Children's Crusade

Album: The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)
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  • Young men, soldiers, nineteen fourteen
    Marching through countries they'd never seen
    Virgins with rifles, a game of charades
    All for a children's crusade

    Pawns in the game are not victims of chance
    Strewn on the fields of Belgium and France
    Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
    All of these young lives betrayed

    The children of England would never be slaves
    They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves
    The flower of England face down in the mud
    And stained in the blood of a whole generation

    Corpulent generals safe behind lines
    History's lessons drowned in red wine
    Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
    All of those young lives betrayed
    All for a children's crusade

    The children of England would never be slaves
    They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves
    The flower of England face down in the mud
    And stained in the blood of a whole generation

    Midnight in Soho nineteen eighty four
    Fixing in doorways, opium slaves
    Poppies for young men, such bitter trade
    All of those young lives betrayed
    All for a children's crusade Writer/s: GORDON SUMNER
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

  • Jorge Rodríguez from Badajoz, SpainThanks a lot. Just one tiny datail, if you allow me: 1212 would be the 13th century, wouldn't it? (It reads 'the 11th' in the last paragraph). Or is it that Sting did say the 11th century? Thanks again
  • Angus from Ottawa, CanadaDid Sting really say this happened in the 11th century?
  • Jesse from Pennsylvania UsaThere is a long running relationship between poppies, war, and death. Look up the 1915 poem "In Flanders Fields", Remeberence Poppy, or just do a general search on the subject.
  • Martin Ferreira from PortugalI was in disbelief when found out that these WWI solders were children's whose lives were lost. This fact should be foremost in Rememberance Day commemorations. Instead it seems it serves to glorify war in general and honour those who survived in particular.
  • Markantney from Biloxi, MsJul 2014,

    The lyrics to this song fascinated me so much (and how much I listened to it too BTW) I almost had to turn in my "Ghetto Pass", "Work the Black Seam", "Fragile", and the "King of Pain" also.

    Between Sting and Prince, man them dudes can write a song.
  • Mandy from Juneau, AkAnnabelle -- The Flower of England is a metaphor for England's youth, especially young men. This contrasts with poppies, which are not native to the British Isles.
  • Annabelle from Eugene, OrWhat is the Flower Of England? Does it refer to a flower? A Queen? A Princess? And, how can a flower be slaughtered?
  • Steve from Torrance, CaThis album seems mostly forgotten today (2007), but at the time (1985) it introduced jazz musicians Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Daryl Jones, and Omar Hakim to a wider pop audience. Their performance on this song in particular is outstanding. The ironic lyrics poignantly juxtapose the lost generation of World War I England (whose children would never be slaves, memorialized with poppies) with the 1984 Soho generation, who are enslaved to opium (made from poppies).
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