35506, RE: What are the Saddest Songs ever written?
Posted by Paul D, Wed Jun-11-03 04:54 AM
Thanks, Marti
"So now every April I sit on my porch
....
Some day no one will march there at all"
For non-Aussies.
The reference is to ANZAC Day, 25th April - our equivalent to Veterans' Day. It commemorates the Australian & New Zealand Forces landing at Gallipoli in Turkey, sent there by the British High Command because colonial forces were more expendable than British ones. It was a slaughterhouse, but notable for great acts of gallantry on both sides. Nowadays many Australian visit Gallipoli on April 25th and remember the occasion at a dawn service in friendly company with the descendants of the Turkish foe.
The last ANZAC veteran in Queensland died recently aged 104, and was given a state funeral, and I think there are a total of two left in Australia.
IMHO Eric Bogle is one of the world's truly great songwriters.
Talking of sad songs, there is another of his written as he left Scotland to emigrate to Australia many years ago. It is called Leaving Nancy - Nancy being his mother.
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