Get all 46 Joe Solo releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Farewell Hatfield Main, Sledgehammer Songs, Twenty From Twenty, Answer Machine/See You When I Get There, These Are My People, Fight The Good Fight Club Revisited, Upstairs At Park Street, Collected, and 38 more.
1. |
Going Home
02:59
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I'm going home, boys
I'm going home
I'm going home, boys
I'm going home
I'm going home, boys
I'm going home
No more to war will e're I roam
This cattle truck, boys
Is a First Class train
This cattle truck, boys
Is a First Class train
This cattle truck, boys
Is a First Class train
This dixie water is fine champagne
There's plenty of good men
Died in Flanders mud
There's plenty of good men
Died in Flanders mud
There's plenty of good men
Died in Flanders mud
There's fields out here, boys
Of flesh and blood
I'm going home, boys
I'm going home
I'm going home, boys
I'm going home
I'm going home, boys
I'm going home
No more to war will e're I roam
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY JOE SOLO
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2. |
Sally Jones
02:59
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I’m done with my rifle
And my old tin lid
I don’t look much like a soldier now
But then I’m guessing that I never did
Tell mother I made it home
Now look out Waggon & Horses
And look out Sally Jones
Goodbye Captain Aimless
And farewell Sergeant Froom
I never see your faces again, boys
And it’ll be too soon
Tell mother I made it home
Now look out Waggon & Horses
And look out Sally Jones
My Sally Jones
My Sally Jones
My Sally Jones
My Sally Jones
I made it out of the trenches
At times it was a rocky ride
I’ve been got at and yelled at
And shot at and shelled at
But I made it out the other side
Tell mother I made it home
Now look out Waggon & Horses
And look out Sally Jones
My Sally Jones
My Sally Jones
My Sally Jones
My Sally Jones
Look out Sally
I’m going to marry you
My Sally Jones
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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3. |
Mrs Matthew Duffy
05:28
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Matthew I come here every Monday
I have done for all these years
In the Memorial Gardens it's quiet
Only the wind in the trees to see my tears
I waited
I waited
For you to come back to me
All I ever wanted to be
Was Mrs Matthew Duffy
Matthew your name's here under your brother's
Carved in a block of stone
They all used to come here- mothers and lovers
But nowadays I'm here all on my own, my love
I waited
I waited
For you to come back to me
All I ever wanted to be
Was Mrs Matthew Duffy
Matthew I read your letters this morning
Took me back eighty years
Mud on the pages, written in trenches
And smudged by a young girl's worried tears, my love
I waited
I waited
For you to come back to me
All I ever wanted to be
Was Mrs Matthew Duffy
Matthew, it's me, I'm still Sarah Mercer
I pray for the moment when
I get to close my eyes for the last time
And run to your open arms again, my love
I waited
I waited
For you to come back to me
All I ever wanted to be
Was Mrs Matthew Duffy
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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4. |
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I'll tell them that I stood there in the trenches every day
Cos every pretty girl she loves a soldier
How I'd pick them off until they all turned round and ran away
Cos every pretty girl she loves a soldier
I won't tell them that I really spent the war
Wheeling barrows round a store
And when I'd finished... wheel some more
And count the days away, or
How I was happy with my lot
There was the one time that I got
A little muddy playing football
I'll tell them how in uniform, well, I cut quite a dash
Cos every pretty girl she loves a soldier
How I'd sneek behind the German lines and tweek the Kaiser's tache
Cos every pretty girl she loves a soldier
I won't tell them that my Daddy pulled some strings
And had me stationed in the wings
Away from any of such things
And made the war a stranger
Or how I never had a gun
Or walked into that July sun
I never was in any danger
But every pretty girl she loves a soldier
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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5. |
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There's a thousand or more of us here, Jack
And in our own way we're all
Just seeking some solace in
Trying to talk to a wall.
I know you're not here, Jack.
It's just a list of names.
But it's the closest I've got
To being able to stand at your grave.
There must be a dozen J. Carpenters here,
You're in good company.
There was a time I wished, Jack
One of them was me
You wouldn't recognise Wipers now,
It's come back from the dead.
The guns are long silent now....
Except the ones in my head.
Mother, she couldn't make it.
We buried her back in June.
It broke her heart, Jack
The day that she heard about you.
There must be a dozen J.Carpenters here,
You're in good company.
There was a time I wished, Jack
One of them was me
Christ, I miss my big brother.
I've tried to walk in your shoes.
I don't care how long it takes them to find you, Jack,
I'll be there when they do.
"Fight the good fight" you once told me,
As we trudged home in the rain.
I swear I'll never give up, Jack,
Not while there's blood in my veins.
There must be a dozen J.Carpenters here,
You’re in good company
I just wanted you to know, Jack
None of them are me
There must be a dozen J.Carpenters here,
And it's just one little town.
I've got to live for us both now,
And Jack I won't let you down.
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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6. |
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Has anybody here seen Billy?
Has anybody seen our Pete?
I met them with me Dad at the station
But then I lost them out on Paragon Street
Me Dad, well he'll be buying them whisky
And they'll be roaring drunk by now I know
And I'll always be the son that never got to fire a gun
Because I was too young to go.
