Rememberance

[DRG]

Piper To The End
by Mark Knopfler.


When I leave this world behind me
To another I will go
And if there are no pipes in heaven
I’ll be going down below

If friends in time be severed
Someday we will meet again
I’ll return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end

This has been a day to die for
Now the day has almost gone
Up above a choir of seabirds
Turns to face the setting sun

Now the evening dawn is calling
And all the hills are burning red
And before the night comes falling
Clouds are lined with golden thread

We watched the fires together
Shared our quarters for a while
Walked the dusty roads together
Came so many miles

This has been a day to die on
Now the day is almost done
Here the pipes will lay beside me
Silent will the battle drum

If friends in time be severed
Someday here we will meet again
I return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end


Mark Knopfler wrote Piper to the end for his uncle, Lance Corporal Frederick John Laidler, a piper of the 1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish, The Black Watch RHR, who carried his pipes into action and was killed with them at Faucheux near Arras on the 20th of May, 1940, aged 20

LAIDLER, FREDERICK JOHN

Rank: Lance Corporal
Service No: 4457026
Date of Death: 20/05/1940
Age: 20
Regiment/Service: Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
1st Bn. The Tyneside Scottish
Grave Reference: Sp. Mem. Plot 8. Row E. Grave 6.
Cemetery: BUCQUOY ROAD CEMETERY, FICHEUX
Locality: Pas de Calais
Identified Casualties: 1844
Additional Information: Son of Frederick Laidler, and of Margaret Laidler, of Gosforth, Newcastle-on-Tyne

Remembrance Day
by Mark Knopfler.


On your maypole green
See the winding Morris men
Angry Alfie Bill and Ken
Waving hankies sticks and books
All the earthen roofs

Standing at the crease
The batsman takes a look around
The boys are fielding on home ground
The steeple sharp against the blue
When I think of you

Sam and Andy, Jack and John, Charlie Martin
Jamie Ron, Harry Stephen, Will and Don, Matthew Michael
On and on

We will remember them
Remember them... Remember them
We will remember them
Remember them... Remember them

Time has slipped away
The summer sky to autumn yields
A haze of smoke across the fields
Let's sup and fight another round
And walk the stubbled ground

When November brings
The poppies on Remembrance Day
When the vicar comes to say
"May God bless them, every one."
Lest we forget our sons

We will remember them
Remember them... Remember them... We will remember them...



The Gunner's Dream
by Rodger Waters


Floating down through the clouds
Memories come rushing up to meet me now.
In the space between the heavens
and in the corner of some foreigh field
I had a dream.
I had a dream.
Goodbye Max.
Goodbye mom.
After the service when you're walking slowly to the car
And the silver in her hair shines in the cold november air
You hear the tolling bell
And touch the silk in your lapel
And as the tear drops rise to meet the comfort of the band
You take her frail hand
And hold on to the dream.


A place to stay
Enough to eat
Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street
Where you can speak out loud
About your doubts and fears
And whats more no-one ever disappears
You never hear their standard issue kicking in your door.
You can relax on both sides of the tracks
And maniacs don't blow holes in bandsmen by remote control
And everyone has recourse to the law
And no-one kills the children anymore.
And no one kills the children anymore.


Night after night
Going round and round my brain
His dream is driving me insane.
In the corner of some foreign field
The gunner sleeps tonight.
What's done is done.
We cannot just write off his final scene.
Take heed of his dream.
Take heed.