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Looking for 'No Man's Land' reference

PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:29 pm
by MrTambourineMan
I'm an old WLIR/WDRE listener in search of a song. As I remember it, the song has a voice over part (like an old radio broadcast or newsreel) about 'No Man's Land' from World War 1. I went through all the versions I could find of 'All Together Now' by The Farm, but I don't think that's it, and did all the Google lyrics searches I could think of, but still can't figure it out. Does this song sound familiar to anyone?

Re: Looking for 'No Man's Land' reference

PostPosted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:58 pm
by dbonser
WWI & No Man's Land makes me think of Ballad Of Bill Hubbard - Roger Waters

from Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amused_to_Death:
The first song, "The Ballad of Bill Hubbard", features a sample of World War I veteran Alfred "Raz" Razzell, a member of the Royal Fusiliers (much like Waters' father Eric Fletcher Waters had been in the following war) who describes his account of finding fellow soldier William "Bill" Hubbard, to whom the album is dedicated, severely wounded on the battlefield. After failed attempts to take him to safety, Razzell is forced to abandon him in no-man's land. This sample is continued at the end of the title track, at the very end of the album, providing a more upbeat coda to the tragic story.

Lyrics from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rogerwat ... bbard.html:
"The Ballad Of Bill Hubbard"
[Instrumental]
[Switch channels]
[Alf Razzell:]
"Two things that have haunted me most are the days when I had to collect the paybooks; and when I left Bill Hubbard in no-man's-land."
"I was picked up and taken into their trench. And I'd no sooner taken two or three steps down the trench when I heard a call,
'Hello Razz, I'm glad to see you. This is my second night here,' and he said
'I'm feeling bad,' and it was Bill Hubbard, one of the men we'd trained in England, one of the original battalion. I had a look at his wound, rolled him over; I could see it was probably a fatal wound. You could imagine what pain he was in, he was dripping with sweat; and after I'd gone about three shellholes, traversed that, had it been...had there been a path or a road I could have done better.
He pummeled me, 'Put me down, put me down, I'd rather die, I'd rather die, put me down.' I was hoping he would faint. He said 'I can't go any further, let me die.' I said 'If I leave you here Bill you won't be found, let's have another go.' He said 'All right then.' And the same thing happened; he couldn't stand it any more, and I had to leave him there, in no-man's-land."

[Switch channels]
[Girl:] "I don't mind about the war, that's one of the things I _like_ to watch, if it's a war going on, 'cause then I know if our side's winning, if our side's losing..."

[Switch channels]

Re: Looking for 'No Man's Land' reference

PostPosted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:27 pm
by MrTambourineMan
Thanks, that's a nice song, but not the one I'm trying to remember. Are there any new wave songs called 'Christmas 1914' or 'Christmas Truce'?