Susannes Folksong-Notizen
[1987:] Commissioned by ABC in Australia. It follows the
tradition of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda and No Man's Land.
Eric himself says it's the last anti-war song he intends to
write. We think it says almost all there is to say against war.
(Notes De Dannan, 'Ballroom')
[1989:] War is still the most futile pursuit humankind engages
in and until they stop doing it I'll keep writing songs about it.
Because if you stop bringing it to people's attention then you
accept it; it becomes normal. I'm always like the ghost at the
feast writing old-fashioned protest songs saying a state of war
is not a normal condition. [...] those songs will last for years,
not because they're intrinsically wonderful songs, it's because
every so often the human race is going to start killing each
other and those songs are going to become relevant again. [The
First World War] was a definitive point in history; far more so
than other wars, I think. So much ended with the First World War
and so much began after it; there was nothing romantic about it,
but it was the last of the idealistic wars. So many of the people
who fought in it thought they were fighting to end it - to start
a total new age of human beings. You read the histories, you read
the letters from the soldiers - there was a genuine belief that
once this war was finished they'd create paradise on earth. It
didn't happen, and subsequent wars have just been ... nobody sang
as they marched off to the Second World War, they just said
"Well, we've got to stop this fascist bastard ..." And
then you get racist wars like Vietnam, the Gulf War, the
Falklands War - all that sort of stuff. (Eric Bogle, interview
with Andy Shearer, Broadbeat, May)
[1992:] Written for an ABC TV play. I tried to illustrate in
the song how each succeeding generation since the beginning of
the century has been involved in all these different wars. Or
perhaps it's just the same war repeating itself. (Notes 'The Eric
Bogle Songbook 2')
[1998:] When the first day of the Battle of the Somme was
over, it would be found that of the 100,000 men who had attacked,
20,000 lay dead between the lines. [...] It was 'the greatest
loss of life in British military history'. Likewise,
Passchendaele has honestly earned its reputation as the most
ghastly of First World War land battles [...] After responsibly
scrutinising both plans and results, Keegan concludes that 'the
point of Passchendaele defies explanation', just as 'the Battle
of Loos was pointless'. [...] Why did these soldiers persist in
fighting for no admirable end? How did ordinary soldiers find the
strength to keep it up and to believe that their agonies served
some higher purpose? That the war constituted wicked folly is
obvious now. (Paul Fussell, review of 'The First World War' by
John Keegan, Observer, 4 Oct)
See also
Kokoda Trail
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