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Remembrance Day, 2016

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 5:55 pm
by WestCoastJoe
Thank you. God Bless.
IN FLANDERS FIELDS

By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium
http://www.flandersfieldsmusic.com/thepoem.html

Re: Remembrance Day, 2016

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 5:56 pm
by WestCoastJoe
http://www.flandersfieldsmusic.com/thepoem.html
On May 2, 1915, John McCrae’s close friend and former student Alexis Helmer was killed by a German shell. That evening, in the absence of a Chaplain, John McCrae recited from memory a few passages from the Church of England’s “Order of the Burial of the Dead”. For security reasons Helmer’s burial in Essex Farm Cemetery was performed in complete darkness.

The next day, May 3, 1915, Sergeant-Major Cyril Allinson was delivering mail. McCrae was sitting at the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the YserCanal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, Belgium.

In Flanders Fields Poem

As John McCrae was writing his In Flanders Fields poem, Allinson silently watched and later recalled, “His face was very tired but calm as he wrote. He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

Within moments, John McCrae had completed the “In Flanders Fields” poem and when he was done, without a word, McCrae took his mail and handed the poem to Allinson.

Allinson was deeply moved:

“The (Flanders Fields) poem was an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

Re: Remembrance Day, 2016

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:51 pm
by Gridiron Ernie
Thanks for sharing that WestCoastJoe. I did not ever know the full circumstance/details of the story from that mailman's point of view. Here (see link) is the late great Leonard Cohen reciting the deeply moving and ever-haunting masterpiece as voice-over for a very short historical photo-video produced in joint effort with Legion Magazine. Peace on us all!
As promised (forgot), now -- the link --

Re: Remembrance Day, 2016

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 12:14 am
by WestCoastJoe
Gridiron Ernie wrote:Thanks for sharing that WestCoastJoe. I did not ever know the full circumstance/details of the story from that mailman's point of view. Here (see link) is the late great Leonard Cohen reciting the deeply moving and ever-haunting masterpiece as voice-over for a very short historical photo-video produced in joint effort with Legion Magazine. Peace on us all!
As promised (forgot), now -- the link --
You are welcome, Ernie.

And thanks for the link re Leonard Cohen. Read as only he could do it. :thup:

I saw a play recently about him as a young musician and composer. It was at Firehall Theatre. Great stuff. :thup:

I also went on Youtube to hear a number of versions of his composition, Hallelujah. Jeff Buckley, kd lang and Leonard himself. :thup:

Re: Remembrance Day, 2016

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 4:25 pm
by Gridiron Ernie
IMHO the three versions you selected to listen to, WCJ, are the very best of the lot, regards that song. I'd loved his own original from the get-go, but when the others came along with their interpretations they blew me away. (Sad that young gifted Mr. Buckley came to a tragic end.) Sad about L.C. now too of course, but when you've lived to be 82 and were touring till you were 80, well, nothing tragic in that! Especially in light of the fact that there's such a long history there of good stuff. I'm showing my age, but I was still in my teens when his sonorous monotone (no disrespect!) offered us Bird on the Wire, Famous Blue Raincoat, and So long, Marianne, and the like... Thumbs up to all that! But anyhow, the ditty that I (and the rest of us) will be loudly singing come tomorrow is 'Roar you Lions roar!' That's poetry too, ha!