Roses of Picardy - Peter Yorke Orchestra.

'Roses of Picardy' - was one of the most famous songs of the First World War, it has now become so emblematic of that 1914-1918 era. Published in 1916, the music was written by Hayden Wood (a prolific classical composer), with lyrics by Frederick Weatherly.
Picardy covered a vast area of Northern France including the Somme and all the way to Calais. The area contained the major battlefields and the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during WW!
The song became popular among the British soldiers who were singing it when they enlisted. Following the war the singing of the song helped soldiers who were suffering from Shell Shock to regain their powers of speech.
A whole generation of young men were encouraged to join up and fight for King and Country and so many marched to their doom! They did so willingly for freedom's sake, and more realistically for their much loved country and all that it stood for, the unique landscape, its tiny villages complete with church, local pub and village green echoing to the sound of leather upon willow and the leisurely bell tolls of the passing day. Freedom to wander the rolling countryside and tread those lovely winding rural highways, byways and hollow-ways. A cosy cottage with the home fire burning, yet still perhaps waiting for those who never did return. All that we still love and admire about this our fair country must now seem even more precious as we look back at their great sacrifice. I hope the images on this video bring these feelings into sharp focus, especially this year of the WW! centenary. The music certainly is very poignant and is all about love and loss. It has indeed become almost an anthem against the futility of warfare.
The evocative instrumental arrangement used on this video is from a remastered recording -
by Peter York and his Concert Orchestra...... enjoy!

[bobareeniobobareenio]

I remember the scene from the TV show MASH. When Colonel Potter, being the last survivor from his group of friends from WWl, drinks to his old friends (they had formed a Tontine) He was listening to Roses of Picardy during that episode. . I lost my closest and best friend June 30th, 2022 and every time I think of this episode, I get teary eyed . He was a friend since childhood, and up to that day. I really know what: Best Friends Forever, means ~ ~ ~

[MrCrowebobby]

Amazing how a tune can bring you close to tears of nostalgia though you were born 20 years after it was written. Even without the lyrics it evokes the tragic loses of World War One.

[stewartgellatly]

Music is by Haydn Wood set to lyrics by Fred Weatherly.

[grahammiles]

One of six magnificent recordings Peter Yorke made with saxophonist Freddy Gardner in 1948/1949. Sadly Freddy died in 1950, a great loss to the music world.

[rogeriojoseorellana]

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart

[brucemarsico]

I have an early 1950s, Columbia ten inch Lp, 'Songs to Remember'. Peter Yorke at his sentimental best...quiet and reflective, a leisurely hike through a rural English shire, after the tumult of the last war.