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Going Home: Music From Potter's Field Vol II

by Joe Solo

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    £5 from sale of this album will be donated to helping feed and house the homeless of Greater Manchester.

    CD version of 'Going Home: Music From Potter's Field Vol II' with 8-page booklet, in shrink-wrapped jewel case.

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  • Full Digital Discography

    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. , and , .

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1.
Going Home 02:59
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
2.
Sally Jones 02:59
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
The Promise 05:26
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
8.
Fags 03:46
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
9.
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
10.
The Good Fight (free) 04:45
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
11.
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

about

Vol II of Joe Solo's acclaimed 'Potter's Field' collection, following the lives of First World War soldiers as they journey back home and try to pick up the pieces of the lives they left behind.

Vol I is also available on Bandcamp if you scroll down the Discography to the right of this page, as is the audio version of the accompanying book 'Stories From Potter's Field Vol I'.

A book to accompany 'Going Home' will be launched in the Spring, and the audio will follow.

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released January 1, 2012

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.
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