Added: 4 years ago
From: hippiebohemia
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  • Old greedy men make war but our young fight it. Not for home and hearth but to line other's pockets. Our best and brightest are used up as nothing more than "faceless cannon fodder" so that old men can increase their excessive wealth.

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  • It REALLY reminds of "No Bravery" by James Blunt, but it's even better. I remember hearing it when I was very young, and I wept.

  • @raphael44ify I weep too everytime I listen to this. I think of the poor soldiers who went into the military to serve their country by mainly defending it against enemies, especially against invaders. Instead, our poor soldiers end up fighting wars on another continent.

  • (last verse)

    Take up our quarrel with the foe:

    To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

    We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

    In Flanders fields.

  • In Flanders Fields, By: Lt Col John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. (cont.)
  • I'd never heard this song before. What an amazing poet Don McLean is!

  • powerful

  • If I'm to judge by the number of pictures of Flanders poppies I'd say Americans wear their poppies in the run up to remembrance day too. Odd there were American flags, yet no pictures of the Vietnam war, yet pictures of 1st world war trench warfare, in which 9 million of mainly British German, but also Russians and French died, yet no flags of those nations. Americans volunteered in some numbers for the 14 18 war but were not conscripted, and the US entering in 1918 at the end.

  • A day late...

  • c vraiment de la merde de faire ca en cours d'anglais!

  • iraq aint our war 2 fight why did america have to start this war

  • I stop when I hear a song lik this and think to myself, "How did Lady Gaga become famous?"

  • @wmstyron That's an interesting comparison. Gaga also deals with social issues, but in a very different style. A better question would be, "How did Tupak or Biggie become famous?" because their so-called music seemed to glorify violence & profanity - & we all see where it got them. I get your point, though: Poetry like this is even more rare nowadays. Amazing imagery, isn't it?

  • @jbgrif You might not like rap music, but it's just as ignorant to dismiss Tupac as it is to dismiss Gaga. Go listen to 2Pacalypse Now and say that he didn't deal with social issues.

  • @8cmn I understand what you mean. My main reference was the profanity & vulgarity found in too many recordings, most often in the rap genre. It's the difference between the comedian or storyteller whose words truly paint a picture & the one who can't seem to express him/her self without a generous inclusion of foul language: The story can be told without it, but is the artist capable of doing so?

  • @wmstyron Because there are different types of music that can hardly be compared to each other anymore like Lady Gaga and Don McLean

  • i think millionaire singers need to shut up, and let the heros live in our hearts.

  • I love the way that Don twists the knife... emotionally speaking...

  • ...back to the truth of Mr. McLeans words of the waste of war, and no arguing, because that is what starts wars...

  • I meant to say earlier that this song reminds me of all the brave and honorable boys who fought in Vietnam and other such wars.

  • I recently watched a Vietnam war movie that made me really wonder why teenagers were sent to fight that war. No way could a confusing, messy and horrific war like that have been won with inexperienced soldiers, so those poor boys were really sent there as lambs to be slaughtered for nothing. But those young soldiers went despite their great fear. They were and always will be heroes in my eyes.

  • @emofolkie True, though the fact is that MOST wars are fought with young, inexperienced soldiers. I believe that those who want the war - often those in power - should be the people to actually fight the wars. My husband & I are both Army veterans, & we both believe this...

  • @jbgrif I agree, but we know that's impossible because the ones in power who decide to send soldiers to war are generally among the last people to want to go to war themselves. That's why I changed my mind about becoming a soldier or even a cop, too much being under the thumb of powerful people. I want instead to be a firefighter or a paramedic.

  • @emofolkie Those are both very honorable professions, also. Best of luck to you!

  • don mclean is my dad's fav. artst & mine too bec. his songs are xtraordinry like john denvr's!they're 2 of the most gifted musicians of all time 4 me,mom & dad.

  • The more I watch this the more I wonder where soldiers find the courage to go into battle. I feel that if I was a soldier, I would be so scared that I would want to hide even under mud. I'd do either that or run crazy and kill everyone in sight. Scary.

  • @emofolkie Have you ever read "All Quiet on the Western Front"?

  • @ElBluesummer I have read it, back in high school. Why? Do you think that book inspired Don to write this song? If it did, then that's amazing. He's got such a wonderful gift. He can just read a book, like when he read a book about Van Gogh, and then be inspired to write a great song based on that. I wish he would teach us how to do that.

  • @emofolkie lol I don't think it's what inspired him in particular, but then again, it wouldn't be a surprise. I just asked you that because your comment and this song both reminded me of that book, which I recently read for the first time in college (my high school sucked). I've been trying to write songs, but my lyrics always lack the depth of Don's.

  • @ElBluesummer Yeah, me too. I guess we should go to songwriting school, or better yet, Don himself could hold a songwriting class maybe on his website. How I wish.

