Lyrics

BIRDSONG

My name is Bertram Arthur Cain
I live outside of town
I work from sunrise rising
Till the sun is sinking down
Each day I walk along a lane
That runs beneath the downs
It rings with birdsong sweet and true
It’s a pretty and peaceful sound

It weren’t my fight I didn’t see
That I should go abroad
To fight the enemy of our land
By the government I was told
I left my love, I left my home
And all my thoughts behind
Of a world of love, a world of care
And I crossed to the other side

No more to hear the birdsong
I could recognise every tune
No more to see the morning dew
A glistening on the corn
No more to hear my dearest call
As I return late at night
Just to rest my head and sleep my dear
Until the morning light

My name is Bertram Arthur Cain
And I’m a simple man
I’ve never caused nobody pain
I’d always help them if I can
But now I stare ‘cross no man’s land
With a gun sight before my eye
Just waiting to kill a man like me
Across on the other side

No more to hear the birdsong
I could recognise every tune
No more to see the morning dew
A glistening on the corn
No more to hear my dearest call
As I return late at night
Just to rest my head and sleep my dear
Until the morning light

For four years hell on earth did rain
And many brave men died
The high explosive shells that flew
The only singing in the sky
The land now cultivated
By the shell and not the plough
And the only men remaining are
Devoid of caring now

No more to hear the birdsong
I could recognise every tune
No more to see the morning dew
A glistening on the corn
No more to hear my dearest call
As I return late at night
Just to rest my head and sleep my dear
Until the morning light

My name is Bertram Arthur Cain
The name etched on my grave
The 1914-18 war
Was a travesty of the brave
So if you ever walk along
That lane beneath the downs
Be sure to listen to the birdsong there
It’s a pretty and peaceful sound