No Man's Land (Eric Bogle song)

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The grave of a "Willie McBride", died 1916.
The grave of a "Willie McBride", died 1916.

"No Man's Land" (also known as "The Green Fields of France" and "Willie McBride") is a song written in 1976 by Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle, reflecting on the grave of a young man who died in World War I. Its haunting chorus refers to two famous war songs, "The Last Post" and "The Flowers of the Forest". Its melody, its refrain ("did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly"), and elements of its subject matter (a young man cut down in his prime) are similar to those of "Streets of Laredo", a North American cowboy ballad whose origins can be traced back to an 18th century Irish/British ballad called "The Unfortunate Rake".

It's a song that was written about the military cemeteries in Flanders and Northern France. In 1976, my wife and I went to three or four of these military cemeteries and saw all the young soldiers buried there.

—Eric Bogle[1]

Contents

[edit] Who was "Willie McBride?"

According to the song, the gravestone of the soldier, Willie McBride, says he was 19 years of age when he died in 1916. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, there were eight soldiers named "William McBride", and a further six listed as "W. McBride", who died in France or Belgium during the First World War but none match the soldier in the song. Two "William McBrides" and one "W. McBride" died in 1916 but one is commemorated in the Thiepval Memorial and has no gravestone. The other two are buried in the Authuile Military Cemetery but one was aged 21 and the age of the other is unknown. All three were from Irish regiments.[2]

Piet Chielens, coordinator of the In Flanders Fields War Museum in Ypres, Belgium, and organizer of yearly peace concerts in Flanders, once checked all 1,700,000 names that are registered with the Commonwealth War Commission. He found no less than ten Privates William McBride.[citation needed]

Three of these William McBrides fell in 1916, two were members of the Northern Irish Regiment, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and died more or less in the same spot during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. One was 21, the other 19 years old. "The law of the greatest numbers does beat even the most poetical license", Chielens remarks.[citation needed]

The 19 years old Pvt. William McBride is buried in Authuille British Cemetery, near Albert and Beaumont-Hamel, where the Inniskilling Fusilliers were deployed as part of the 29th Division.[2]

[edit] Popular Recordings

The song (as "The Green Fields of France"), was a huge success for The Fureys and Davey Arthur in the 1980s in Ireland and beyond. The melody and words vary somewhat from the Eric Bogle original. It was also recorded by Dropkick Murphys who changed the lyrics only slightly. Eric Bogle has repeatedly stated that his own favourite recording of the song is by John McDermott.

[edit] Other Covers

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

Lyrics guitar chords and video to 'The Green Fields Od France' http://unitedireland.tripod.com/id169.html

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b No Man's Land (The Green Fields of France)
  2. ^ a b Commonwealth War Graves Commission website