Has anybody here seen Billy?
He'll have a pretty girl on each arm
Regaling them with tales of the trenches
They'll be unable to resist his charm
Me Dad and Pete will sit there smiling
Just like they're punters at some West End show
And I'll always be the son that never got to fire a gun
Because I was too young to go.
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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7. |
The Promise
05:26
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I've done my years Hard Labour now
In a cell here on my own
And I've lost the use of my left hand
Where the guards broke every bone
Now Jimmy died inside his cell
But a free man anyhow
He grinned and told them: 'Do your worst'
And they cannot hurt him now
He knew what he believed in
And he stood by what was right
And he would not take their rifle
No, he would not fight
I squint into the sunlight now
As I step into the street
If this is your big victory
Then how come all I see is defeat?
From the sewn up jacket elbows
And those heroes being wheeled out
To the trembling and the twitching
No-one talks about
He knew what he believed in
And he stood by what was right
And he would not take their rifle
No, he would not fight
You all call me The Coward now
You can barely speak my name
But I made a promise to a friend
That he would not die in vain
So go ask Father Kendrick now
Because I know he'll understand
Why you never make a martyr
Of a righteous man
He knew what he believed in
And he stood by what was right
And he would not take their rifle
No, he would not fight
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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8. |
Fags
03:46
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My name is Gilbert Hartley
And I strolled out on the Somme
With me pals one sunny morning
But in a flash me pals were gone
And I lay there in that meadow
As me life passed afore me eyes
And I heard the birds a-singing
And I thought I was going to die
Now I saw me leg were mangled
But I framed up and I dragged
Meself into a shellhole
Where I felt down for me fags
Well the stretcher bearers told me
And I swear that this is true
'When we saw that pall of smoke Gil
Why we knew that it were you!"
Now me leg were all but done for
Dr Scalpel took it clean
And he left me there a-lying
In the arms of sweet morphine
Now me warring days were over
But me story isn't through
Cos they shelled that CCS
And I lost the other bugger too
Now I though me life were over
And I meant to end it there
When some Tommy passed a Woodbine
And sat by me on a chair
And we talked of Hull and Halifax
And my Mary there alone
By the time I stubbed that fag out
I knew I was going home
Now me children all of children
And as I watch them scamper round
I think none of them would be here
If they'd laid me in the ground
And I've thought and thought about it
And I swear it on me life
There's them who'll say they kill you
But it's fags that saved me life!
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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9. |
Mary's Prayer
03:27
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I so wish Joe was home tonight.
He'd pull me close and hold me tight,
And leave my troubles far behind me.
He's got a way of making everything alright,
And I so wish Joe was home tonight.
He's in the cinders in the grate,
He's in the hinges on the gate,
And he's in that potting shed on Sundays.
He's in these letters in this box beside the bed,
But I so wish Joe was home instead.
He's got a way of making everything alright,
And I so wish Joe was home tonight.
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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10. |
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Me Da sat and stared at the fireplace,
At the flames burning steady and slow.
Truth is, me Da had never been the same,
Since we got the news about Joe.
It was one of those nights when it's raining so hard,
That it's bouncing a foot off the floor.
The wind howled around down the tenements,
And there came a knock at the door
Me Da looked to Mam and me Mam she looked back,
Da he grunted and then he got up.
'Who could that be at this time of night?'
Me Da said: 'I'd best have a look'.
The door it swung open and there stood a girl,
Raven black hair running wild,
In one hand she carried a music box,
In the other she carried a child.
'I'm sorry to trouble you Mr Carter,
But my name is Jenny Laidlowe.
My Mam and Dad they won't have me now,
And I was a friend of your Joe'
Me Da well he stood there in silence a second,
Just staring down there at her lad.
'This little man here's your Grandson, sir.
I called him 'Joe' after his Dad'
It was 'Come on in, Jenny, oh, come on in!'
'Molly make us an hot pot of tea!'
'Lenny, get Jenny some dry clothes, son!'
'Jenny sit by the fire with me'.
Me Da looked at Mam and me Mam she looked back,
With a faint little trace of a smile.
'This little man has his Daddy's eyes,
Do you mind if I hold him a while?'
Big tears welled up in my Father's eyes,
He said: 'It's just like you've brought back my son.
And we'll fight the good fight for this baby, Love,
Cos that's just what our Joe would have done'.
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY
JOE SOLO
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11. |
My Dearest Sarah
04:11
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My Dearest Sarah
I hope this letter finds you well.
There's so much I want to tell,
But there's so little time.
I find that I can't even make words rhyme.
Is that some kind of sign?
Or maybe just the thump and whine
Of the front line....
If you're reading this it means I'm dead.
Something Harry Briggs once said,
Keeps running round and round,
Inside my head now.
'If you've got to die then pray it's quick,
And over in a second ticking by without you'.
I love you, Sarah,
And I always have.
And though my earthly heart be stilled,
Never fear, my love,
I always will.
Forever yours
Matthew
WORDS AND MUSIC
B
JOE SOLO
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Joe Solo Scarborough, UK
Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from
Scarborough.
Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.
He is not an artist you forget in a hurry.
... more
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