THE MILTON KEYNES SONG BOOK
  • Home
  • About
  • Sources
  • The Song Books
    • Introduction
    • Volume 1 >
      • Section 1 >
        • 1. All Change
        • 2. The Permanent Way
        • 3. James McConnell
        • 4. Tom Worker's Song
        • 5. Who Could Want For Better?
        • 6. Letters Home
        • 7. I Want a Little More From Life
        • 8. Settling In
        • 9. What Do They Think We Are?
      • Section 2 >
        • 1. The Shrimp King
        • 2. Old Bill
        • 3. Cotton and Fluff
        • 4. Ambulance Train
        • 5. It’s Dirty It’s Dusty
        • 6. Worksong
        • 7. Orange and Blue
        • 8. On The Breadline
        • 9. Little by Little
      • Section 3 >
        • 1. Bright Battalions
        • 2. No Heroes No Cowards
        • 3. In Memoriam
        • 4. Parapet Song
        • 5. Do You Ever Think of England?
        • 6. Valley of the Shadow
        • 7. Rest and Relief
        • 8. Back Home Again
        • 9. There’s a War On
      • Section 4 >
        • 1. Stantonbury Village
        • 2. The Wolverton Refreshment Room
        • 3. Sheltered Lives
        • 4. Violet's Song
        • 5. The Bunny Run
        • 6. Stony Stratford, a Country Town
        • 7. A Few Coppers
        • 8. Smiler
        • 9. The Night the Stones Rolled into Town
    • Volume 2 >
      • Section 1 >
        • 1. Christmas Bells
        • 2. Crazy for Canals
        • 3. Denbigh Hall / Goodbye Denbigh Hall
        • 4. I Would Not Change a Thing
        • 5. Emberton
        • 6. Field Song
        • 7 & 8. Stony Stratford Songs
        • 9. Rainbow
        • 10. Sheltermore
      • Section 2 >
        • 1. The Ballad of Joey Guest
        • 2. Dad’s Song
        • 3. The Bike Song
        • 4. Here Is Jack
        • 5. Awake and Arise
        • 6. Master and Servants
        • 7. The Stockman
        • 8. When Dick Met Alma
        • 9. Safety in Numbers
        • 10. In the Event of an Air Raid
      • Section 3 >
        • 1. Captain Swing
        • 2. Honourable Frauds
        • 3 & 4. Lord Kitchener / Song of the Recruits
        • 5. The Glorious New Year
        • 6. The Slaughterhouse Carol
        • 7. An Invitation From His Majesty
        • 8. Day After Dreary Day
        • 9. Dance Round the Bonfire
        • 10. Hymn to the Future
      • Section 4 >
        • 1. The Ghost of Lady Bennet
        • 2. Song of the Bridge
        • 3. The Stony Stratford Schools Song
        • 4. A Bob a Bloody Day
        • 5. The Wolverton Whistle
        • 6. War Weapons Week
        • 7. The Forestry Song
        • 8. Rover
        • 9. Snowflake
        • 10. The Flies
  • Composers
  • Credits
  • Contact

8. Back Home Again by Rod Hall

Created from the taped memories of New Bradwell resident Hawtin Mundy (left), the show Days of Pride (1981) focused on the Great War of 1914-18. The thrill of joining up to serve your country, the horror of the battlefields, the helplessness of a prisoner of war and the poignancy of going back home – all come alive not only in the songs created for the show, but also in the books and tapes inspired by Hawtin’s irrepressible story-telling, in his published memoirs I’ll Tell You What Happened and No Heroes No Cowards (available from www.livingarchive.org.uk)
    
The song Back Home Again was written by Rod Hall at the time of the Falklands War and therefore had much resonance for contemporary audiences. It focuses on Hawtin Mundy’s return home from the Great War, the second time he was wounded; it also echoes both the relief of being back in ‘Blighty’ and the memories that refused to go away.
    
Hawtin came to the last performance of Days of Pride shortly before he died. Blind and frail, he was helped onto the stage at the final curtain, and in a hushed auditorium, added his own inimitable comment on humanity: ‘Black, white, brown, yellow, we’re all the same. We should all try to live together… And I hope you’ll all buy my book!’

