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No Man's Land/Flowers of the Forest by June Tabor
No Man's Land/Flowers of the Forest
Tuning:E A D G B E
Capo:no capo
[Verse]
D G Em
Well, how do you do, Private William McBride
A G A
D'you mind if I sit here down by your graveside?
D G Em
And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun
A G D
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
Em G
And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
A G D A
When you joined the glorious fallen in Nineteen Sixteen
D Em
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
A G D
Or, William McBride, was it slow and obscene?
[Chorus]
A G D
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the pipes lowly?
Em A D
Did the rifles fire o'er thee as they lowered thee down?
G A
Did the bugles sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
G Em A D
Did the pipes play the 'Flowers of the Forest'?
[Verse]
G Em
And did thee leave wife or a sweetheart behind
A G A
In some loyal heart, is your memory enshrined?
D G Em
And, though you died back in Nineteen Sixteen
A G D
To that faithful heart, are you always nineteen?
Em G
Or are you just a stranger without even a name
A G D A
Forever enclosed behind some glass pane
D Em
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained
A G D
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?
[Chorus]
A G D
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the pipes lowly?
Em A D
Did the rifles fire o'er thee as they lowered thee down?
G A
Did the bugles sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
G Em A D
Did the pipes play the 'Flowers of the Forest'?
[Verse]
G Em
The sun is shining down on these green fields of France
A G A
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
D G Em
The trenches have vanished now under the plough
A G D
No gas and no barbed-wire, no guns firing now
Em G
But here in this graveyard it's still No Man's Land
A G A
And the countless white crosses, in mute witness stand
D Em
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
A G D
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned
[Chorus]
A G D
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the pipes lowly?
Em A D
Did the rifles fire o'er thee as they lowered thee down?
G A
Did the bugles sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
G Em A D
Did the pipes play the 'Flowers of the Forest'?
[Verse]
G Em
And I can't help but wonder now, Willie McBride
A G A
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
D G Em
Did you really believe them when they told you 'The Cause'?
A G D
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Em G
Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
A G D A
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain
D Em
For Willie McBride, it all happened again
A G D
And again, and again, and again, and again
[Chorus]
A G D
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the pipes lowly?
Em A D
Did the rifles fire o'er thee as they lowered thee down?
G A
Did the bugles sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
G Em A D
Did the pipes play the 'Flowers of the Forest'?
[Outro]
N.C.
Did the bugles sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
N.C.
Did the pipes play the 'Flowers of the Forest'?
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