[Intro]
Bm A E (x2)
[Verse 1]
Bm A
Well how do you do, young Willy McBride?
E Bm
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
Bm A
And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun
E Bm
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
Bm A
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
E Bm
When you joined the great fallen in nineteen-sixteen
Bm
I hope you died well
A
And I hope you died clean
E
Or young Willy McBride, what is it ?
[Chorus]
Bm
Did they beat the drums slowly?
A
Did they play the fife lowly?
E Bm
Did the rifles fire over as they lowered you down?
A
Did the bugles sound out the Last Post in chorus?
E Bm
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
[Interlude]
Bm A E [x2]
[Verse 2]
Bm A
Did you leave here a wife or a sweetheart behind?
E Bm
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined?
Bm A
Although you died back in nineteen-sixteen
E Bm
In that faithful heart, are you forever nineteen?
A
Or are you a stranger without even a name
E Bm
Enclosed then forever behind a glass pane
Bm A
In an old photograph torn, battered, and stained
E Bm
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame?
[Chorus]
Bm
Did they beat the drums slowly?
A
Did they play the fife lowly?
E Bm
Did the rifles fire over as they lowered you down?
A
Did the bugles sound out the Last Post in chorus?
E Bm
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
[Verse 3]
Bm A
The sun now shines o'er the green fields of France
E Bm
There's a warm summer breeze that makes the red poppies dance
A
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds
E Bm
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no gun firing now
A
But here in this graveyard it's still No Man's Land
E Bm
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
A
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
E
To a whole generation that were butchered and damned
[Chorus]
Bm
Did they beat the drums slowly?
A
Did they play the fife lowly?
E Bm
Did the rifles fire over as they lowered you down?
A
Did the bugles sound out the Last Post in chorus?
E Bm
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
[Verse 4]
Bm A
Now young Willy McBride, I can't help wonder, why?
E Bm
Do those that lie here know why they died?
Bm A
And did they believe when they answered the call?
E Bm
Did they really believe that this war would end wars?
Bm A
For the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the shame
E Bm
The killing and dying were all done in vain
Bm A
For young Willy McBride it all happened again
E
And again, and again, and again
[Chorus]
Bm
Did they beat the drums slowly?
A
Did they play the fife lowly?
E Bm
Did the rifles fire over as they lowered you down?
A
Did the bugles sound out the Last Post in chorus?
E Bm
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
[Chorus]
Bm
Did they beat the drums slowly?
A
Did they play the fife lowly?
E Bm
Did the rifles fire over as they lowered you down?
A
Did the bugles sound out the Last Post in chorus?
E Bm
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?