Meaning of the Song (lyrics and links): When The Whistle Blows

When The Whistle Blows.

Taken from a BBC archive.

Chorus - 

So think on all you know

for when that whistle blows, it's over we go.

I didn't write the song "When The Whistle Blows" for WWI Remembrance. I wrote it because a relative gave me a photograph of my grandfather in full officers uniform with my grandmother. I started to wonder what it was like to be a captain in the West Kents and how he earned the nickname "Mad Jack Kneafsey" in the trenches of WWI.

To see Sweeney Astray playing this live at Preston's Picnic in the Park summer 2013 click on the youtube link below (an amateur recording, it features Rob Kentell of the Susie Jones Band on mandolin).

http://youtu.be/RYpeMWSfVLE

A version was recorded by Rob Kentell at Sunnybank Studio around January 2014 and is available for a free listen on soundclound (click on the link below). This version features Katie Ritson on second vocal and piano and was commissioned by South Ribble Borough Council and Lancashire County Council for use in an educational film.

 https://soundcloud.com/mike-kneafsey…/when-the-whistle-blows

A Description of Going Over the Top:

An offensive would start with a huge onslaught of artillery fire on the enemy line. This was designed to break down barbed wire defences, blow gaps in the opposing trenches and kill enemy soldiers. On the commanding officer's whistle soldiers in the front line climbed 'over-the-top' and with bayonets at the ready they advanced into no-man's land, facing a heavy barrage of shells and machine gun fire as they went.

'...the Order comes down, 'Cigarettes Out and no noise' and then you know you have not many minutes to go before the terrible clang starts to assist you in that terrible task you have before you and behold it is hard! Every man for himself, and not one must shirk his duty, but no never a man thinks of doing such a thing as that. He knows what he has to do and leave it to him, he will do it with all his heart. And would you think for one minute that there is a smile on his face? "Yes, there is," and the words come from his mouth, "Best of luck to you old mate, let's hope you will make a good job of it."'

Pte G Ward, 1916

(Taken from BBC Schools Online World War One - still a public service which provides free information for educational purposes).

"In World War One an estimated 68 million men were mobilized by the warring powers. Of these, an estimated 10 million died in battle and a further 21 million suffered wounds."

http://youtu.be/Xa9EK-PfyF8 youtube link to film of WWI soldiers going over the top.

When The Whistle Blows, written by Mike Kneafsey performed by Sweeney Astray.

Out in the wind and the weather
Trying to find the feeling in my face
Digging a hole for my body
To keep it in one piece

I was a boy from the village
Press ganged and made to stand in line
Swimming in oceans of madness
I pray that it's not my time

PRE CHORUS: When you're facing a ll your fear
And a second takes your life
I say to myself, what do I know,
who am I? To take my one last look at the sky?

You were a mad Jack the captain
Fighting for the English against the Hun
In shit and mud and bombs and yellow poison
Which way should a man run?

So put up the ladders get ready
Hold onto your rifles if you can
A million may die on this day today
For a piece of land

CHORUS: 

So think on all you know
And when that whistle blows ...it's over we go.

Running from Dublin to London
A man with no armistice in mind
The police and the priests they cannot catch you
If you make yourself hard to find

Gave up all my children to their future
Scattered all their lives and blew them free
Here's to good whiskey and the crucifix
Long may they carry me

So think on all you know and when that whistle blows
it's over we go...

And the town played you home
And you crossed the Irish sea
Took us from the trenches to the mill
Taught us to serve
Put us to work
And then they train us to kill.

So put up the ladders get ready
Hold onto your rifle if you can
A million may die on this day today
For a piece of land.

So think on who you know
When that whistle blows
It's over we go...

Full Meaning of the Lyrics

My grandfather Jack Kneafsey  was photographed in full officer uniform though I don't know whether its the Irish or British Army as I've been told he was an officer in both. He served in the new Irish army after the Irish Free State (26 of Ireland's 32 counties) liberated itself from the British Empire in 1922. He was definitely, previously, a captain in the Royal West Kents in WWI. 

 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D4383858

I was told by relatives that he won medals, served in the trenches and earned himself the nickname "Mad Jack." By all accounts he was quite a ferocious, hard drinking chap.

The third verse is based on knowledge of how my dad, uncles and aunties ended up scattered over Ireland as children growing up. Along with the story that when Jack Kneafsey was finally knocked over in London and killed, his body was found with a set of rosary beads and a quart bottle of whiskey. 

The middle eight is also true, apparently, about the town band being paid to play an  inebriated Jack home after a mighty drinking session (again I'm not certain of the facts). 

Plus my other grandfather on my mother's side of the family, served as a soldier and later worked in the mills. Along with my Irish great grandmother,  my nan, uncles and aunties.

My own father (who left Dublin when he was 16) served in World War Two and my best friend at primary school had an  Irish grandfather who served  in WWI. His grandfather, an O'Hanlon, claimed he'd been press ganged from his village by British soldiers. He also took part in a mutiny and ended up serving in India.

I used their stories as inspiration as well.

The main thrust of the chorus - what was it like to face up to the likelihood of your death, steel yourself and force yourself to stand up and run into a living nightmare of destroyed flesh and bone in mud and violence?

What would it do to a man to come out the other side of that having witnessed so much bloodshed? How could you live after that? And how did it effect your children and their children?

 The generations to come brutalised by a war over imperial territory, where human beings were nothing more than fodder for the ambitions of a few.

I also felt that it was inspirational for everyone in the general sense.

If a man could be prepared to stand up and be killed then he might be prepared for anything in life.

I also makes feel the anger of knowing that the ruling classes would happily treat us, the millworkers and soldiers, the grandchildren of millworkers and soldiers as fodder. Military fodder or low wage fodder. As part of a big plan which shows no compassion for our humanity or our rights to a free and meaningful existence and a real wage.

Mike Kneafsey (Nov.2015)

Sweeney Astray plan to launch their new double A sided single Sunshine and Swimming/The Rooks of Kathmandu this Christmas.

I also have two solo gigs coming up on Friday 21st November and Saturday November the 22nd when I will perform When The Whistle Blows live. And also plan to bring out this recording as part of a CD single/EP available to buy at gigs and online as a download. Very soon.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 21st Mike Kneafsey (of Sweeney Astray) plays live with Marta Canellas (cello) at Gregson Lane Folk Club, Lancashire.

Click on the link below for the facebook event.

Mike Kneafsey with Marta Canellas Live at Gregson Lane

Tickets £5.
Support tba (tickets available by clicking the link below)
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/296982

Mike Kneafsey will also be playing a live solo set at the Rock Out For Africa gig at Korova Arts Bar & Cafe on Saturday November the 22nd (click on the link below for more details)

https://www.facebook.com/events/1480641182198384/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming