These past few weeks we have been remembering the Battle of the Somme, which was fought in France between the 1st July and the 18th November 1916. As I’m sure many of you know, this battle contributed to the beginning of the end of pitched/set piece warfare with an astounding loss of life.
It is obviously an emotional time remembering a highly emotive event, and I wanted to share with you a little of the emotion I have experienced.
My parents were married in 1980 and I was born in 1989, so most of my popular culture memories from the time have their roots in the 1970s and 1980s. They enjoyed artists like Cat Stevens, the Moody Blues and Chris de Burgh. I particularly liked Chris de Burgh as his songs often told a story, were easy to remember and had accessible lyrics. So despite my soul lying very definitely in the start of the twentieth century, every now and again I have a little musical ‘throw back’ to the ‘80s.
Last night I listened to ‘Borderline’ by Chris de Burgh, from his 1982 album ‘The Getaway’. It’s a wonderful, lyrical and very emotional song about a man being called to war and not wanting to leave his love behind. Having heard many radio items about the Somme commemorations recently, I had this small moment of experience between myself in 2016 and the Great War in 1916 and the tie between the two in 1982. As a reader of retrospective writing, I wondered what songs do the same for you?
I’m standing in the station
I am waiting for a train
To take me to the border
And my loved one far away
I watched a bunch of soldiers heading for the war
I could hardly even bear to see them go
Rolling through the countryside
Tears are in my eyes
We’re coming to the borderline
I’m ready with my lies
And in the early morning rain, I see her there
And I know I’ll have to say goodbye again
And it’s breaking my heart, I know what I must do
I hear my country call me but I want to be with you
I’m taking my side, one of us will lose
Don’t let go, I want to know
That you will wait for me until the day
There’s no borderline, no borderline
Walking past the border guards
Reaching for her hand
Showing no emotion
I want to break into a run
But these are only boys, and I will never know
How men can see the wisdom in a war
And it’s breaking my heart, I know what I must do
I hear my country call me, but I want to be with you
I’m taking my side, one of us will lose
Don’t let go, I want to know
That you will wait for me until the day
There’s no borderline, no borderline
No borderline
