we flew in on a chopper, through clouds as thick as soup,
we flew in on a chopper, through clouds as thick as soup, to reach a wounded soldier of that first rate airborne troop.
 he wore a blue field,white wing patch, crossed with a sword of red, and as I knelt beside him, this is what that trooper said--
chorus
i have got a mother sir, and a sister too, and i've got a sweetheart who will shed a tear it's true;
 but soon I'll join the company that's camped on fiddlers green, I'll get there just on sunset, when the bule starts to sing--
falling night, dims the sight, and the stars in the sky gleaming bright, from afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.
it was getting just on twilight, when the flag slides down the pole, when we bowed our heads in sorrow, for the parting of his soul.
 and just as taps was sounding I could hear the captain say, "if the clouds had only lifted, he'd be alive today.
last chorus
i have got a mother sir, and a sister too, and i've got a sweetheart who will shed a tear it's true;
 but soon I'll join the company that's camped on fiddlers green, I'll get there just on sunset, when the bugle starts to sing--
of the dreams, oh the beams, of the stars, fairy moon, gainst the stream;
 all too soon, love goodnight, peaceful dreams.
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this song started it's tradition, to the extent I have been able to trace its existence so far, to the humourous song 'bacon rind, dating from the american civil war.
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 when I first started playing this song, prior to tracing its origins, I found it very hard to keep a slow pace- I tended to play it as a blue grassy humourous song, as it seemed overly sentimental.
 american civil war historian justin foote, while narrating the musical program of civil war songs commented on the sentimentallity of the songs' the songs seem overly sentimental, but it was a hard, cruel war, and the soldiers earned the right to be sentimental at times' ,--i can only agree.
 also from the songs forwarded to me by ray chapman.
 the soldiers fiddlers green bears no resemblance to the fishermans fiddlers green song, popular among revival singers, though, for soldiers, it is just as promising prospect as the fishermans is, though perhaps it wouldn't seem to be the case to those who haven't served in the military in a combat situation.
 in the several songs sent by ray, it has most of the elements the the revival fiddlers has peasant environment, green grass, shade, cool water, pleasant temperature, but rather than the 'fishermans' women, the soldier is witjh mates who have preceded him to 'the green' in the book written in 1942 by edward arthur dolph is printed a version sung during the indian wars in the us, my grandfather, who served in both the spanish-american war and wwi and wwii, sasng an updated version of this song to make it appropriate for the span-am war --i don't recall that he sang an up-date for wwi or ii.
 this is the version sung in vietnam