The Dutchman (Live - 2022 Remaster) - Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy

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 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 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 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 Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

Inch by inch, row by row, Gonna make this garden grow, All it takes is a rake and a hoe, And a piece of fertile ground. Inch by inch, row by row, Someone bless these seeds i sow, Someone warm them from below, 'Till the rain comes tumblin' down. Pullin' weeds and pickin' stones, Man is made of dreams and bones, Feel the need to grow my own, 'Cause the time is close at hand. Grain for grain, sun and rain, Find my way in nature's chain, Tune my body and my brain To the music from the land. Plant your rows straight and long, Temper them with prayer and song, Mother earth will make you strong If you give her loving care. An old crow watching hungrily From his perch in yonder tree, In my garden i'm as free As that feathered thief up there.

All god's critters got a place in the choir Some sing low, some sing higher, Some sing out loud on the telephone wires, And some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they Got now Repeat Listen to the bass, it's the one on the bottom Where the bullfrog croaks and the hippopotamus Moans and groans with a big t'do And the old cow just goes moo. The dogs and the cats they take up the middle While the honeybee hums and the cricket fiddles, The donkey brays and the pony neighs And the old coyote howls. Chorus Listen to the top where the little birds sing On the melodies with the high notes ringing, The hoot owl hollers over everything And the jaybird disagrees. Singin' in the night time, singing in the day, The little duck quacks, then he's on his way. The 'possum ain't got much to say And the porcupine talks to himself. Chorus It's a simple song of living sung everywhere By the ox and the fox and the grizzly gear, The grumpy alligator the the hawk above, The sly racoon and the turtle dove. Chorus Repeat