No Man's Land (Eric Bogle song)

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"No Man's Land" (also known as "The Green Fields of France" or "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 chorus refers to two famous pieces of military music, "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 British ballad called "The Unfortunate Rake" and the Irish Ballad Lock Hospital. In 2009 Eric told an audience in Weymouth that he'd read about a girl who had been presented with a copy of the song by then prime minister Tony Blair, who called it "his favourite anti-war poem". According to Eric, the framed copy of the poem was credited to him, but stated that he had been killed in World War I.[1]

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[2]

Identity of Willie McBride

According to the song, the gravestone of the soldier, Willie McBride, says he was 19 years old 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 World War I but none matches 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 [Authuille Military Cemetery] but one was aged 21 and the age of the other is unknown. All three were from Irish regiments.[3]

Piet Chielens, coordinator of the In Flanders Fields 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 fewer than ten Privates William McBride.[citation needed] Three of these William McBrides fell in 1916; two were members of an 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 19-year-old Private William McBride is buried in the Authuille Military Cemetery, near Albert and Beaumont-Hamel, where the Inniskilling Fusilliers were deployed as part of the 29th Division.[3] The 19-year-old Private William McBride can be found at Grave A. 36, near the back of the Cemetery.

The truth may be simpler. "19" and "1916" are an easy rhyme so his real age and date of death may be different.

Cover versions and recordings

The song (as "The Green Fields of France") was a huge success for The Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur in the 1980s in Ireland and beyond. The melody and words vary somewhat from the Eric Bogle original with some of the Scots phrases replaced (e.g. Did the rifle fire o'er ye? is often replaced by Did they play the death march?). 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.[citation needed]

Film maker Pete Robertson[4] used the Dropkick Murphys version in his 2008 short film The Green Fields of France.[5][6]

Cover versions include:

  • Alex Beaton (1995), on the album The Water Is Wide
  • Angelic Upstarts (1986), on the album Power Of The Press
  • Asonance (2000), in a Czech version "Zelené francouzské pláně" ("The Green Fields of France"), on the album Alison Gross
  • Attila the Stockbroker (1987)
  • Bob Dylan
  • Bok, Muir & Trickett (1978)
  • Celtic Tenors (2002), on the album So Strong
  • Celtic Thunder (2009), as "The Green Fields of France", on the album Take Me Home
  • Charlie Zahm (1997), on the album Festival Favorites
  • Clare Bowditch, Tim Rogers and Gotye (2007)
  • Damh the Bard (2009), as "The Green Fields of France", on the album Tales from the Crow Man
  • Donovan (1980), on the album Neutronica
  • Dramtreeo (1992), as a duet on the album Dramtreeo[7]
  • Dropkick Murphys (2005), as "The Green Fields of France", on the album The Warrior's Code
  • Eric Fish, in the German version by Hannes Wader
  • Fist Of Steel, as "Green Fields Of France"
  • Hannes Wader (1980), in a German version "Es ist an der Zeit" (1980)[2]
  • Iain MacKintosh (1976), on the album Live in Glasgow
  • Jake Burns, on his album Drinkin' Again
  • John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew (2008), on the album Behind the Lines
  • June Tabor (1977), as 'No Mans Land', on the album Ashes and Diamonds and on Folk Anthology
  • Kevin McKrell (1989), as "Greenfields of France", on the album Bound For Boston
  • Liam Clancy
  • Moke (2011), on the album Till death do us part theatre tour
  • North Sea Gas (2010), on the album Spirit Of The Banished
  • Off Kilter (2005), on the album Kick It!
  • Peter, Paul and Mary (1990), as "No Man's Land", on the album Flowers and Stones
  • Plethyn in a Welsh translation: "Gwaed ar eu Dwylo" (Blood on their Hands)[8]
  • Priscilla Herdman (1982), on the album Forgotten Dreams
  • Prussian Blue (2005), as "Green Fields Of France", on the album The Path We Chose
  • Saga
  • Shilelagh Law, on the album Good Intentions
  • Skrewdriver (1988), as "Green Fields of France"
  • Sons of Maxwell (1996), as "The Green Fields of France"
  • Stage Bottles, as "Green Fields Of France"
  • Stiff Little Fingers
  • Stockton's Wing (1978), as "No Man's Land" on the album Stockton's Wing
  • The Chieftains
  • The Clancy Brothers
  • The Corries
  • The Fureys
  • The High Kings (2010) on the album "Memory Lane" as "Green Fields of France"
  • The Irish Tenors on "Ellis Island" as "The Green Fields of France"
  • The Men They Couldn't Hang (1984), as "The Green Fields of France"
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor (2007), on the album Tales from Windsor's Tavern, as "Green Fields of France"
  • Tommy Fleming
  • The Fenians (1999), on their album Band Of Rogues
  • Alaskan song writer 907Britt (2010), as "William McBride"[9]
  • Chris A Butler (English Singer/Songwriter) as "The Green Fields of France"[10]
  • Cobbers (Australian folk band), (1979) live on the album "Bushland Dreaming"
  • French singer Renaud (2009), in a French version "Willie McBride", on the album Molly Malone
  • Robert Marr (2011) as "No Man's Land", on the album "Celticism"
  • The Band, Bugles, Pipes & Drums of the Royal Irish Regiment (2001), as "Green Fields of France," on the album Last of the Great Whales
  • Swedish band Euskefeurat interestingly can be said to have made two covers, one borrowing the melody but changing the lyrics, the other borrowing the theme but changing the tune and most details. The song borrowing the tune, "Tankar på nattgammal is", instead focuses on a man suffering the pains from a short but hard life as a miner in northern Sweden. The other song, "Till Elias", borrow the theme of sitting by a grave thinking about the young man buried below, the young man in this song does not, however, have much in common with William McBride, having been born in 1919 in Sweden, having been named Elias and having died 1939 in his mother's arms from an unnamed fever rather than dying in the first world war.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Eric Bogle & John Munro - Green Fields of France". YouTube. 2009-08-30. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Cemetery Details". CWGC. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 
  4. ↑ "Pete Robertson". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 
  5. ↑ "The Green Fields of France". Foggydewproductions.com. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 
  6. ↑ "The Green Fields of France (2009)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 
  7. ↑ "The Official Dramtreeo Homepage". Southernbranch.com. 2001-01-03. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 
  8. ↑ "Music". Cor.cochion.tripod.com. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 
  9. ↑ "No Man's Land by Eric Bogle performed by 907Britt". YouTube. 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 
  10. ↑ "Chris A Butler Music, Lyrics, Songs, and Videos". Reverbnation.com. Retrieved 2013-10-13. 

External links

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