“GO TELL THE SPARTANS” aka PAVANE, Opus 50 by Gabriel Faure, new lyrics by Joel Sattler

New title: “GO TELL THE SPARTANS, a song for World War I”

Before the War

Before our martyrdom

Before the world became undone

There was a place

A moment and a time

When love and faith were intertwined

Before the fall

Before the millions died

A man could be a man with pride

But when he’s killed

Some one with his bare hands

He knows his soul is surely damned

It’s not enough

To give a child up to the war

You know deep at heart

The Gods will always ask for more

O no, it’s not enough

O no, it’s not enough

Don’t ask what all is for

Cause you know

- use to grieve

No use to still believe

We all are puppets on their strings

We are just pawns

They say to carry on

They don’t believe in anything

Before the dawn

Before all hope is gone 

Over the top and into fate

We have no choice

This is our only voice

No other path it is too late

[start again]

The reason why

Is simply fight and die

But don’t expect a single thing

The debt of blood

Is paid in bones and mud

Barbed wire cold and suffering

And when we’re gone

The war will still go on

The struggle never seems to end

Do what you do

For the man next to you

Your fellow grunt’s your only friend

So fade to white

You must surrender to the night

And make sacrifice

Although this is your only life

Cause death comes to us all

It can not be forestalled

No one deserves to die

But we do 

Into the breach

Or up the hill or beach

The enemy prepared to burn

Triumph defeat

Are always out of reach

So history repeats unlearned

And so at last

When all has come to pass

Go tell the Spartans passerby

That here we tried

And it was here we died 

Obedient to their laws, we lie

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First draft:

Before the War

Before our martyrdom

Before the world became undone

There was a place

A moment and a time

When love and hope were intertwined

Before the fall

Before the millions died

A man could be a man with pride

But when he’s killed

A friend with his bare hands

He knows his soul is surely damned

Who was at fault

Who was it who decides

That nations hear the call to arms

Who hears the call

Ignoring mothers’ cries

To take the field and come to harm

It’s not enough

To give a child to war

The Gods will always ask for more

It’s not enough

To give all that you can

The war goes on through the last man

No use to grieve

No use to still believe

You’re still a puppet on a string

You are a pawn

They say to carry on

They don’t believe in anything

The debt of blood

Is paid in bones and mud

Barbed wire cold and suffering

The reason why

Is simply fight and die

But don’t expect an angel’s wings

We’ll go to Hell

We’re here for just a spell

Cause Heaven’s full of hypocrites

Still we must fight

We have no wrong or right

Our only goal is get through it

Before the dawn

The charge set to go on

Over the top and into fate

We have no choice

This is our only voice

No other path it is too late

They’ll come a time

They’ll pay for all their crimes

After the bells have finally rung

When we are dust

If there is justice must

And all the generals are hung

How did it start

How did we get so low

Or do we really want to know

What did we do

To make this Hell come true

And could we stop it if we knew

Into the breach

Or up the hill or beach

The enemy is out of reach

Triumph defeat

So history repeats

If we win or we are beat

Welcome to Hell

Here no one means you well

Your best bet is to end up dead

Look at your hands

Remember your commands

You are a slave to what they said

It’s always night

When bombs are dropping day

You haven’t even time to pray

It’s never right

No matter what they say

But still you fight on anyway

And when you’re gone

The war will still go on

The struggle never seems to end

Do what you do

For the man next to you

Your fellow grunt’s your only friend

So fade to white

Surrender to the night

Although it is your only life

And don’t be scared

In the end no one will be spared

And death comes to us all

It cannot be forestalled

And we all deserve to die

You must remember why this happened

You can’t forget our sacrifices

This cannot be for simply nothing

It has to have meant something

Or why o why did we do it for

You must believe twas not a mystery

Put these few words into your history:

“Go tell the Spartans, passersby,

That here, obedient to their laws, we died

And now here in peace we lie.”

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My version is based on a very simple and elegant performance

by Sian Fenn on flute and Craig Lake on guitar,

which is only twelve verses long:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqrwbBVtW0o 

In my version, I have ignored the original choral version,

and am following the melody line of the flute in the above.

My version is 24 verses long,

twice as long as the Fenn Lake version,

so if you want to both listen and read,

play the youtube video twice. 

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