World War One

What did I do in the Great World War?
I learned to peel potatoes and scrub the floor
I watched a British sunset go down behind the skyline forevermore
I learned to ride a soldier to the line
For days and nights in cattle-trucks of swine
I learned to shave myself in tea
With the fragments of a mirror on my knee

Ooh, so much for what I did, not for what I've done
I never played a hero, but I faced a gun
It's World War I, your parting sun
I'm a hundred years young

I learned to dodge the flying lancer lead
To keep the earth between the sniper and my head
When life is one hard labour and a soldier gets his rest
When they lay him in the daisies with a puncture in his chest

So much for what I did, not for what I've done
I never played a hero, but I faced a gun
It's World War I, your parting sun
And I'm a hundred years young, ooh, yeah

Ooh, sweet mother, don't you cry
Ooh, this will be the day that I die

I gathered souvenirs for home that I hoped to send
Carried around for months just to dump them in the end
Where all is done in darkness, where all is still and dead
Where living men are buried, and the dead are buried lead

So much for what I did, not for what I've done
I never played a hero, but I faced a gun
This is World War I, your parting sun
This is World War I, and it's just begun
This is World War I, your parting sun
I'm a hundred years young

I'm just a hundred years young
I'm just a hundred years young
And it's just begun
Ooh, ooh