shone the order of drilling for ye musket and pike, 1623.
We be Souldiers three first appeared in Thomas Ravenscoft’s song anthology of 1609, Deuteromelia, consisting of songs he collected and edited. Singers and listeners at the time would have understood the background that gives the song its meaning: England’s military involvement in the Low Countries in the 16th and early 17th century, and the plight of soldiers, fighting for little pay while having to fund their own military supplies and food. This background is explained in the article.
Other songs about soldiers, printed in the 16th and 17th century as broadside ballads, are then surveyed. They are categorised into themes, and the last theme overlaps with that of Souldiers three: the bitterness of soldiers who put their lives at stake for so little financial reward, who then return home to be cast aside by society, unable to reintegrate into day-to-day civilian life.
We then enter the modern era, outlining the background to songs about the plight of soldiers in World Wars I and II. Finally, a reflection on how these songs relate to us all.
We begin with a video of We be Souldiers three, its three voices sung as printed in 1609 in Deuteromelia.