The Recruiting Sergeant
Bob Hallett's Canadian version of the traditional Scottish ballad "Twa Recruiting Sergeants." Hallett's version adapts the Scottish song to record the tragic loss of many young Newfoundlanders in WWI. Here's a link that discusses this regional variant:
http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/...
Two recruiting sergeants came to the CLB,
For the sons of the merchants to join the Blue Puttees;
So all hands enlisted, five hundred young men,
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.
They crossed the broad Atlantic in the brave Florizel,
On the sands of Suvla, they entered into hell;
And on those bloody beaches, the first of them fell,
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.
And it's over the mountains and over the sea,
Come, brave Newfoundlanders, and join The Blue Puttees;
You'll fight the Hun in Flanders, and at Gallipoli,
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.
The call came from London for the last July drive,
"To the trenches with the Regiment, prepare yourselves to die."
The roll call next morning, just a handful survived,
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.
And it's over the mountains and over the sea,
Come, brave Newfoundlanders, and join The Blue Puttees;
You'll fight the Hun in Flanders, and at Gallipoli,
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.
The store men on Water Street still cry for the day,
When the pride of their city went marching away;
A thousand men slaughtered to hear the King say,
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.
So it's over the mountains and over the sea,
Come, brave Newfoundlanders, and join The Blue Puttees;
You'll fight the Hun in Flanders, and at Gallipoli,
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.
So it's over the mountains and over the sea,
Come, brave Newfoundlanders, and join The Blue Puttees;
You'll fight the Hun in Flanders, and at Gallipoli,
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.
Enlist, you Newfoundlanders, and come follow me.