[Alessio Boni]

New Version............................... (I decided to actually get rid of S1, maybe Julie was right, the gift is more than enough to suggest alcohol)

The major yelled, ‘My loyal boys!
This gift is from the king,
And he requests that all his toys
Get ripe enough to sing!’

I too partook in all the laughs
And revels of that night,
But when the major blew his blast
I knew ‘twas time to fight!

We drunken slobs all took our place,
With fastened bayonets,
Like bulls amidst our final race,
We staggered on the steps,

Then, all at once, we charged the foe,
When out the trench we jumped.
One hundred sacks were hammered.
O! I saw them form a bunch.

With grievous wounds and severed limbs,
With muscle fibres torn,
With bones protruding out our skin,
We fought until the morn.

And as my unit fled in time
To find retreat, we piped,
‘Tonight they gave us beer and wine
So all by me is right!’

And when the sun had risen above
The empty field of gore,
We gathered round, and sang with love,
‘Today they’ll give us more!’



Original Version.........................


That night they gave us beer and wine
In twenty wooden barrels,
I needn’t say the rousing time,
And how the men had carolled!

The major yelled, ‘My loyal boys!
This gift is from the king,
And he requests that all his toys
Get ripe enough to sing!’

So all the drinks were given out
To man’s self-serving hand,
The soldiers drank and danced about,
Whilst mirth had seized the land.

I too partook in all the laughs
And revels of that night,
But when the major blew his blast
I knew ‘twas time to fight!

Us drunken slobs had took our place,
With fastened bayonets,
Like bulls amidst our final race,
We staggered on the steps,

Then all, at once, we charged the foe,
When out the trench we jumped.
One hundred sacks were hammered.
O! I saw them form a bunch.

With grievous wounds and severed limbs,
With muscle fibres torn,
With bones protruding out our skin,
We fought until the morn.

And as my unit fled in time
To find retreat, we piped,
‘Tonight they gave us beer and wine
So all by me is right!’

And when the sun had rose above
The empty field of gore,
We gathered round, and sang with love,
‘Today they’ll give us more!’