To mark Armistice Day, Ralph McTell has released a Centenary edition single of ‘The Unknown Soldier’ which features The Southbank Sinfonia and was Produced and Arranged by Graham Preskett. On the song, he is joined by Sir Billy Connolly, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Liam Neeson.
“I believe the funeral of The Unknown Soldier is one of the most profoundly moving ceremonies ever conducted. It took place in 11 / 11/ 1920 and was attended by thousands who stood in reverent silence as the coffin was paraded through the streets of London on a gun carriage, drawn by six black horses. The king walked behind the cortege, the bereaved families of those lost in the terrible carnage of WW1 had a fitting and deeply affecting acknowledgement by the state, of the sacrifice of thousands of young men whose bodies had no known graves”
All proceeds from sales of the single will be donated to the Royal British Legion, the country’s largest Armed Forces charity, with 235,000 members, 110,000 volunteers and a network of partners and charities; helping to give support wherever and whenever it’s needed.
Buy the single here: https://www.ralphmctell.co.uk/shop/the-unknown-soldier-audio/
and/or donate via the Royal British Legion website here: https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/ways-to-give/donate
The Unknown Soldier
More than fifty thousand names
Are carved on Ypres’ Menin gate
Of soldiers who have no known graves
Just their destiny and date
Witness and last testament
Name and rank and regiment
Is now all that survives
From so many squandered lives
And for every name inscribed
The poor bereaved were left to mourn
The passing of all those who died
With no white cross on tended lawn
No place to go to contemplate
The sacrifice this wicked waste
No footprint left to show where once they trod
Allegedly known unto god
From Ypres Arras Aisne and Somme
Six unknown soldiers were exhumed
A blindfold general picked one man
And reverently they brought him home
Six black horses drew the hearse
Through silent London crowds immersed
In deepest thought belief or wishful prayer
That it might be their own boy there
The metal tyres on the carriage wheels
Played the tuneless requiem
The sky as grey as bayonet steel
Above the sombre hatless men
One more enemy to kill
That remaining sense of guilt
That through it all somehow they had survived
Returned to mothers sweethearts wives
Familiar streets their own backyards
Their medals and all praise ignored
Relieved to be his honour guard
And walk with him their true reward
While far from pomp and circumstance
Across the autumn fields of France
The trenches start to slowly fill and fade
The bloody page turned by the ploughman’s blade
Thankfully we’ll never know
If he was constant strong or frail
Scared or brave in equal parts
Country tanned or city pale
A carefree youth or thoughtful lad
Not wholly good or wholly bad
A bomb does not judge how you played your part
A bullet stops a lions heart
With softest cloth and gentlest broom
To sweep and wipe cathedral dust
Like dried tears from this marble tomb
Take care for he was one of us
In perfect irony and grief
The bride’s bouquet becomes a wreath
And wrapped beneath dark angels folded wings
Tommy Atkins rests with kings
Ralph McTell is one of Britain’s most respected and best-loved singer/songwriters. His career dates back to the mid-1960s folk boom when, influenced by American bluesmen such as Big Bill Broonzy and the Reverend Gary Davies, he gained a reputation as a skilled finger-style guitarist. To this day, he remains one of UK’s finest acoustic players and singer song writers. His career has now spanned over 49 years – and marches on at a pace.
As well as the great American Bluesmen, McTell sites artists such as Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie as major influences, having a huge impact on his life then, and continuing to do so today. Best known for ‘Streets of London, the million-selling worldwide hit, Ralph McTell has written over 300 songs – his writing has earned him the Ivor Novello Award and a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award.
McTell continues to write, record and tour, throughout the UK and internationally too. This December will mark his 70th Birthday – which he will celebrate with family, friends, and most importantly his fans – at a sold out show at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London –
Ralph is a “writer” – of songs, of books and poetry – and all the diverse threads that he, as a writer and performing artist, has woven together, over the years, have created what the British public accept today as a “national treasure”.
Ralph McTell’s website: https://www.ralphmctell.co.uk/