[Tim Murphy]

The first time I heard Eric Bogle sing this song, I just had to pull off the road. Of course I knew the history of Gallipoli.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI I knew the history of Galipolli.

So this is number one in my pantheon. The second is a song I sang when I was young, protesting Vietnam. You can sing it to the jingoistic When Jonny Comes Marching Home, which was popularized by the Union Troops during the Civil War, but this is the Irish original, which I'll try to type from memory:

Wi yer guns and drums and drums an guns,
harroo, harroo,
Wi yer guns and drums and drums an guns,
harroo, harroo,
Wi yer guns and drums an guns an drums
the enemy nearly slew ye,
Oh me darlin dear ye look so queer,
Jonny I hardly knew ye.

Where are yer legs that used to run,
harroo, harroo,
Where are your legs that used to run
when ye first went to carry the gun?
Oh indeed your dancin days are done,
Jonny I hardly knew ye.

Ye haven't an arm an ye haven't a leg,
harroo, harroo,
Yer a useless shell of a man wi a peg,
an ye'll have to be put wi a bowl to beg,
Jonny I hardly knew ye.

They're rollin out the guns again,
harroo, harroo,
but they'll never take me sons again,
Jonny I'm swearing to ye.

Hear Karan Casey sing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6bqTIQh1FI

Folk music is rich with anti-war songs, and I would particularly bow to Bob Dylan, and to Robert Burns. Here is one of his:

Gae fetch to me a pint 0' wine,
And fill it in a silver tassie;
That I may drink before I go,
A service to my bonie lassie:

The boat rocks at the Pier 0' Leith,
Fu' loud the wind blaws frae the Ferry,
The ship rides by the Berwick-Law,
And I maun leave my bonie Mary.

The trumpets sound, the banners fly
The glittering spears are ranked ready,
The shouts 0' war are heard afar,
The battle closes deep and bloody.

It's not the roar 0' sea or shore,
Wad mak me longer wish to tarry;
Nor shouts 0' war that's heard afar-
It's leaving thee, my bonie Mary!