Henry's Songbook

Standing in line, waiting to sign
Standing in line to go over
And a half-empty washing-line serves to remind
That you're fallen and always standing in line

Puttees and polish, a cigarette and a smile
A C.P., a soldier, no more than a child
You roared 'Tipperary' down to the train
But in Flanders the guns sang a different refrain

Misinformation, a well-hidden lie
Roll up, try your luck on the coconut shy
White feathers or glory, while government hacks
Are busy newspapering over the cracks

But only the swallows and your postcards came home
To the long summer days and the corn newly grown
As certain as Empire you marched off to war
Where fear-choked and rum-soaked, they taught you to plough

You fought and you died in the mud and the rain
A mile into hell and a mile back again
A pawn in their game, not fallen but pushed
And a Portland stone bonnet forever

(as sung by Coope, Boyes & Simpson)