The Great War

MP3

Written: 1999
Released: 2000 on 'Cupid Is A Drunkard'
Notes: Sometimes, when people hear this song
'The Great War' at a gig, they come up to me and ask
questions about it. [Click for more]

It was a great war the Great War
The greatest war there's ever been
It was a war to end all wars
It didn't but that's how it seemed
It was a great war the Great War
With the bodies and the blood
The shell holes and the hell holes
The trenches and the mud
It was a great war the Great War
The last war where no-one dared
To question the orders
No-one knew or no-one cared

And you stand there with your poppies
As a tribute to the ones
Who gave their lives for nothing
For the fathers and the sons
Then next day you go out
And buy your kids toy guns
Well go on and why not
You've got to teach them while they're young

It was a great war the Great War
The greatest war we've ever seen
We killed their side we killed our side
We killed anybody in between
It was a great war the Great War
Better still than Waterloo
Better yet than Agincourt
Better still than World War Two
It was a great war the Great War
The greatest chance we ever got
To die for our country
Or if not then to be shot

And you stand there in your silence
Just like we used to do
Like you were waiting for their whistle
For their orders to come through
Oh can't you see you're still doing
Just what they tell you to
Remember what they did to us
They could do to you

In a great war like the Great War
The greatest war we've ever known
We took simple fields made them hell on earth
Turned a million men to stone
But it was a great war the Great War
It was not our duty to survive
We weren't idiots we were patriots
Come on boys keep the myth alive
It was a great war the Great War
But you lead us up the garden path
And still you lead us every year
Up to the Cenotaph

And you stand there politicians
Wiping tears from your eyes
With the hands that shake the hands
Of the dictators you supply
Well I cannot see the honour
Nor the glory nor the pride
And I will not wear your poppy
And I will not stand silent by

© Philip Jeays 1999