Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914) Lyrics
Um, right, meaning. Well, it's about World War I. The guy was a Butcher, and became a soldier because of a preacher who gave an inspiring sermon, and now he obviously regrets it.
Chris White wrote this song and also sings it, which is kind of unusual. Colin Blunstone wanted to sing it but didn't like it the at the time it came out. An influence to the song was '1941 New York Mining Disaster' by the Bee Gees. The original title should have been 'Western Front 1916' but it was misprinted as 'Western Front 1914' on the album. 1916 is when the battle took place during the first world war. As a single, this song bombed unfortunately.
This is the best war protest song ever written by far.
The reasoning behind this statement is it is through the eyes of the soldier who is traumatized by the horrors of war.
The most relevant line, especially in today's world, is "If the preacher he could see those flies Wouldn't preach for the sound of guns." Many people who support war and conflict are usually old politicians and media personal who are not the ones being sent to fight and neither are their children. That is why if there were a draft, no one would suppport war unless it was absolutely necessary.
War is horrific and no one should have to be victim to its horrors.
This song is obvioously about WWI after he read "All Quiet on The Western Front" and how you can get a false sense of happiness to compensate for such a terrible experience.
A very artistic style of songwriting when it comes to the melody; it's on it's way to being one of my favorite songs.
definitely about WWI, due to the name of the song.
Since this song is about World War I soldier, the parts with the line “My arms won’t stop shaking” are definitely referencing shell shock, the form of post-traumatic stress disorder that many WWI soldiers suffered from. One of the symptoms of shell shock is shaking. You can see what I mean in this video: https://youtu.be/IWHbF5jGJY0 Also, I learned that barbed wite was a common tactic in WWI. Here’s the information I found on that: During World War I, barbed wire was used for both defensive purposes and as a trapping mechanism. Soldiers would defend their trenches with barbed wire by installing the barbed wire a distance away on the ground from the tops of their trenches. When used as a trap, artillery and gun fire were sometimes used specifically to direct enemy soldiers into already constructed barbed wire snares. Source: National Museum of the United States Air Force
So the butcher’s friend likely got caught in an enemy barbed wire trap.
The first time I heard this song I was like, "GAY TO THE EXTREME" then suddenly after a couple of listens I was like, "I SAY, QUITE GOOD!"