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THE DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY
When I was but a young lad, I hewed coal below this land,
With a pick across me shoulder or a shovel in me hand;
But then the Great War came and a spirit of adventure grew,
While the posters in the street said, "Your Country Needs You!”
Your country needs you! I knew then what I must do.
I lined up to volunteer for a soldier's bloody wage,
I strode up to the desk and boldly lied about my age;
They gave me a serge uniform of ‘Kitchener Blue’,
Flags waved, brass bands played and huge crowds cheered too,
But no-one really knew just what we’d gotten ourselves into.
So we're off me boys, through the hell and the noise, to die for our country,
And they’ll raise a cross, to remember the loss of the Durham Light Infantry.
In the muddy fields of Flanders, we fought like men from Hell,
As the ground itself was ripped apart where all me best mates fell;
The lad right next to me took a bullet to the head
And in all that hell and madness I wished that I was dead,
As the sky wept tears of lead, while the ‘Faithful Durhams’ bled.
We buried all our dead, at least those that could be found,
As well as bits of bodies that were scattered all around;
And it made me sick with anger at the things the War had done,
But when one campaign was over they gave us another one,
So I still kept marching on, though all me mates were dead and gone.
So we're off me boys, through the hell and the noise, to die for our country,
And they’ll raise a cross, to remember the loss of the Durham Light Infantry.
Let there be no songs of victory upon Armistice Day,
For the pathos of the poets can never wash the stains away;
And with the Pawns of War, the Masters never will be done,
So the ‘Dirty Little Imps’ will still be called upon,
Once this ‘War To End All Wars’ is won, to fight on, and on, and on.
So we're off me boys, through the hell and the noise, to die for our country,
And they’ll raise a cross, to remember the loss of the Durham Light Infantry.
(Gary Miller)
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