This extensive collection of soldiers’ songs was collected and arranged while on active service during the First World War and first published in October 1917. The songs bristle with camaraderie, irreverence and poignancy.
The social history and cultural significance of the book was fully realised in the hands of Charles Chilton in 1961 in his groundbreaking BBC Radio 4 documentary ‘The long, long trail’ which told the story of the First World War through soldiers’ songs; they are vital sources which allow us to glimpse how those who endured lived, fought and remembered their wartime years.
A significant and entertaining selection in which we see that the men of the BEF and RFC/RAF were confronting the prospect of their deaths, using humour and song as an acceptable mode of release.