_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
G Wel, how
D do you do,
C Private
D William
Am McBride?.
D Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside?.
G And I'll rest for a
D while in
C the warm
D summer
Am sun.
D I've been walking all day, Lord,
C and I'm nearly
G.
done.
_ I _ see by your _
D gravestone
Am you were only _ nineteen.
D When you joined the glorious fallen in
G _
D _ 1916.
_
G Well, I hope you
D died quick and
A I hope
D you died
Am clean.
D Our William McBride was
C a slow
G and a sing.
D Did they beat the drums slowly?.
G Did they sound the final only?.
D Did the rifles fire o'er ye
C as they lowered
G you down?.
_ _ Did the
Gm eagles sing the
C last post
D in chorus?
_ _ .
_
G Did the pipes play the
C _ .
flures of
D the _
G forest?
_ _ .
And _ _
C _ _ _
D _ _ .
_
G _ _ _ _ _ _ .
did you leave a
D wife or a
C sweetheart
D _
Am behind?.
D In some faithful heart is your
G memory
D _ _ .
enshrined?.
G And though you died
D back
C in _ _
Am 1916,.
D To that loyal heart are you
C _
G always nineteen?.
_ _ Or _ are you a stranger without
A Am even a name?.
D For a barren shrine
G behind sunglass
D pane.
G In an old _ photograph
A turned and
Am tattered in stain?.
_
D And fading to yellow
C in a brown
G leather frame?.
D Did they beat the drums slowly?.
G Did they sound the final only?.
Did
D the rifles fire o'er ye as
C they lowered
G you _ down?.
_ Did
C the eagles
Em sing the last
D post in chorus?
_ .
_ Did the
G pipes play the
C _ .
flures
D of the _ _
G forest?.
Well, _ _ _
C _ _ _
D _ _ .
_
G _ _ _ _ _ _ .
the sun's shining now
D on these
C green
Bm fields
Am of grass,.
D The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance,.
G The trenches have vanished
C long
D under
Am the plough,.
D No gas and no barbed wire,
C no guns fighting
G.
now,.
_ But _ here in this graveyard
Am it's still
D no
Am man's land,.
D The countless white crosses in
G mute
D witness stand,.
G To man's blind _ indifference
Am to his fellow man,.
And
D the whole _ generation
C who were _
G butchered in damn?.
Did
D they beat the drums slowly?.
C Did they sound the
G final only?.
D Did the rifles fire o'er ye as
C they lowered you
G _ down?.
_ Did
C the eagles sing the last
G post in
D chorus?
_ .
_ Did
G the pipes play
C the flures
D of the _ _
G forest?.
And _ _ _
C _ _ _
D _ _ .
_
G _ _ _ _ _ _ .
I can't help but
Bm wonder, _
C nobly,
D Am but pride,.
_
D Do all those who lie
G here know why
D they died?.
G Did you really believe them when
C they told
G you
Am the cause?.
D Did you really _ believe that
C this war would end
G war?.
_
Em The _
G suffering, the sorrow, _
Am the glory, the shame,.
D The killing, the dying,
G it was all done
D in vain,.
G But will you not pray that it
A all
Am.
happened again?.
D And again and again and
C again
G and again,.
D Did they beat the drums slowly?.
C Did they sound
G the final only?.
Did
D the rifles fire o'er ye as
C they lowered
G you down?.
_ _ Did
C the eagles sing the last
D post in chorus?.
_ _ _
G Did the pipes play the
C _ flures of
D the _
G forest?
_ .
_ _ _
D Did the
C eagles sing the last post
D in chorus?
_ _ .
Did
G the pipes play
C the _ flures of the
D forest?.
_ _
G _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .