One summer evening drunk to hell
I stood there nearly lifeless
An old man in the corner sang
Where the water lilies grow
And on the jukebox johnny sang
About a thing called love
And it's how are you kid and what's your name
And how would you bloody know?
In blood and death 'neath a screaming sky
I lay down on the ground
And the arms and legs of other men
Were scattered all around
Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursed
Then prayed and bled some more
And the only thing that I could see
Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at me
But when we got back, labeled parts one to three
There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me
And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go
For a pair of brown eyes
I looked at him he looked at me
All I could do was hate him
While ray and philomena sang
Of my elusive dream
I saw the streams, the rolling hills
Where his brown eyes were waiting
And I thought about a pair of brown eyes
That waited once for me
So drunk to hell I left the place
Sometimes crawling sometimes walking
A hungry sound came across the breeze
So I gave the walls a talking
And I heard the sounds of long ago
From the old canal
And the birds were whistling in the trees
Where the wind was gently laughing
And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go
For a pair of brown eyes
This is about the writer/singer meeting a man while shattered, the old bloke obviously shatttered too. The old fellow tells of his experiences on the beaches of Galipolli in 1915 (The song "where the water lilies grow was a hit in that year)...I date the period this encounter occured in about 1972 to late 1975 The other two songs referred to indicate the decade the meeting took place.
My interpretation relates to a terrified young man lying in the mud and gore of the beaches/trenches and opening his eyes to see several body parts around him, including a pair of brown eyes on their own...in the mud...but they eyes were apparently lost in the parts collection that followed...in which they were labled "parts one to three". I strongly suspect that the owner of the eyes may have been very close to him, personally, perhaps a brother or cousin?. The account appears very much in the first person and being a drunken rant may be closer to the truth than previously told?...Where is the Glory?...naught but Blood, Tears, Terror and Gore...and scarred for life.