Sign there son You will be paid Take the shilling Europe awaits! Grab your rifle Grab your sack Tell your mum you'll be back
Meet new friends Palls together All aboard and off to The Somme They were just kids together alone
First the smell Then the noise Far from what you left at home Then the shells begin to fall Like nothing you had seen before
You're wet and cold and in a hole Shaking with fear not the cold Your friend just passed in a puff of smoke His head was first, then his ***** His legs are spread across the floor
Then another explodes next to you The smoke clears and the Sarge smiles at you Like a statue painted red He doesn't know he's already dead
Mother Mother! Others scream But cries and wails no one hears None of this can be real You're just a boy and soiled with fear
Fifty years past then more At night you still hear the screams and cannons roar Like yesterday but years before It didn't end all the wars
They made a sequel a bigger cast Not your turn now to carry the flag With one arm you can't do that And your lungs still burn from the gas
Once again the generals cried "Come on lads, we need you now, come and sign the Sgts form" But was Tommy on the top once more? Or did they use anothers name, to sign your precious lives away.
When oh when will all the madness end For The Somme took away your friends Only poppys now remain Over fields where Britains youth lies slain
Tommy sΒ Β British WW1 soldiers were called that as the example name on recruitment forms was.. Tommy Atkins