song, something along the lines of someone falling asleep and waking up and the singer is still singing.

Its to the air of the Green Fields of France and acutally starts off the same as far as I can remember.

Does anyone know where I could get these lyrics ?

The Scientician

There's also a more solemn Reply lyric.

WILLIE MCBRIDE'S REPLY

Lyrics: Stephen L. Suffet, This is the reply that Willie McBride gives to Eric Bogle. The song is set to the same tune as The Green Fields Of France , and what a great tribute it is to Eric's song . I wonder has this reply to a song been done this way before ?


My dear friend Eric, this is Willie McBride,
Today I speak to you across the divide,
Of years and of distance of life and of death,
Please let me speak freely with my silent breath.

You might think me crazy, you might think me daft,
I could have stayed back in Erin, where there wasn't a draft,
But my parents they raised me to tell right from wrong,
So today I shall answer what you asked in your song.

Yes, they beat the drum slowly, they played the pipes lowly,
And the rifles fired o'er me as they lowered me down,
The band played "The Last Post" in chorus,
And the pipes played "The Flowers of the Forest."

Ask the people of Belgium or Alsace-Lorraine,
If my life was wasted, if I died in vain.
I think they will tell you when all's said and done,
They welcomed this boy with his tin hat and gun.

And call it ironic that I was cut down,
While in Dublin my kinfolk were fighting the Crown.
But in Dublin or Flanders the cause was the same:
To resist the oppressor, whatever his name.

Yes, they beat the drum slowly...,,,.

It wasn't for King or for England I died,
It wasn't for glory or the Empire's pride.
The reason I went was both simple and clear:
To stand up for freedom did I volunteer.

It's easy for you to look back and sigh,
And pity the youth of those days long gone by,
For us who were there, we knew why we died,
And I'd do it again, says Willie McBride.

From: http://martindardis.com/id169.html

ETA: Didn't realise this was a zombie thread sorry.