Chords with lyrics
Tuning: G C E A (G C E A) Intro: D G A D (all chords are three long) D Bm G A Well how do you do young Willie McBride, A A G A Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside, Bm G A And rest for a while in the warm summer sun, A G D I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done. D Bm Em I see by your gravestone you were only 19, A G A When you joined the great fallen in 1916, D Bm Em Well I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean, A G D Or Willie McBride was it slow and obscene.
Chorus: A Did they beat the drum slowly, G D Did they play the fife lowly, A G A Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down, G D Bm Did the band play the last post and chorus, D G A D Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest. Verse 2: D Bm G A And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind, A A G A In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined, D Bm G A And though you died back in 1916, A A G D To that loyal heart you're forever 19. D D Bm Em Or are you a stranger without even a name, A A G A Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane, D D Bm Em In an old photograph all torn tattered and stained, A A G D And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame.
Chorus: A Did they beat the drum slowly, G D Did they play the fife lowly, A G A Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down, G D Bm Did the band play the last post and chorus, D G A D Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest. Verse 3: D Bm G A The sun's shining down on these green fields of France, A A G A The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance, D Bm G A The trenches have vanished long under the plow A A G D No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now. D Bm Em But here in this graveyard it's still "No Man's Land", A A G A The countless white crosses in mute witness stand, D Bm Em To man's blind indifference to his fellow man, A A G D And a whole generation that were butchered and damned. Chorus: A Did they beat the drum slowly, G D Did they play the fife lowly, A G A Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down, G D Bm Did the band play the last post and chorus, D G A D Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest. Verse 4: D Bm G A And I can't help but wonder, oh Willie McBride A A G A Do all those who lie here know why they die, D Bm G D Did you really believe them when they told you the cause A A G A Did they really believe that this war would end wars. D Bm Em Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame A A G A The killing and dying it was all done in vain, D Bm Em Oh Willie McBride it all happened again, A A G D And again, and again, and again, and again. Chorus: A Did they beat the drum slowly, G D Did they play the fife lowly, A G A Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down, G D Bm Did the band play the last post and chorus, D G A D Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest.
