Favorite War Songs

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Self Explanitory

1. Die Panzerlied
2. So shall they children (old welsh war chant http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~makarov/anthems/so-shall-thy-children-welsh_guards.mp3)
3. Men of Harlech
4. Over the Hills and Far Away

Ill have more later.
-Capo

[Lemur]

When Frontline finally did its big 4-hour summation of the first Gulf War, they had a really great scene: A bunch of tankers had just been informed that the war was over, and they put on the only tape they had laying around, James Brown's "I Feel Good."

The video of those soldiers dancing in the sand and on their tanks to James Brown left a lasting impression. In an odd way, "I Feel Good" has become the funkiest war song of all time.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Go home British soldiers by eire og

Come out ye black and tans by the wolftones

[Tribesman]

Blind King , thats a bit much for the Frontroom ~D ~D ~D

"The Green Fields of France" , by anyone with a decent voice .
"The Band played waltzing Matilda ", the Pogues do it great .

And of course "War" by Edwin Starr

[Longshanks]

What counts as a war song? Soungs about war or just those that are patriotic songs or official military songs? (ex. the Marine Corps Hymn)

If songs about war are good as well here are two that I like:

Sgt Mackenzie
by Joseph Kilna Mackenzie

In memory of Sgt. Charles Stuart MacKenzie
Seaforth Highlanders
Who along with many others gave up his life
So that we can live free

We will remember them

Parts of the the song Sgt Mackenzie was featured in the movie We Were Soldiers.

Lyrics

English Translation:
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone

When they come I will stand my ground
Stand my ground I’ll not be afraid

Thoughts of home take away my fear
Sweat and blood hide my veil of tears

Once a year say a prayer for me
Close your eyes and remember me

Never more shall I see the sun
For I fell to a Germans gun

Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone

Where before many more have gone


Original Scottish Version

Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun

When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid

Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Ains a year say a prayer faur me
Close yir een an remember me

Nair mair shall a see the sun
For a fell tae a Germans gun

Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun

Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun

Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun



When the Tigers Broke Free
by Pink Floyd

Lyrics

It was just before dawn one miserable morning
in black forty-four
when the forward commander was told to sit tight
when asked that his men be withdrawn
And the generals gave thanks as the other ranks
held be the enemy tanks - for a while
And then the Anzio beachhead was held for the price
of a few hundred ordinary lives

And kind old King George sent mother a note
when he heard that father was gone
It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll
with golden leaf and all
And I found it one day in a drawer of old
photographs hidden away
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
His Majesty signed with his own rubber stamp

It was dark all around
There was frost on the ground
When the tigers broke free
And noone survived from the Royal Fusiliers Company C
They were all left behind
Most of them dead
The rest of them dying
And that's how the High Command took my Daddy from me

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Yeah, those are great, longshanks. Cool.
Scotland the Brave i think can be classified, right?

[Gregoshi]

Hands down, for me, it is Al Stewart's Roads to Moscow - Germany's invasion of Russia through the eyes of a Russian soldier. I've bolded my favourite lines in the song with the "two broken Tigers" verse on my all time "best lyrics" list and perhaps one of the most poetic descriptions of a battlefield scene I've encountered.

******

They crossed over the border the hour before dawn
Moving in lines through the day
Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground where they lay
Waiting for orders we held in the wood - word from the front never came
By evening the sound of the gunfire was miles away

Ah, softly we move through the shadows, slip away through the trees
Crossing their lines in the mists in the fields on our hands and our knees
And all that I ever was able to see
The fire in the air glowing red silhouetting the smoke on the breeze

All summer they drove us back through the Ukraine
Smolensk and Viasma soon fell
By autumn we stood with our backs to the town of Orel
Closer and closer to Moscow they came - riding the wind like a bell
General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill

Winter brought with her the rains, oceans of mud filled the roads
Gluing the tracks of their tanks to the ground while the sky filled with snow
And all that I ever was able to see
The fire in the air glowing red silhouetting the snow on the breeze

In the footsteps of Napoleon the shadow figures stagger through the winter
Falling back before the gates of Moscow,
Standing in the wings like an avenger
And far away behind their lines the partisans are stirring in the forest
Coming unexpectedly upon their outposts, growing like a promise
You'll never know, you'll never know
Which way to turn, which way to look, you'll never see us
As we're stealing through the blackness of the night,
You'll never know, you'll never hear us
And the evening sings in a voice of amber, the dawn is surely coming
The morning roads leads to Stalingrad, and the sky is softly humming

Two broken Tigers on fire in the night flicker their souls to the wind
We wait in the lines for the final approach to begin
It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun
At home it will almost be spring
The flames of the Tigers are lighting the road to Berlin

Ah, quickly we move through the ruins that bow to the ground
The old men and children they send out to face us, they can't slow us down
And all that I ever was able to see
The eyes of the city are opening now it's the end of the dream

I'm coming home, I'm coming home,
Now you can taste it in the wind, the war is over
And I listen to the clicking of the train wheels as we roll across the border
And now they ask me of the time
When I was caught behind their lines and taken prisoner
"They only held me for a day, a lucky break", I say;
They turn and listen closer
I'll never know, I'll never know
Why I was taken from the line and all the others
To board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia
And it's cold and damp in the transit camp, and the air is still and sullen
And the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming
And I wonder when I'll be home again and the morning answers "Never"
And the evening sighs and the steely Russian skies go on forever

[Gawain of Orkeny]

The Battle Hymn of the Republic . When done right this song makes the hairs on my body stand up as it was done at reagans funeral, A truly stirring rendition

Dixie

the Bonnie blue flag Yes Im partial to civil war songs

and of course the Marine Corps Hymn