  • @emofolkie Nothin to it but to sit down and think about what irks your in the world. Write it as it comes into your consciousness and use as much detail as possible. Practice man. Did Mr. Mclean write American Pie on his first try?

  • @ElBluesummer I remember reading that Don wrote American Pie for 3 weeks, singing it and revising it directly on a tape recorder since he can't write or read music. That's how he wrote songs from the start. That's so amazing especially when you think of all the beautiful, some of them unknown, songs he's written. He truly has it. I don't so I'll just play my guitar and be happy with that.

  • @emofolkie

    I don't think you should get scholed in how to write a song. Practice is the key :o

    I've been writing poems and songs the last 3 years and I've got much better. Not as good as Don McLean - he's a genious. Sadly I am tone-deaf and have a hard time hearing beats.. ^^;

    Just practice the rythm of the words :)

  • This is an amazing song, the images the lyrics describe are haunting. It seems to be about how one might feel on a battlefield, when you can kill or be killed at any moment. Such a scary thought.

  • god bless those and their families for their losses who help freedom ring for us and ours. Don you are such a true American and artist thank you.

  • Who ever Dislikes this needs a Prayer, God Bless You Don

  • No one ever wins in a war, any war. it's always the little people who do the fighting, the killing and the dying. They are the ones who bear the brunt of mankind's brutality. Wars ALWAYS are started by the lust for power, money, greed, and need dominance of the masses. it's not always about self defece, but rather self interest. I have no faith in righteousness when it comes to global conflicts

  • @silintpengin Odd, how the Catholics did the same exact thing during the Crusades to innocent men, women and children. Hmm.

  • @Daedalus1776 stop promulgating myths

  • @webmail111 Myths about what, the Crusades? Lrn2history.

  • @Daedalus1776 I do know much history. what you believe are myths spread by muslims that are meant to be swallowed hook, line and sink, by politically correct quivering fools. key phrase "short defensive war". learn and figure it out. over and out.

  • @webmail111 You obviously don't know much history, if you completely deny the fact that the Crusades even happened. The fact that you deny basic history that's in -textbooks- shows that you're an ignorant fool, and I'll no longer waste my time replying to your messages. Have a nice Summer.

  • @Daedalus1776 see ya.

  • Respond to this video... i guess you didn't do your assignment 'key phrase "short defensive war". learn and figure it out. "

  • @webmail111 You're calling the Crusades a -defensive- war? You must be mentally fuckin' retarded. The Catholics rolled over the Middle East and killed anybody they couldn't convert. It was wholly an offensive war.

  • @webmail111 didn't say didn't happen you moron.

  • @webmail111 To let cooler heads prevail, let me tell you a funny story. Five men--a Brit, a Frenchman, an Arab, an African, and an American--were talking together at a party. They talked about what they would do if they could time travel. The Brit said he would join the Beatles. The Frenchman, that he would date a teen Brigitte Bardot. The Arab, that he would be the richest man in the world and buy Israel. The African, that he would ship all his people to America.

  • @webmail111 And the American wanted to be the one to invent the time machine so that he could do all that and so much more!

  • You fools who find glory in killing will someday deserve death because everyone gets death and we all die the same way. Our hearts stop and we turn to dust. Some are blown to bits, some die quietly in beds, some get run over by trains and some are swallowed by oceans in earthquakes, but anyone who believes killing is just is plain delusional be in a war or in a prison or a back room brawl...it'll never stop till the human race is finally cleansed completely from the earth. We're a plague here.

  • @silintpengin There will never be peace until frightened little men with frightened little minds think that killing anyone is the solution. Would you kill HIM- or his KID- and not give a shit? how are you less of an extremist then?

  • Any and all sane people of any nation or culture detest war. I served in Vietnam with 101'st Airborne Airmobile 1969 -1970 and hated it every day of it but...we must always stand against evil no matter what or where. I am reminded of a the scene in The Lord of the Rings where Gandalf stands and draws a line in the earth and says to evil..."you shall not pass".

  • @valleyofgalon You were in 'Nam in '69? My dad served in 1968, stationed on the Ho-Chi-Minh trail with the 20th Transportation Company of the Army.

  • Let's not forget all the men, women, children and soldiers that died in WWI, WWII and all other wars of the 20th Century.

  • my granddaddy got shot in the WW1 and i remember him telling me as a small child with german generals and english soldiers we could rule the world very poignant at the time miss you mate mate x

  • i have german blood in me and proesian blood but i am an american and if i was around in the 30's and 40's and germany asked me to fight for them i would have said no

  • @shadowandman

    Its very easy to say that when you are looking back in hindsight. We all wish in our heart that we would but some times the truth is harder to bare. Many boys (and i mean boys) who fought as NAZIS were brainwashed by their government to believe what they were doing was righteous and just. Fear is a tool that should never be underestimated.

  • the earth is my grave and my staff sergeant is my father

  • This is a beautiful song..

    but i really do love George Michael's version..

