2015 is the 100th anniversary of the battle of Gallipoli, memorialized in Eric Bogle’s classic folk song. The focused massive bloodshed of World War I inspired philosophy, poetry, and music as people tried to make sense of the senseless monumental slaughter that took place. The Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s symphony is a cry for life composed during the orgy of death in 1914 to 1916.
Eric Bogle: The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
This Scottish folk singer was born during World War II, but he captured the pained and passionate reflections that came out of the earlier generation’s war in some of the best anti-war songs written.
With WWI Photos
Liam Clancy’s Version
Eric Bogle: Green Fields of France
I love both of these two powerful anti-war songs by Eric Bogle.
John McCutchen: Christmas in the Trenches
The famous informal Christmas Truce of 1914 inspired John McCutcheon’s song Christmas in the Trenches.
Paul McCartney: The Pipes of Peace
We throw in the bonus of Paul McCartney’s The Pipes of Peace,
not written as a WWI themed song, but with the video giving a version of the story.