Songs That Tell Stories

Is it possibly...a CHILD ballad?

Sheesh, I hope not!

sorry, a CHILD ballad, collected by Child
a musicologist.

Got that emoticon from Craven
He uses it when he's being patient and patronizing....LOL

It could very well be a Child ballad panzade, but I'm out of practice with that collection. I was yankin' yer chain there...I knew who you were talking about!

one good thing Cav...every time you yank my chain, a light goes on.

"little boy soldiers" is a great song

Four Green Fields by Tommy Makem

What did I have, said the fine old woman
What did I have, this proud old woman did say
I had four green fields, each one was a jewel
But strangers came and tried to take them from me
I had fine strong sons, they fought to save my jewels
They fought and died, and that was my grief said she

Long time ago, said the fine old woman
Long time ago, this proud old woman did say
There was war and death, plundering and pillage
My children died, by mountain, valley and sea
And their wailing cries, they shook the very heavens
My four green fields, ran red with their blood, said she.

What have I now, said the fine old woman
What have I now, this proud old woman did say
I have four green fields, one of them's in bondage
In strangers hands, that tried to take it from me
But my sons have sons, as brave as were there fathers
My fourth green field, will bloom once again said she.

Willie McBride by Eric Bogle

Well how do you do Private William McBride,
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside?
And rest for awhile beneath the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day and now I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916;
Well I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean,
Or, young Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Refrain:
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly?
Did they sound the Death March
As they lowered you down?
Did the band play
"The Last Post And Chorus?"
Did the pipes play
"The Flowers Of The Forest?"

Did you leave 'ere a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined?
And although you died back in 1916,
In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Enclosed forever behind a glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn, and battered and stained,
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame?
Refrain:

Ah the sun now it shines on these green fields of France,
The warm summer breeze makes the red poppies dance,
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds;
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there're no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard is still No Man's Land,
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man,
To a whole generation that was butchered and damned.
Refrain:

Ah, young Willie McBride, I can't help wonder why,
Did all those who lay here really know why they died?
And did they believe when they answered the call,
Did they really believe that this war would end war?
For the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain,
The killing and dying were all done in vain,
For, young Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again and again and again and again.
Refrain:

Farewell to Tarwathie

Farewell to Tarwathie
Adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimmond
I bid you farewell
I'm bound off for Greenland
And ready to sail
In hopes to find riches
In hunting the whale

Farewell to my comrades
For a while we must part
And likewise the dear lass
Who first won my heart
The cold coast of Greenland
My love will not chill
And the longer my absence
More loving she'll feel

Our ship is well rigged
And she's ready to sail
The crew they are anxious
To follow the whale
Where the icebergs do float
And the stormy winds blow
Where the land and the ocean
Is covered with snow

The cold coast of Greenland
Is barren and bare
No see time nor harvest
Is ever known there
And the birds here sing sweetly
In mountain and dale
But there's no bird in Greenland
To sing to the whale

There is no habitation
For a man to live there
And the king of that country
Is the fierce Greenland bear
And there'll be no temptation
To tarry long there
With our ship under full
We will homeward repair

Farewell to Tarwathie
Adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimmond
I bid you farewell
I'm bound off for Greenland
And ready to sail
In hopes to find riches
In hunting the whale

Wildflower Records
.JUDYCOLLINS

Cav, Edgar, I think young dj is finding his niche in these here parts. What a moving soliloquy against the utter waste of military madness. And if you all will tolerate my ramblings for a moment, I want to draw your attention to a couple of things:

1. Would everyone please read Titus's posting:"Like Tennysons Doomed Charge Of The Light Brigade"?

2. Even though dj's posting concerns an Irish WWI soldier at rest in his grave, my thoughts turn to the contributions Canada has made in the past two world wars. In the United States we hear a lot about American sacrifices and not a lot about the lives sacrificed by our brave brothers in the far white north. The Canadian forces fought and died for 5 long and grueling years. They fought with valor. They fought with blind devotion. They fought with a tenacity on D Day at Caen that shook the might of the SS forces arrayed before them.My brother-in-law lost two uncles. They lie within a mile of each other in a Belgian field. Both pilots. And their names live on for each one has a lake named after them in Canada. It is my fondest dream to one day visit their grave sites and pay my respects.

Nowhere Man

Recorded on October 21 and 22, 1965, this song by Lennon is distinctive because it was the first Beatles' song not to be about love. It was written as John's desperation of feeling like the "Nowhere Man." One day after writing songs for five solid hours, he feared he could not complete another song for this album. It describes John's deficiency in his belief in himself to finish songs.

He's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Doesn't have a point of view, knows not where he's going to
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen, you don't know what you're missing
Nowhere man, the world is at your command
He's as blind as he can be, just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can you see me at all
Nowhere man don't worry, take your time, don't hurry
Leave it all, till somebody else, lends you a hand
Ah, la, la, la, la
Doesn't have a point of view, knows not where he's going to
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen, you don't know what you're missing
Nowhere man, the world is at your command
Ah, la, la, la, la
He's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

panzade, I agree. dj's posts were next on my mind to put up here, but he got 'em first. Could you provide a link to Titus's thread? Frankly, I don't think I saw it at all, but I would like to take a looksy. My grandfather, rest his soul, was a field medic in WWII. Although he came home, I can relate to your thoughts regarding the Canadian contribution to the war effort, and to your dream.

