My Grandfather Hated the Germans
(Michael Patterson)
My Grandfather hated the Germans
And when asked why this was his retort
There were too many snipers
In the Salient at Wipers
Trying to cut my life short
He went out to France in 1915
A man with the Connaught Rangers
To fight with the Kaiser who he'd never seen
And in the defence of some strangers
But the times they were hard there was no work around
And the Army gave cash in your fist
You didn't need much yourself, it was "all found"
So Grandfather went to enlist
My Grandfather hated the Germans
And when asked why this was his retort
There were too many mines
Underground at Messines
Trying to cut my life short
He slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack
With thousands of mates going to work
And was one of the hundred that made the walk back
When the mincing machine'd done its work
They were pulled from the line to a place called Maubeuge
A village not far from the lines
Where Grandad discovered that Boutel Vin Rouge
Was the way that the French ordered wine
My Grandfather hated the Germans
And when asked why this was his retort
There were too many Krauts
With noses like snouts
Trying to cut my life short
He stayed pissed as a ferret while they formed a new squad
Out of outfits that were cut to pieces
And he ran a card school teaching green as the sod
Young men how to grow new fleeces
Then the Somme came along on a fine summer day
And he's nicked by a bullet quite early
And a nose full of gas kept him out of the way
As his unit was mown like the barley
My Grandfather hated the Germans
And when asked why this was his retort
There were too many Junkers
Sitting in bunkers
Trying to cut my life short
He's out of the line for a year in support
Training young men how to die
And how to stay fit and to enjoy your sport
But never to ask yourself why
He kept himself alive until 1918
Tho' around him the shells skip and dance
But was buried alive in a dugout latrine
By a shell in the German advance
My Grandfather hated the Germans
And when asked why he said it was fit
With the war nearly done
A shell from a Hun
Dropped me up to my neck in the dirt
My Grandad went off to the fighting
But survived and came back to us all
He loved Mozart and Bach
Wagner , Mahler and Sachs
But he didn't like Germans at all!
Copyright Michael A. Patterson (Micca)
As a reaction to the "Green fields of France" and all those deaths in the
first world war, this is a song about my grandad who did come back; all the
places are real and the events are surreal. The tunes are mostly Tom Paxton's
"Jimmy Newman" for theverses and "Dinah and her Villikins" for the limericks.
Hope you like it.
MP
oct00
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!