Ain'T It Grand

June 01/1916 So it’s off to war! By they were glad Singing and whistling a tune every lad With a swing of their arms and a smile on their lips And a shine in their eyes For the gals in white slips So it’s march down to the station To board for the front With a hiss and a whistle And pull and a shunt Then just one last look At the girls with a tear in their eyes We will be home for Christmas So no need to cry The Germans can’t shoot straight Their bullets are rubber So hold your tears girl There is no need to blubber At the front ONE MONTH LATER July 01-1916 Battle of the Somme So we will dig our trenches And sleep in the mud The weather’s quite cold And the food’s not that good Sarge blows a whistle And over we go One at a time or all in a row The noise is quite deafening The bullets whiz by A strange sort of noise hearing men die Some they go quickly with not even a whimper Some take all night caught in the moons glimmer Trapped in the wire, trod in the mud Guts lay beside them leaking life’s blood. Screams and cry’s They cut through the cold night air For a man to end his life this way just don’t seem fair Please Don’t leave me alone OH MOTHER PLEASE HELP ME! I want to go home! My tummy’s hurting Please don’t leave me alone So I lay in my trench, hands over my ears The rain on my face hiding my tears While somebody’s father somebody’s son Somebody’s sweetheart Who’s life’s just begun Pleads for his mother to stop his pain And hold him in her arms Just once again But she will never hear Her boys last request She will never again see his boyish zest never to hold him in her arms again Or ruffle his hair or soothe his pain ‘Whistle Whistle‘ Well there’s no time to day dream And no time to dither ‘Cause the Sergeant is calling And so through the mud we must slither Over the top keep your head down Try not to trod on those laying down Past little Jimmy stuck on the fence This bloody war don’t make any sense I feel a slight tingle running down my spine My legs are numb they don’t feel like mine It’s all going dark now I think I’ll just lay down here Feel really tired but mam will soon be here To tuck me in and ruffle my hair And tell me a story about ‘Rabbit Brer’ Lights fading fast now Time to sleep Good night sweet Jesus My soul pray you keep