The Ghosts Of Flanders

Album: Love and Murder (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The name Flanders will be forever associated with the senseless slaughter of the Great War; the town of Ypres alone saw no less than three battles during this great conflict. In May 1915, a Canadian soldier serving on the Western Front wrote one of the most famous of all war poems, In Flanders Fields. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae died in January 1918, not on the battlefield but from pneumonia complicated by meningitis while working at a military hospital.

    "The Ghosts Of Flanders" is a contemporary attempt to come to terms with the madness that was Flanders and World War One, and all the more significant in that the music was composed by a German and the words written by an Englishman.

    In a June 2010 interview with Songfacts, Troy Southgate said: "I've driven through Flanders many times and it's a very bleak and moving part of the world, but I think my main reason for writing this song was because Seelenlicht is an Anglo-German project and there's a kind of united-in-tragedy vibe going on." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.

70s Music Quiz 1

70s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

The '70s gave us Muppets, disco and Van Halen, all which show up in this groovy quiz.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.

Does Jimmy Page Worship The Devil? A Look at Satanism in Rock

Does Jimmy Page Worship The Devil? A Look at Satanism in RockSong Writing

We ring the Hell's Bells to see what songs and rockers are sincere in their Satanism, and how much of it is an act.

Little Richard

Little RichardFact or Fiction

Was Long Tall Sally a cross-dresser? Did he really set his piano on fire? See if you know the real stories about one of rock's greatest innovators.

Gary Brooker of Procol Harum

Gary Brooker of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer and pianist for Procol Harum, Gary talks about finding the musical ideas to match the words.