> Eliza Carthy > Songs > I Wish That the Wars Were All Over

I Wish That the Wars Were All Over

[ Roud 2036 ; Ballad Index OpGap129 ; VWML SBG/1/2/827 ; Bodleian Roud 2036 ; trad.]

Tish Stubbs sang I Wish That the Wars Were All Over in 1977 on her and Sam Richards’ Saydisc album Invitation to North America. They noted:

Another song from the time of the Wars of Independence. This one comes from a Dartmoor miner Sam Fone—an old man when Baring-Gould collected the song from him in 1893. At one time a well sung song, it seems to have died out a little. At least, it doesn’t appear in many collections. The background to this one is similar to that of Paul Jones. Polly laments the absence of her lover in a war that few people identified with. Nevertheless daily work carries on. Refusal of a stranger’s advances and the spirited declaration to dress as a soldier and seek her lover are stock formulae, but woven together by a graceful tune they make an A.1 song—part love song part protest.

Roy Harris sang I Would That the Wars Were All Done on the 1979 Fellside album The Rambling Soldier. This track was also included in 1992 on the Fellside anthology of English traditional songs, Voices. Paul Adams commented in the latter album’s notes:

The tradition has a fair stock of jingoistic songs but this one finds the folk getting closer to reality with a heartfelt longing for peace. The song appears to belong to the latter half of the eighteenth century. It was collected by Rev. Baring-Gould towards the end of the nineteenth century.

Helen Hockenhull sang I Would That the Wars Were All Over, “from Roy Palmer’s book The Rambling Soldier”, on Muckram Wakes’ 1980 album Warbles, Jangles and Reeds.

Tim Eriksen sang I Wish the Wars Were All Over in 2001 on his eponymous Appleseed album, Tim Eriksen. He noted on the preceding song of that album:

I made the music, but the story comes from a manuscript of favourite popular songs written down by an American named Timothy Connor while he was imprisoned in Plymouth, England during the Revolution. [George G. Carey, A Sailor’s Songbag: An American Rebel in an English Prison, 1777–79]

and on this song:

It sometimes seems like the best words have been worn out through use, and I’m reluctant to tire them further. Then, sometimes, the simplest and most exhausted words and themes appear in a light that pierces. There’s something in this song.

Last summer I had a very clear and terrifying vision of being forced to choose between my life and the life of a friend—being forced to identify along some line we might never have thought of before—the religions of our grandparents for example. Do you know the religion of your friends’ grandparents? Do you think about it a lot? The song’s stock characters and lack of specifics are real in ways contemporary writings on war rarely are, for all their titillating detail. Newspapers say horror is “out there” happening to “them”. I think this song says “it’s here”.

I made the tune, and made the words out of scraps, the biggest of which is, again, from Connor. I spent more time trying to write about it than I did recording the whole CD.

Eliza Carthy & The Ratcatchers (Jon Boden, Ben Ivitsky and John Spiers) sang I Wish That the Wars Were All Over at Buxton Opera House in 2007:

She wrote on Mudcat in December 2008 that the words are mostly from Roy Palmer’s book The Rambling Soldier, and that this song would appear on the next Waterson:Carthy album, which sadly didn’t appear.

Jon Boden sang I Wish That the Wars Were All Over as the 3 July 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

The Askew Sisters sang I Wish the Wars Were All Over in 2014 on their RootBeat CD In the Air or the Earth. They noted:

Another song full of natural imagery is I Wish the Wars Were All Over. In many ways it’s a non-political anti-war song, telling the story of those left behind in times of conflict. At first it appears to be a typical pastoral song, but the literal images of flowers and nature start to become metaphors for the woman’s absent lover sent to war; she is left powerless so the plucks flowers, tangible thing from her environment, and uses their symbolism to cross the boundary into his unreachable world.

Versions of this song date back to at least the 1700s,but it is timeless that could apply to many periods of conflict. The tune we sing is based on the one collected by Sabine Baring-Gould from Sam Fone of Mary Tavy, Devon, in 1893. Our text is again assembled from many different versions and Hazel reworked and rewrote some of the lines.

Andy Turner sang I Wish That the Wars Were All Over as the 19 April 2015 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.

Moira Craig and Carolyn Robson sang I Would That the Wars Were All Over on their 2016 CD Both Sides the Tweed. They noted:

The tradition has a fair stock of jingoistic songs but this one finds folk getting closer to reality with a heartfelt longing for peace. The song appears to belong to the latter half of the 18^th century and was collected by Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould towards the end of the 19^th century.

Lyrics

Helen Hockenhull sings I Would That the Wars Were All Over

In the meadow one morning when pearly with dew
A fair pretty maiden plucked violets so blue,
I heard a sweet voice making all the woods ring -
Oh my love is in Flanders to fight for the king
And I would that the wars were all over
Oh I would that the wars were all done.

I’ll pluck the red robin so jaunty and gay,
Yet I have my Robin but he’s far away.
His jacket is red and his cheeks as the rose
And he sings of his Nell as to battle he goes.
And I would that the wars were all over
Oh I would that the wars were all done.

Ten thousands of bluebells now welcome the spring
Oh when will the church bells the victory ring
And the soldiers return and all England rejoice?
Oh then I’ll be wed to the lad of my choice.
And I would that the wars were all over
Oh I would that the wars were all done.

(repeat first verse)

Tim Eriksen sings I Wish the Wars Were All Over

Down by deep water where sweet linden stand
I saw pretty Polly wringing her hands.
The song that she sung made the whole grove to ring,
My Billy has left me to fight for a king
And I wish the wars were all over.

I stood in amaze to hear what she said,
I’ll follow my Billy whether living or dead.
The notes that she sung were the nightingale’s notes,
How the lark and the linnet they warble their throats,
And I wish the wars were all over.

I said my dear Polly if you’ll stay with me
I’ll make you as happy as happy can be.
No then she said that never can be,
I’ll never be happy til my Billy I see
And I wish the wars were all over.

Now from my parents I’ll haste and away
I’ll dress myself out in a young man’s array.
And every company that I pass by
I’ll ask for my Billy or where he does lie
And I wish the wars were all over.

Eliza Carthy sings I Wish That the Wars Were All Over

In the meadow one morning when pearly with dew
A fair pretty maiden she plucked violets blue,
And I heard a clear voice making all the woods ring -
My love he’s in Flanders to fight for the king.
How I wish that the wars were all over
I wish that the wars were all done.

I’ll pluck the red robin so jaunty and gay.
Well I had my robin but he flew far away.
His little jacket was red and his cheeks as the rose
How he sings of his girl as to battle he goes.
How I wish that the wars were all over
I wish that the wars were all done.

Ten thousand of bluebells now welcome the spring
Oh when will the church bells of this victory ring
When do our soldiers return, when do we rejoice
And when do I wed to the love of my choice
How I wish that the wars were all over
I wish that the wars were all done.