No Man's Land (lagu Erick Bogle)

No Man's Land (atau dikenal juga sebagai "The Green Fields of France" atau "Willie McBride") adalah lagu anti-perang yang diciptakan oleh seorang penulis lagu rakyat Skotlandia Eric Bogle pada tahun 1976. Lagu ini menceritakan tentang perjuangan Willie McBride seorang tentara biasa pada Perang Dunia I yang meninggal pada umur 19 di Prancis saat tahun 1916.

Identitas Willie McBride

Mengikuti lagu, Nisan milik Willie McBride menunjukkan bahwa Willie McBride meninggal pada 1916 saat berusia 19 tahun. Berdasarkan Commonwealth War Graves Commission, ada delapan prajurit yang bernama Willie McBride dan kemudian ada enam prajurit bernama W. McBride yang meninggal di Prancis atau Belgia selama Perang Dunia I dan tidak ada yang cocok dengan prajurit yang ada di Lagu.

Lirik

Berdasarkan lagu The Green Fields of France yang dinyanyikan oleh Dropkick Murphys, lirik No Man's Land adalah sebagai berikut:

Oh how do you do, young Willy McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great fallen in 1916
Well I hope you died quick
And I hope you died clean
Or Willy McBride, was is it slow and obscene

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart you're forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The sun shining down on these green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished long under the plow
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard that's still no mans land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation were butchered and damned

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And I can't help but wonder oh Willy McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause
Did you really believe that this war would end wars
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying it was all done in vain
Oh Willy McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest