Well how do you do, young William McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your grave side?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone that you were only 19
When you joined the great fallen in 1916
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or, young Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
Did they beat the drum slowly?
Did they play the pipe lowly?
Did they sound the d**h march as they lowered you down?
Did the band play 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers of the Forest'?
Did you leave any wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
Although you died back in 1916
To that faithful heart are you forever 19
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed and forever behind a gla** frame
In an old photograph torn and tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?
Did they beat the drum slowly?
Did they play the pipe lowly?
Did they sound the d**h march as they lowered you down?
Did the band play 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers of the Forest'?
Now Willie McBride, I can't help but wonder why
Do those that, like you, know why they died?
And did they believe, when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war will end wars?
Or the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain -
The k**ing and dying - it was all done in vain
For young Willie McBride, it's all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again
Did they beat the drum slowly?
Did they play the pipe lowly?
Did they sound the d**h march as they lowered you down?
Did the band play 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers of the Forest'?