I'm copying a John Cody song I posted in another thread. Poor guy, great Canadian songwriter, troubled soul, and when he finally got a CD together, the publisher went bankrupt, and it was never released. As an older brother, this one always breaks me up:

Share the Same Stage (for Alain)
John Cody

It was your birthday call
And I just took a chance
You might be home for a change
But you were in another new romance
I haven't seen your face
Since the day I came of age
I can accept time tears brothers apart
Can you accept now
All that I ever wanted
Was to share the same stage
You have your own family now
I guess I have one too
I have always wondered why
You separate the two
You used to tear things down
You used to rattle the cage
I fashioned all my footsteps
For your admiration
But all that I ever wanted
Was to share the same stage
I think we tell ourselves the lies
We need to make it through
There's only so much truth we can take
I know that fear is what we hide
Inside our darkest rooms
Can we close the distance that we've made
Now you're lost in some locale
And the continent divides
And every time the day that you were born
Goes by remember
All that I ever wanted
Was to share the same stage

Joanne, I can't hear that song without thinking of Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man and this by Donovan:

EPISTLE TO DIPPY
Donovan

Look on yonder misty mountain
See the young monk meditating rhododendron forest
Over dusty years, I ask you
What's it been like being you ?
Through all levels you've been changing
Getting a little bit better no doubt,
The doctor bit was so far out.
Looking through crystal spectacles,
I can see I had your fun.
Doing us paperback reader
Made the teacher suspicious about insanity,
Fingers always touching girl.
Through all levels you've been changing
Getting a little bit better no doubt,
The doctor bit was so far out.
Looking through all kinds of windows
I can see I had your fun.
Looking through all kinds of windows
I can see I had your fun.
Looking through crystal spectacles
I can see I had your fun.
Looking through crystal spectacles
I can see I had your fun.
Rebelling against society,
Such a tiny speculating whether to be a hip or
Skip along quite merrily.
Through all levels you've been changing
Elevator in the brain hotel
Broken down a-just as well-a
Looking through crystal spectacles,
Ah, I can see I had your fun.
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum

I like it edgarblythe and I think I understand.

Thanks for a wonderful thread -- I just found it two days ago, and have been enjoying it ever since.

38 Years Old
The Tragically Hip

Twelve men broke loose in '73
From millhaven maximum security
Twelve pictures lined up across the front page
seems the mounties had a summertime war to wage
The chief told the people they had nothing to fear
The last thing they'd wanna do is hang around here
They mostly came from towns with long French names
But one of the dozen was a hometown shame

Same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall
Been one seat empty 18 years in all
Freezing slow time away from the world
He's 38 years old, never kissed a girl
He's 38 years old, never kissed a girl

We were sitting round table, heard the telephone ring
Father said he'd tell me if he saw anything
Heard the tap on the window in the middle of the night
Held back the curtains for my older brother Mike

See my sister got raped, so a man got killed
Local boy went to prison, man's buried on the hill
Folks went back to normal when they closed the case
They still stare at their shoes when they pass our place

My mother cried "The horror has finally ceased"
He whispered "yeah, for the time being, at least"
Over his shoulder, on the squad car megaphone
Said "Let's go Michael, son, we're taking you home"

Same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall
Been one seat empty 18 years in all
Freezing slow time away from the world
He's 38 years old, never kissed a girl
He's 38 years old, never kissed a girl

Some random thoughts, with the last post first. A tragically unknown band in the States, The Hip are debuting their new single on Saturday at(where else?) the Leafs game on HNC. Thanks Joe for a great posting.

Edgar, I'd forgotten about this singular tune from Hippy Dippy as his output evolved into pure pap. I'll never forget when my dad took me to Expo 67 in Montreal and we saw a documentary about Bob Dylan called "Don't Look Back". There was a scene where Donovan came to Dylan's hotel room in London to pay his respects and Bob cut him into shreds. I felt sorry for Mr Leetch.

Joanne, I had finally begun to grudgingly admire the Beatles when this song popped out. I hated it. Now in hindsight I can see what John was going through. Good postings

Panzade I to was slow to warm to the Beatles but John won me over with his rakishness.

I don't doubt it. Unfortunately I was still enthralled with surfing and hot rods so my focus was on the Beach Boys.

Cav- the thread...tell me your opinion.
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=637804#637804

BTW Cav, you cracked me up on "The Passion" thread. I'm still in a foetal position with drool on my chin.

The Beach Boys! Now those guys I resented they brought all kinds of posers to the beach. Last time I was in CA there were only limited place to surf and at some beaches surfing time was restricted.

My fav surf music was Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar.