Dark Neuve Chapelle
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1953.237.B1
Original Tape ID
Summary
This song is a lament for the young men who died at Neuve Chappelle [a First World War battle]. The singer describes the wonderous hills of Scotland, but remarks in sorrow that "There's many an eye that would want to behold you / Is closed now for ever at Dark Neuve Chappelle." The well-tended, green-covered graves at home are contrasted with those of the fallen at Neuve Chappelle. The voices of the lads who fell there will never be heard again in the hills and dells, and no more will they return to "the land where your dying eyes looked as you fell".
Charlotte Higgins says that the song was written by soldiers in the trenches, with lines added one after the other by different men.
Item Notes
7 verses of 4 lines; the tape slips greatly during the first 2 verses.
'The Battle of Neuve-Chappelle and Artois', a failed British offensive, was fought between the 10th and 13th of March 1915.
Language
English
Genre
Collection
Classification
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Poor