  • @CarelessWhispers02 George Micheal doesn't even come close!

  • Thank you for this beautiful video.

  • For my great uncles Herbert Slim, Harry Slim and Bert Downing and my would-have-been Grandfather (had he lived) Harry Lake, who died in the trenches.

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  • Yeah, lets not forget those little goodsteppers who proudly took over Austria and then stormed into Poland. Yeah, they were fighting for their nation and brutally killed as they did. Did you forget that the bastards tried to wipe out a people, a nation? You were led by a madman, don't ever forget that, and don'tyou dare equate the SS with the Allies. Wake up after 65 years!!!

  • @bronxboy1952 I wouldn't be so proud of the Allies, they have done as much damage as the other side in WW I and II, and much more since.

    All lives lost should be mourned equally as they were all misleaded and manipulated with patriotism.

    Killing in the name of anything and anyone is stupidity and blindness, and that is still happening all over the world.

    The madman who led them wasn't the sole leader responsible for the war, no leader was innocent.

    Perhaps it is you who needs waking up.

  • Talk about being in left field, or left out, or maybe dead from the neck up! ?Are you really that stupid to believe what you wrote or do you just want to incite a little fire on my comments. You really nedto do some reading, and not necessarily from the left side of the world.

  • Right, tell that to all the victims of terrorism and brutal attacks by dictators and madmen who have a thirst for power.

  • Harry Patch, died this year, he was the last British soldier to survive world war one, He said , War was organised Murder, RIP to all who died in wars,

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  • given all the war poetry and god damn novels, the most accurate sentence about WW1 was said by Harry Patch;

    'the mud, that awful mud.'

  • @mealy777 any chance of what Harry patch said could be carved on his head stone he would have fought with my great grand dad who never returned im sure it would be the wish of all those who died in wars pick out a CONSTELLATION OF STARS AND WRITE IT UP THERE FOR ALL TO SEE just join the dots

  • ...but eternity knows them,,,, it knows what we've done...... 08/21/69 Cao Lanh VN semper fi my brothers..... doc

  • In honor of the fallen.

  • My son (USMC)spent two tours in Iraq after 9-11 and this song is so haunting for me. He came back safely......but a lot of sons did not. War truly is hell for those fighting and those waiting at home for them to return.

  • So glad to hear your son came back. I hope that all soldiers, serving in Iraq or Afghanistan come home safe!!

  • @dondex0710 and stop slaughter inoccent people by the us goverment, im from colombia and here is the same problem with the goverment soldier people only obey orders is sad and is reality but lets hope people wake up and stop this, the good people, is hard maybe an utopy but I know how you americans miss your sons that are only left like disposable soldiers toy in battlefield cause here's the same but with paramilitars and guerrillas here's the fucking problem,btw greeting wish you peace and love

  • @TheBrutalphoenix Your colombian, what do you know of being American and patriotic and protecting and fighting for something you believe in your country is the way it is because of the way you are and others just like you . I love America and it's government and the brave people it represents unlike you and your cowards

  • ondex, you are colombian ! What do you know of America and its people. We are of the brave and patriotic kind, we are not afraid to show are might for freedom and liberty and way of life. We are not afraid to lose are sons in the fight for freedom and the American way of life. We are who we are because we choose to be great, unlike you and your countries cowards and corrupters.

  • @scotch679 what an ignorant it seems you dont have idea how we all live and needs we have,all you know is what you get from the media , you mainstream fag .l.

  • @dondex0710 then vote for Ron Paul and spread the word .

    

  • @gf8675309 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  • @gf8675309 I am and always have been against war and I have nothing but respect for the ones that answer the call. But the politicians are the ones that create these wars.I dont want innocent people paying the price for a war that has no end.

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  • @gf8675309 And your artificial, rubbish of nations state lives on wars and lies like 9.11.

  • Wow. This is one of the most moving of his songs. It came up on one of my playlists and I went looking for a YouTube video to post on my lj. This one fit. It just... fit. I'm a Navy brat and The Grave always makes me cry. This video fit. I can't give any higher praise.

  • this song is beautiful yet very sad still i love it.

  • thanks for this beautiful tribute to the folly of war that men seem never to grow tired of...

  • The Grave is one of Don's very best songs. His songs don't get much better than this. Excellent song and video montage.

  • Great song.

  • Exactly! And so the millions will continue to die for all the causes they know nothing about and again and again the very few will benefit for political, monetary and the lust for power. I guess things will never change....being what homo sapiens are!

  • Second video I've seen centered around this song tonight and it does bring back memories.

  • I cant believe how similar this is to the film I made. Its slow to star with but you will see after about 4 mins. I made my film in 2006.

  • that's a very well-done slideshow to what might just be the best war protest song ever written.

  • Thankyou. This is relevant even more than ever. Sad isn't it?

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