FAWM: "Anthem for a Doomed Poet"

Anthem for a Doomed Poet

2 weeks ago by @berni1954

Liner Notes

This week's "Seasons of the Ukulele Challenge" offers the theme of "Letters" to the songwriters in the group. That was my inspiration to write this tribute to one of my favourite poets.

There is one letter that nobody ever wants to get: the telegram informing you of the death of a loved one. This song imagines the reception of such a missive by the poet Wilfred Owen's mother on 11th November 1918. On that day, the whole world was celebrating the end of the war, but, as the crowds cheered, she was about to learn that her son had been killed exactly a week previously in one of the last skirmishes of the war. His War Poetry would go on to become world famous and we can only speculate as to what he might have produced if he had not been killed so close to the end of the conflict.

PS The version in the subtitles is the correct one. I ballsed up two lines. But I haven't time to redo the video.

Lyrics

(Am) The bells were ringing in (G) Shrewsbury town
For the end of a four year (Am) war
Among those waiting for (G) news of their sons
Was Susan (F) Owen, (G) née (Am) Shaw
The (Dm) joyous crowds (Am) out in the streets
(Dm) Cheered as the band be(Am)gan
Susan's smile disap(G)peared from her face
With the ar(F)rival (G) of the (Am) Postman

(Am) A telegram is (G) seldom good news
And this was to prove no ex(Am)ception
She shuddered as she (G) opened the door
The (F) postman (G) fearing his re(Am)ception
"We (Dm) regret to inform you that (Am) Wilfred your son
Last (Dm) week was killed in (Am) action"
Susan just stood there (G) in the hall
The (F) postman (G) used to that re(Am)action

(Am) One week! Just one week, her (G) son might have lived
And hostilities would have (Am) ceased
Then she could have joined the (G) cheering crowds
(F) Cele(G)brating the (Am) peace
She (Dm) read the telegram (Am) over again
As (Dm) if that could change its im(Am)port
The postman asked if he could (G) tell someone
Who could come (F) by and (G) offer sup(Am)port

(Am) There can be few more (G) painful events
Than the loss of your first (Am) born
Susan's other sons and her (G) daughter
Eased the (F) grief as (G) on she (Am) mourned
Like (Dm) thousands of mothers (Am) like her
She knew be(Dm)reavement was war's (Am) cost
It would be years till poetry (G) lovers
Learned the (F) depth of the (G) treasure we'd (Am) lost

Comments

@fearlessflight2014 1w

You have the rare ability to write something timeless, and capture a story in a historic setting. I do not have these abilities and I admire them greatly!

@johnkaniecki 1w

The war to end all wars was it? I'm sick of war it's mankind's greatest blight. It'll bring sad songs like this for many more years. This song is as fine as any previously offered.

@janeg 1w

Numbers are all very well but it’s human stories like this that bring home the horror of war. If modern leaders had to send their children to the front, surely there would be fewer wars.

@thedutchwidows 2w

A really heartfelt and evocative song, performed beautifully. And I love your hat. I wish I could pull off a hat that well!

@odilongreen 2w

Lovely, and tragic. It's small stories of individuals like this, rather than grand and epic statements or dry reporting of incomprehensible numbers, that really convey the scale of horror and loss from war. This cuts deep, and powerfully.

@robinleaf 2w

What a gorgeous, sorrowful story song. Wonderful lyrics, music, storytelling, everything! I love it. I always find stories like these to be especially sad, when soldiers are killed right before, or even after, a war is officially over.

@jonmeta 2w

This is a powerful and sympathetic reimagining of the home front side of the story. Reading the telegram over hoping it will be different this time; wow, that hits hard. It has always seemed like such a cruel twist to have been lost so close to the end. I've sometimes wondered about who might have been killed in the final bombardment at 10.55 on 11th November, and how absurd and senseless.
Don't know how well Owen's memorial is kept now, but we visited many years ago and it seemed a bit abandoned.

@williamjames 2w

This sounds like a folk song with decades of tradition behind it. Really well done. I could write a lot but will just be content in saying I thoroughly enjoyed this.

@coolparadisoMod 2w

You are very versatile but for me this is where the light shines brightest. My fave style of yours! I would listen to an album of these! I particularly have interest in WW1. This is excellent mate!

@acousticmaddie 2w

Oh Im back in Limerick in the crowded bar waiting for my Guiness. This is my favourite so far

@sunnymae 2w

Wonderful hear you Berni. It takes a great poet and storyteller to give each of these dreaded moments their due respect.
This is stoic and heart wrenchingly beautiful both at the same time..

@richardmasters 2w

Hi Berni, I'll send you the prompt when I'm home after work.

@cmharwood89 2w

This sounds like it should be a folk standard.

Exquisite, melancholy uke picking!

@billwhite51 2w

a mournful requiem for a stellar poet who died way too soon. excellent choice for the point of view and how the sorrow was intensified by the joy others were feeling in those historical moments. the music was perfect and you singing suitable respectable to the memory of the deceased and his family.