Darren McRae sings, "On ANZAC Day".
A week after the bagpipes played at the Long Tan Cross for the first time since 1969, friend of the Vietnam Swans, Rod Campbell forwarded through a link to an amazing song, On ANZAC Day.
This moving song has been written by his friend, Darren McRae. Below is an excerpt:
Lest we forget now, those missing in action
Lest we forget now, at the going down of the sun
All for one to up the battalion
All alone we were wondering what we’ve done.
Chances we are still, holding back the tears
Chances we are still, drowning in our beers
Chances we are still, falling on deaf ears
All the time we go marching out one by one
And all alone we were wondering, what we’ve done
Remember us, on ANZAC Day
Remember us, on the field that you play.
To listen to the full song, click here.
‘ANZAC Cove’ 1919 by George Lambert (ART02839)
According to his website,
“Darren was involved in playing and coaching Australian Rules Football for over 30 years at regional, SANFL and AFL levels… (He was) a talent scout/forward scout at Woodville/West Torrens, North Adelaide, and under Dennis Pagan at both North Melbourne and Carlton.
“As a singer-songwriter, Darren sang his song Grand Final (scroll through the list of songs and click “play”) at the 2008 SANFL Grand Final pre-match entertainment.”
Rod Campbell was travelling through Vietnam back in August 2008 when he bumped into Swannie, Travis Fennell in Hanoi.
Rod has extensive coaching experience in Australia working with coaching greats such as Denis Pagan (there’s that name again…). His father, Graham, was a former player and coach for Fitzroy. Rod gave those of us in Hanoi tips, insights and ideas into game strategies and training drills. Rod did it all again when he made it down to Saigon the following week.
A great bloke, indeed. (Click here and here for mentions in the Swannies’ Weekly Wraps from back in 2008.)
- The Swannies will hold an ANZAC Boot Camp in Vung Tau from 11-12 February 2012.
- The Swannies will host our 3rd Annual ANZAC Friendship Match against the China Reds in Vung Tau on Saturday 21 April 2012.
