The Armistice, an agreement to end the fighting of the First World War as a prelude to peace negotiations, began at 11am on 11 November 1918.
“Another of my settings of Housman’s poems, this time one from Last Poems, not A Shropshire Lad. This version is heavily edited and remixed with copious synth – – David A Harley”
“This 1917 poem refers to the British Expeditionary Force, which German propagandists referred to as ‘mercenaries’ because at the outbreak of war, Britain’s army consisted of professional soldiers rather than conscripts or the later volunteers of ‘Kitchener’s Army’. The BEF was practically wiped out by 1916. I find it hard to empathise with either Housman’s or Kipling’s Imperialistic sympathies, but the poem does have power. I hope my arrangement does it justice.”
Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries
(Note to anyone looking at this post in the Reader or on a phone you may need to visit the actual site to be able to view and listen to the music track)
Lyrics
These, in the days when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth’s foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and the earth’s foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.
credits
Words by A.E. Housman. Setting, guitars, synth and vocals by David A. Harley.
David A. Harley 1949 – 2025
This poem was new to me, and David did it justice with his music.
Best wishes, Pete. x
So much about WWI that I was unaware of.
Wonderful guitar work and set to solemn words
Thanks BB – a very solemn day. Inconceivable that wars still go on and lives lost.
I don’t recall hearing any other of David’s songs with such a long musical introduction. What was still called Armistice Day in the United States when I was in elementary school has been known here since 1954 as Veterans Day. AI says that the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand often commemorate November 11 as Remembrance Day.
Just a day or two ago I got to thinking that you hadn’t posted here in a long time—and now here you are.
I haven’t been anywhere outside of Cornwall since May, and although I keep thinking about writing up old travels through Australia I haven’t got around to scanning the photos! A good winter project.
Swifts and Swans has a long intro through combining two of his recordings, I don’t know if you saw that one.
I hadn’t. Now I have. Thanks.