Keep the Home Fires Burning (1914 song)
"Keep the Home-Fires Burning"
('Till the Boys Come Home) |
Sheet music cover (1915 edition) |
| Music by |
Ivor Novello |
| Lyrics by |
Lena Guilbert Ford |
| Written |
1914 |
| Language |
English |
Keep the Home-Fires Burning ('Till the Boys Come Home) is a British patriotic First World War song composed in 1914 by Ivor Novello with words by Lena Gilbert Ford (whose middle name was sometimes printed as "Guilbert").
The song was published first as 'Till the Boys Come Home on October 8, 1914 by Ascherberg, Hopwood, and Crew Ltd. in London.[1] A new edition was printed in 1915 with the name Keep the Home-Fires Burning.[1] The song became very popular in the United Kingdom during the war, along with It's a Long Way to Tipperary.
James F. Harrison recorded Keep the Home-Fires Burning in 1915, as did Stanley Kirkby in 1916. Another popular recording was sung by tenor John McCormack in 1917, who was also the first to record It's a Long Way to Tipperary in 1914. (See External links below to hear these recordings of Keep the Home-Fires Burning.)
Lyrics
- They were summoned from the hillside,
- They were called in from the glen,
- And the country found them ready
- At the stirring call for men.
- Let no tears add to their hardships
- As the soldiers pass along,
- And although your heart is breaking,
- Make it sing this cheery song:
- Keep the Home Fires Burning,
- While your hearts are yearning.
- Though your lads are far away
- They dream of home.
- There's a silver lining
- Through the dark clouds shining,
- Turn the dark cloud inside out
- Till the boys come home.
- Overseas there came a pleading,
- "Help a nation in distress."
- And we gave our glorious laddies -
- Honour bade us do no less,
- For no gallant son of Britain
- To a tyrant's yoke shall bend,
- And no Englishman is silent
- To the sacred call of "Friend."
- Keep the Home Fires Burning,
- While your hearts are yearning.
- Though your lads are far away
- They dream of home.
- There's a silver lining
- Through the dark clouds shining,
- Turn the dark cloud inside out
- 'Til the boys come home.[2]
Cultural references
- In the 2002 film Gosford Park, the guests at a country house are entertained by Novello (played by Jeremy Northam), who performs the song on the piano
- The main chorus is sung by the cast of M*A*S*H in Episode 127 (Season 5) "War of Nerves" during a stress relief "bon-type-fire"
References
Bibliography
- Ford, Lena Guilbert (w.); Novello, Ivor (m.). "Keep the Home-Fires Burning ('Till the Boys Come Home)"(Sheet music). New York: Chappell & Co. Ltd. (1915).
External links