No Man’s Land Slim Dusty

[Verse 1]
Well how do you do Private William McBride?
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside?
I'll rest for awhile in the warm summer sun
Been walkin' all day mate, and I'm nearly done

[Verse 2]
And I see by your gravestone, you were only nineteen
When you joined the fallen in 1916
Well I hope you died quick, and I hope you died clean
Or Willie Mcbride, was it slow and obscene?

[Chorus]
Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did they sound the fife lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye over as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers Of The Forest'?

[Verse 3]
Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined?
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart are you always nineteen?

[Verse 4]
Or are you a stranger without a name?
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane
In an old photograph, torn and tattered, and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame