The songs of the Great War
are
featured this month
Tune : Keep the Home Fires Burning
They were summoned from the hillside,
They were called in from the glen,
And the country found them ready
At the rallying call for men
Let no tears add to their hardships
As the soldiers pass along,
And although your heart is breaking,
Make it sing this cheery song:
Keep the Home Fires Burning,
While your hearts are yearning.
Though your lads are far away
They dream of home.
There's a silver lining
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out
Till the boys come home.
Overseas there came a pleading,
"Help a nation in distress."
And we gave our glorious laddies -
Honour bade us do no less,
For no gallant son of Freedom
To a tyrant's yoke should bend,
And a noble heart must answer
To the sacred call of "Friend."
Keep the Home Fires Burning,
While your hearts are yearning.
Though your lads are far away
They dream of home.
There's a silver lining
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out
'Til the boys come home.
Composed by Ivor Novello with words by Lena Gilbert Ford.
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And who knows who Ivor Novello is now, either? There is an Ivor Novello music award every year (for songwriting, I think) but I have seen interviews where the recipient was asked if they knew who Novello was, and the answer is always "no". I know this song so well, although not old enough to have been involved in either WW1 or 2 - I wonder if it was played on request programmes on radio when I was small? And what a lovely line "turn the dark clouds inside out" is. Thanks Josie.
ReplyDeleteI suspect Susan that this is one of those songs that gets into your subconscious until you don't know when, or how you came to 'know' it !
DeleteI think the words are really poignant and so poetic...