They All Wear Their Poppies With Pride
There's rats in the trenches
A thousand foul stenches
Of piss, pus and puke, blood and death
Jim's screaming his head off
'Cause Frank hasn't got one
And Joey's just drawn his last breath
While back home in Surrey
They try not to worry
And keep all their doubts locked inside
For in a few years
There'll be no more tears
And they'll all wear their poppies with pride...
She can't understand
As she holds the girl's hand
That her daughter's no longer attached
They were all blown to hell
As a terrorist cell
Though a wedding was all that they'd hatched
And back in the West
They're so sure they know best
Though they've tortured and murdered and lied
And they don't want to know
What the body counts show
As they all wear their poppies with pride...
Oh, they all wear their poppies with pride...
At the annual board meeting
Arms dealers are greeting
Reports of their profits with glee
They'll always be willing
To make a quick killing
From slaughter and mass misery
And when it's all over
They'll head off to stuff
The big bellies their suits cannot hide
And they won't spare a thought
For the carnage they've brought
But they'll all wear their poppies with pride...
Yes they'll all wear their poppies with pride...
Whoever you mix with
There's bound to be someone
Whose mind is still caught in the mesh
Those soldiers aren't heroes
They're nothing but fodder
For the thing that grows fat on our flesh
And you show no respect
For the ones left behind
Or the miserable sods who have died
If you can't face the truth about why they were killed
And you still wear your poppies with pride...
If you still wear your poppies with pride....
Do you still wear your poppies with pride?
Paul Cudenec
November 2009
There's rats in the trenches
A thousand foul stenches
Of piss, pus and puke, blood and death
Jim's screaming his head off
'Cause Frank hasn't got one
And Joey's just drawn his last breath
While back home in Surrey
They try not to worry
And keep all their doubts locked inside
For in a few years
There'll be no more tears
And they'll all wear their poppies with pride...
She can't understand
As she holds the girl's hand
That her daughter's no longer attached
They were all blown to hell
As a terrorist cell
Though a wedding was all that they'd hatched
And back in the West
They're so sure they know best
Though they've tortured and murdered and lied
And they don't want to know
What the body counts show
As they all wear their poppies with pride...
Oh, they all wear their poppies with pride...
At the annual board meeting
Arms dealers are greeting
Reports of their profits with glee
They'll always be willing
To make a quick killing
From slaughter and mass misery
And when it's all over
They'll head off to stuff
The big bellies their suits cannot hide
And they won't spare a thought
For the carnage they've brought
But they'll all wear their poppies with pride...
Yes they'll all wear their poppies with pride...
Whoever you mix with
There's bound to be someone
Whose mind is still caught in the mesh
Those soldiers aren't heroes
They're nothing but fodder
For the thing that grows fat on our flesh
And you show no respect
For the ones left behind
Or the miserable sods who have died
If you can't face the truth about why they were killed
And you still wear your poppies with pride...
If you still wear your poppies with pride....
Do you still wear your poppies with pride?
Paul Cudenec
November 2009
Comments
Hide the following 15 comments
excellent song
08.11.2009 09:45
"At the boad meeting "
Maybe 'annual' or 'arms' or 'bloody' or whatever. If you an extra word there then in future activists can sing the song but change that word to the name of the company they are protesting against, ie "At the Qinetiq board meeting"
Danny
Well done for writing it but...
08.11.2009 09:46
Barry
Thanks
08.11.2009 11:10
I have got a tune, in fact, but dunno how to communicate it via the newswire!
Don't really get Barry's comment - poppy day isn't in honour of the working class but just promotes militarist values, which have been always been pursued for the profit of the ruling class at the expense of the working class...
Paul Cudenec
MP3 ?
08.11.2009 14:04
I look forward to your tune, and I look forward to hearing people sing your words in their own style too. Update them yourself when you choose a suitable word. If you've got any more song lyrics then I hope you at least copy them here because I really enjoyed that one. You should publicise it or copyleft it or something else to popularise it. You could be a craggily old man or a pretty young boy but I'd pay some of the last of my cash to hear you sing that.
Bravo, encore, gie's another.
Danny
Wear your white poppies with pride!
08.11.2009 16:54
Wear a white poppy for peace
white poppy
08.11.2009 20:13
I got a mixed reaction - but just about everyone was positive when I explained the thinking behind it - and a lot of people asked where they could buy one.
matt
i wore a green one
08.11.2009 20:38
lu
Black/red poppies
09.11.2009 03:48
@
Nice poem, but don't listen to Danny
09.11.2009 04:53
So don't feed the trolls. Don't feed Danny!
anon anarchist
IT snob -- what does that mean?
09.11.2009 13:09
Danny, hope you're not thinking of stopping posting. You're posts are often well good and get the brain ticking. I thought it was nice how you encouraged Paul, something we don't see enough of within the movement. To the trolls having a pop -- where's your poem?
jez
Excellent
09.11.2009 19:34
freeluncher
Homepage:
http://talkingliberties.wordpress.com/
Against Pacifism
09.11.2009 22:24
White poppies are clear about their political message; pacifism. I'm not a pacifist.
nonviolence and its violent consequences:
how nonviolence protects the state:
The British Legion poppies are less clear cut. Do they represent solidarity with the working class people who died fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War & WWII? Do they represent support for war & imperialism? I felt this was an activist song and that an activist movement is not what we need. We need a proletarian movement to overthrow capitalism.
Class Antagonism
poppy's
10.11.2009 03:06
the poem / song is pretty good -
harry patch the WW1 (deceased) bloke that died of late thought that remembrance day merely glorified crappy war; he'd been sent to fight and came back disgusted - not alot of people know that.
Its sad that people are so obedient to go die for their country - obedience is the problem.
class is not everything and im afraid that analysis of situations that harp on about class all the time are sadly wanting.
well done poet
lhm
Feel free
10.11.2009 06:50
Paul Cudenec
Thanks Paul
10.11.2009 12:38
Peace out.
freeluncher
Homepage:
http://talkingliberties.wordpress.com/