Lyrics:

There's a warm summer breeze makes the red poppys dance
As the sunlight shines on the green fields of France

Well, how do you do, young Willie McBride,
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside?
And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.
I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the great fallen in 1916,
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
And, young Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drum slowly, did the sound the pipe lowly?
Did they sound the dead-march as they lowered you down.
And did the band play the Last Post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the 'Flooers o' the Forest'.

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined?
Although you died back in 1916
In some faithful heart you're forever 19
Or are you a stranger without even a name?
Enclosed and forever behind the glass frame
In a old photograph, torn and battered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame.

Did they beat the drum slowly, did the sound the pipe lowly?
Did they sound the dead-march as they lowered you down.
And did the band play the Last Post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the 'Flooers o' the Forest'.

Now young Willie McBride I can't help wonder why
Do all those who lie here know why they died
And did they believe when they answered the cause
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain
The killing and dying was all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.

Did they beat the drum slowly, did the sound the pipe lowly?
Did they sound the dead-march as they lowered you down.
And did the band play the Last Post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the 'Flooers o' the Forest'.
Did they beat the drum slowly, did the sound the pipe lowly?
Did they sound the dead-march as they lowered you down.
Did the band play the Last Post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the 'Flooers o' the Forest'.