What a lovely war

Oh! What a Lovely War! is best known today as the title of Richard Attenborough’s 1969 film that used popular songs of the First World War to depict the pointless waste of war.  The film’s title came from a song written in 1917 by J. P. Long and Maurice Scott:  “Somewhat satirical it quickly established itself as a soldier’s favourite.”*  In the original music hall tune (which can be heard at this link), a soldier sings,

When does a soldier grumble?  When does he make a fuss?
No one is more contented in all the world than us.
Oh it’s a cushy life, boys, really we love it so:
Once a fellow was sent on leave and simply refused to go.

Chorus:

Oh, oh, oh it’s a lovely war.
Who wouldn’t be a soldier, eh?  Oh it’s a shame to take the pay.
As soon as reveille has gone we feel just as heavy as lead,
but we never get up till the sergeant brings our breakfast up to bed.
Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war.

One year before the British music hall song was penned, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire wrote the short poem “L’adieu du cavalier.” Its first line, translated in English, reads, “Oh God! What a lovely war.”

The Cavalier’s Farewell	L’adieu du cavalier
Oh God! What a lovely war With its hymns its long leisure hours I have polished and polished this ring The wind with your sighs is mingling Farewell! The trumpet call is sounding He disappeared down the winding road And died far off while she Laughed at fate’s surprises.	Ah Dieu ! que la guerre est jolie Avec ses chants ses longs loisirs Cette bague je l'ai polie Le vent se mêle à vos soupirs Adieu ! voici le boute-selle Il disparut dans un tournant Et mourut là-bas tandis qu'elle Riait au destin surprenant
—Guillaume Apollinaire,                   trans. by Anne Hyde Greet

Martin Sorrell, Emeritus Professor of French at Exeter University, argues unlike the music hall tune, the first line of “A Cavalier’s Farewell” isn’t ironic at all, but rather speaks of “two opposite and simultaneous truths.” Sorrell asks us to recognize that Apollinaire’s “amazing gift was to embrace opposites within a single poem, a single stanza, even a single line.”**

As the soldier says goodbye to his home and his lover, the poem holds in tension the war’s beginning and its aftermath, as well as the widely differing experiences of men and women. War is both hushed and shrill, leisurely and demanding, glorious and tragic – and perhaps above all, entirely unpredictable.

Those wishing to learn more about Apollinaire’s war poetry may enjoy previous posts on this blog:  “Nothing Much” and “Post Card.” (The photo at the right was taken during the war of Apollinaire and Madeleine Pagès.)

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* “Vintage Audio: Oh! It’s a Lovely War,” firstworldwar.com.

** Martin Sorrell, “Ah Dieu! Apollinaire. 9 November 1918” Fortnightly Review, http://fortnightlyreview.co.uk/2011/11/ah-dieu-apollinaire-9-november-1918/, posted 9 Nov. 2011.