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For the past couple of months, I've had a tune rolling around in the back of my head. The name of this tune is Over The Hills and Far Away. It's a very old English tune, first set in print in 1706, but probably older than that. As with many tunes of this ilk, there are many many variations as it was altered to suit the whims of the singer and the audience. It became a favorite of the British Army as the British Empire expanded and its soldiers found themselves over the hills and far away from home. The tune is most often associated with the Napoleonic Wars and it became the official song of the 95th Rifle Brigade. This unit was formed in 1800 and went on to serve with distinction in the Peninsula War, the Crimean War, Ypres and the Somme in WWI and in North Africa, Italy and Western Europe in WWII.
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Hark! Now the drums beat up again,
For all true soldier gentlemen,
Then let us 'list and march I say,
Over the hills and far away.
Over the hills and o'er the main.
To Flanders, Portugal, and Spain,
King George commands and we'll obey.
Over the hills and far away.
Here's forty shillings on the drum,
For those that volunteers do come,
With shirts, and clothes, and present pay,
Then o'er the hills and far away.
Over the hills and o'er the main.
To Flanders, Portugal, and Spain,
King George commands and we'll obey.
Over the hills and far away.
Come on then boys, and you shall see,
We every one shall captains be!
To rave and rant as well as they,
When over the hills and far away.
Over the hills and o'er the main.
To Flanders, Portugal, and Spain,
King George commands and we'll obey.
Over the hills and far away.
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