# What Is This Song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619 "2010-02-27T04:52:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/1 "2010-02-27T04:52:33Z")
Could you guys help tell me find the title of the song I’m describing? It was a war song, about a soldier about to leave for an amphibious invasion (something about “boats breaking in half” or something to that effect, and also about “sunny England”. I don’t remember much else but I would recognize if I heard the song again. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/2 "2010-02-27T08:01:53Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Could you guys help tell me find the title of the song I’m describing? It was a war song, about a soldier about to leave for an amphibious invasion (something about “boats breaking in half” or something to that effect, and also about “sunny England”. I don’t remember much else but I would recognize if I heard the song again. Can you elaborate? Is it an old-style song, a plaintive folk song, a rousing drinking song, anything? Do you remember where you would have heard it? What kind of musical instruments were involved? Was it sung by a solo person, or a group? ---
**Author:** ![luvtinayothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@luvtinayothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvtinayothers)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/3 "2010-02-27T08:10:02Z")
Is it The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald? [http://home.pacbell.net/chabpyne/lyrics.html](http://home.pacbell.net/chabpyne/lyrics.html) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/4 "2010-02-27T08:42:00Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > […]It was a war song, about a soldier about to leave for an amphibious invasion (something about “boats breaking in half” or something to that effect, and also about “sunny England”.[…] > [@luvtinayothers](#): > > Is it The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald? > [http://home.pacbell.net/chabpyne/lyrics.html](http://home.pacbell.net/chabpyne/lyrics.html) 😛 War - no Soldier - no Invasion - no Sunny - no England - no It’ll be really annoying if this is the song. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/5 "2010-02-27T13:49:10Z")
Is it “The Last Farewell” by Roger Whittaker? (One of my mom’s favorite songs.) There’s a verse about going into battle: Though death and darkness gather all about me And my ship be torn apart upon the seas I shall smell again the fragrance of these islands In the heaving waves that brought me once to thee And should I return safe home again to England I shall watch the English mist roll through the dell For you are beautiful And I have loved you dearly More dearly than the spoken word can tell There’s also another verse about war. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/6 "2010-02-27T17:02:00Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Is it “The Last Farewell” by Roger Whittaker? (One of my mom’s favorite songs.) There’s a verse about going into battle: > Though death and darkness gather all about me > And my ship be torn apart upon the seas > I shall smell again the fragrance of these islands > In the heaving waves that brought me once to thee > And should I return safe home again to England > I shall watch the English mist roll through the dell > > For you are beautiful > And I have loved you dearly > More dearly than the spoken word can tell > > There’s also another verse about war. Yes. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/7 "2010-02-27T23:05:48Z")
This may be the first time I’ve ever been the first (or the anyth) to identify something on the SDMB! ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/8 "2010-02-28T00:28:51Z")
Since that time, other people have done this song, but far as I’m concerned, Roger Wittaker owns it. P.S. There is a live version, but the original is still the best. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/9 "2010-02-28T00:37:17Z")
In the course of writing my own post I remembered that the song is called The Force by Kw Griff. Thanks, **Zsofia**! If you hadn’t solved the first one, I wouldn’t have remembered mine. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/10 "2010-02-28T04:33:33Z")
One of the first presents my dad gave my mom when they were dating was a Roger Whittaker album. He was in town for their anniversary when I was 15 or so, but dad had something come up at work so I, rolling my eyes, offered to go with my mom. (She was sad - what was I supposed to do?) I was the youngest person there by, like, forty years. It was _awesome._ Dude puts on a great show. Who’da thunk? ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/11 "2010-02-28T05:56:46Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Is it “The Last Farewell” by Roger Whittaker? (One of my mom’s favorite songs.) There’s a verse about going into battle: Awesome song. That was my first thought when I saw the beginning of the OP, but then I saw “Sunny”, which didn’t really equate with “my land full of rainy skies and gales.” Then again, he’s leaving the “land of endless sunshine”. I guess that’s where the “sunny” part came from. Elvis did a good version of this song. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOwxWCxh3yU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOwxWCxh3yU) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/12 "2010-02-28T13:05:26Z")
Zsofia writes: \> I was the youngest person there by, like, forty years. So your mother was in her forties when you were born? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/13 "2010-02-28T15:49:35Z")
She was 38. ETA - oh snap. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/14 "2010-03-01T06:38:18Z")
Link to the great version? ---
**Author:** ![TheHegemon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@TheHegemon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheHegemon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-song/530619/15 "2010-03-01T09:13:51Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > Link to the great version? [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SHrsOKzr2zo/hqdefault.jpg "RogerWhittaker - The Last farewell") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHrsOKzr2zo)