The prime of our land

On Sunday I mentioned that there’s a traditional set of music played at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony held every year in Whitehall. For some reason I’ve had a couple of the regulars floating in my head since then, so I’m sharing with you.

You’ll recall that “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” is in honor of the Connaught Rangers. I’ve always liked this song; perhaps because it didn’t originate as a military march. It was actually written to be performed in music halls (basically the British version of Vaudeville; even though Vaudeville is before my time, I’ve seen Marx Brothers movies and therefore I know the drill)—so, meant to be lively, raucous and sung-along with. It predates the outbreak of World War I by two years, and became quite popular during the war.

The connection to the Rangers is that in mid-August 1914 a Daily Mail correspondent observed the regiment singing it as they marched through Boulogne. Apparently this was the first instance of British soldiers singing it (at least in front of reporters), so it stuck with the Rangers; although it did spread through the British Army, and (later) the American as well.

(As a sidebar, this song is associated in my mind with the first, very elaborate and elongated pun I can remember hearing. It cracked me up no end, I assure you, notwithstanding its rather mournful end, and I still laugh at it. But I won’t repeat it because it’s somewhat along the lines of elephant jokes and I’m pretending we’ve risen above that sort of thing.)

Its music hall roots may explain some of “Tipperary’s” popularity. Unlike a lot of songs written specifically for soldiers heading off to wars, there’s nothing at all martial about it. It’s all about home, and hopes of returning there. There’s longing, of course, but the upbeat tempo prevents it from getting sloppy. It’s a great tune for stepping lively, even if you’re schlepping a 65-pound pack on your back.

The other piece I’ll “play” for you is “Flowers of the Forest”, such an extraordinarily powerful lament that I don’t think you need the lyrics to understand the sorrow it expresses. The melody dates from at least the 17^th Century, and lyrics were added in the 18^th marking the Scots fallen at the Battle of Flodden Field. (Killed by English soldiers, but we won’t go into that right now.)

Because Highland regiments formed the backbone of the British army in so many wars over the centuries, what started out as a lament for Scots slain by Englishmen has been transmuted to a universal piece that accompanies the bodies of British soldiers home from the battlefield. It has had rather a workout in recent years, as it marked British and Canadian deaths in Afghanistan.

I understand that many pipers only perform it in public at funerals.

And at services on Remembrance Sunday.