No Man's Land

Well how do you do, Private William McBride

Do you mind if I sit here down by your grave side?

A rest for awhile in the warm summer sun

I've been walking all day mate and I'm nearly done

And I see by your gravestone you were only 19

When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916

Well I hope you died quick mat, I hope you died clean

Or, Willy McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drum slowly?

Did they sound the pipes lowly?

Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?

Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?

Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?

Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?

Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?

Now when I was a young man I carried me pack

And I lived the free life of a rover

From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback

Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in 1915, the country said son

There's no time for roving

There's work to be done

So they gave me a tin hat

And they gave me a gun

And they marched me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

As the ship pulled away from the Quay

And amidst all the cheers

The flag-waving and tears

We sailed off for Gallipoli

And so now every April

I sit on me porch

And I watch the parades pass before me

And I see my old comrades

How proudly they march

Reviving old dreams of past glories

And the old men march slowly

Old bones stiff and sore

The weary old heroes from a forgotten war

And the young people ask

What are they marching for?

...and I ask myself the same question

But the band plays Waltzing Matilda

And the old men still answer the call

But year after year

More old men disappear

One day no one will march there at all

"Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that billabong

Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"

There's a rose that grows in no-man's land

And it's wonderful to see

Though its sprayed with tears, it will live for years

In my garden of memory

It's the one red rose the soldier knows

It's the work of the Master's hand

Midst the War's great curse stands a Red Cross nurse

She's the rose of no-man's land

It's the one red rose the soldier knows

It's the work of the Master's hand

Midst the War's great curse stands a Red Cross nurse

She's the rose of no-man's land

Now is the hour when we must say goodbye

Soon you'll be sailing far across the sea.

While you're away, oh please remember me,

When you return, you'll find me waiting here.

Now is the hour when we must say goodbye

Soon you'll be sailing far across the sea.

While you're away, oh please remember me,

When you return, you'll find me waiting here.

Now is the hour when we must say goodbye

Soon you'll be sailing far across the sea.

While you're away, oh please remember me,

When you return, you'll find me waiting here.