Story Behind the Song
This was written by our great friend and fine drummer Vv Harris in response to war memorial inscription which simplyu read "To the world he was a soldier, to me he was the World"
Lyrics
In the muddy, gas-filled trenches within earshot of the foe,
Rolling his last cigarette before the call to up and go.
"It'll all be done by Christmas" he'd heard somebody say,
He laughed and didn't see the shell that took his life away.
Chorus
And now he's just a poppy in an overcoat lapel.
To the world he was a soldier. To me, he was the world.
In the rainforests of Burma, in the Russian snow he fought,
Through the white hot sands of Araby; under-armed and overwrought.
He cursed and swore and charged his way to the glory at the end,
To be buried with his comrades far from home and friends.
Chorus
And now he's just a poppy in an overcoat lapel.
To the world he was a soldier.
To me, he was the world.
And now in some other time and place they march in deathly pall,
With their columns growing longer with the soldiers that still fall,
And they'll march on through the universe with the dead of history,
But the wars go and that's what puzzles me.
Chorus
And now he's just a poppy in an overcoat lapel.
To the world he was a soldier.
To me, he was the world.
copyright Viv Harris
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