"Private William McBride"

[alphafemale]

A brief history of the song.

The Lyrics and some song versions.

http://www.aftermathww1.com/mcbride.asp

[MaineDem]

1. I love this song

So sad.

We had a good thread going about this over Veterans' Day last week.

[alphafemale]

2. Yeah. Tried to find that thread but couldn't. n/t

[madddog]

4. another song by the same guy

I believe, is And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda...another great anti-war song.

[madddog]

3. the backdrop for that song

was that Irishmen were being asked to die in France "so that small nations might be free"...which had a wonderfully ironic twist to it because, of course Ireland, a small nation herself, was not free at the time. And while war raged in Europe, in 1916, the year Willie MacBride died, a few gallant Irishmen struck for her freedom at home, at Easter. Coincidentally, one of them was named MacBride as well.

here's a verse from "The Foggy Dew" that references it...wild geese is a term that goes back several hundred years, referring to young Irish men...many of whom died fighting the Turks at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli peninsula.

'Twas England bade our wild geese go
That small nations might be free;
Their lonely graves are by Suvla's waves
On the fringe of the grey North Sea.
But had they died by Pearse's side
Or fought with Cathal Brugha
Their names we would keep while the Fenians sleep,
'Neath the shroud of the foggy dew.

Believe it or not, Sinead O'Connor does a version of this song on a Chieftain's album...