I was on the Somme for less than a month when I got wounded again. The Germans made a big attack in the night and put a hell of a barrage down on us. During the barrage I got hit in the arm and a piece smashed me rifle and when the officer come up to me I said, ‘Sir, I’m hit in the arm again.’
     ‘Well,’ he says, ‘all the wires are down, take a message back to the signallers and tell them that the Germans have broken through on the right, but we’re holding all right here. Take that message back on your way back to the dressing station in the next line of trenches.’
    After I got to the signallers and told them, I wandered back and got to where the MO was in a big dug-out where they took the casualties before they cleared them further back.
    Old Fatty Odell was in there then, of all things, as a stretcher bearer! Ooh blimey, old Fatty!
    When I got in there he said, ‘Ooh hell – what you again?’
    ‘Yeh,’ I said, ‘I got it again!’
    ‘Ooh,’ he said, ‘you lucky b…..r! Back home again?’
    ‘Yeh,’ I said, ‘somebody’s got to look after your gals at home!’

(Hawtin Mundy, LAMK 1980)

Images and material from LAMK archive. The song link is: Back Home Again | The Living Archive Band (bandcamp.com)
Picture
Hawtin Mundy
Picture
Picture
New Bradwell celebrates the end of the war
Picture
Downloads...
Download Score
Lyric Sheet
Lyrics & Chords
Melody
Backing Track
Audio Guide
First Harmony
Second Harmony
Performance
Copyright Living Archive Milton Keynes © 2024
  • Home
  • About
  • Sources
  • The Song Books
    • Introduction
    • Volume 1 >
      • Section 1 >
        • 1. All Change
        • 2. The Permanent Way
        • 3. James McConnell
        • 4. Tom Worker's Song
        • 5. Who Could Want For Better?
        • 6. Letters Home
        • 7. I Want a Little More From Life
        • 8. Settling In
        • 9. What Do They Think We Are?
      • Section 2 >
        • 1. The Shrimp King
        • 2. Old Bill
        • 3. Cotton and Fluff
        • 4. Ambulance Train
        • 5. It’s Dirty It’s Dusty
        • 6. Worksong
        • 7. Orange and Blue
        • 8. On The Breadline
        • 9. Little by Little
      • Section 3 >
        • 1. Bright Battalions
        • 2. No Heroes No Cowards
        • 3. In Memoriam
        • 4. Parapet Song
        • 5. Do You Ever Think of England?
        • 6. Valley of the Shadow
        • 7. Rest and Relief
        • 8. Back Home Again
        • 9. There’s a War On
      • Section 4 >
        • 1. Stantonbury Village
        • 2. The Wolverton Refreshment Room
        • 3. Sheltered Lives
        • 4. Violet's Song
        • 5. The Bunny Run
        • 6. Stony Stratford, a Country Town
        • 7. A Few Coppers
        • 8. Smiler
        • 9. The Night the Stones Rolled into Town
    • Volume 2 >
      • Section 1 >
        • 1. Christmas Bells
        • 2. Crazy for Canals
        • 3. Denbigh Hall / Goodbye Denbigh Hall
        • 4. I Would Not Change a Thing
        • 5. Emberton
        • 6. Field Song
        • 7 & 8. Stony Stratford Songs
        • 9. Rainbow
        • 10. Sheltermore
      • Section 2 >
        • 1. The Ballad of Joey Guest
        • 2. Dad’s Song
        • 3. The Bike Song
        • 4. Here Is Jack
        • 5. Awake and Arise
        • 6. Master and Servants
        • 7. The Stockman
        • 8. When Dick Met Alma
        • 9. Safety in Numbers
        • 10. In the Event of an Air Raid
      • Section 3 >
        • 1. Captain Swing
        • 2. Honourable Frauds
        • 3 & 4. Lord Kitchener / Song of the Recruits
        • 5. The Glorious New Year
        • 6. The Slaughterhouse Carol
        • 7. An Invitation From His Majesty
        • 8. Day After Dreary Day
        • 9. Dance Round the Bonfire
        • 10. Hymn to the Future
      • Section 4 >
        • 1. The Ghost of Lady Bennet
        • 2. Song of the Bridge
        • 3. The Stony Stratford Schools Song
        • 4. A Bob a Bloody Day
        • 5. The Wolverton Whistle
        • 6. War Weapons Week
        • 7. The Forestry Song
        • 8. Rover
        • 9. Snowflake
        • 10. The Flies
  • Composers
  • Credits
  • Contact