ABSTRACT
The First World War was the first time New Zealand’s musicians and songwriters had rallied en masse to a cause. Well over 200 songs were published during the war, many by the composers themselves. The tone of New Zealand’s patriotic songs was at first earnest (for example, ‘England’s Watching’) and proud (‘Our New Zealand Boys’). Support for the soldiers and the Empire was often expressed with stiff upper lip, as in ‘Whose Boys? Our Boys’, published in 1915. But as the conflict progressed and casualties mounted, increasingly the song titles reflect bittersweet sentiments towards the war. Some of the New Zealand-written war songs celebrate the distinctive character of the country; they describe an idyllic place called Maoriland, covered by a long, white cloud and home to unique flora and fauna, as well as a practical, loyal population. But most of the songs confirm that New Zealand was still Britain’s southernmost province, a place where loyal subjects still talked of Home and imagined it was 12,000 miles away, and offered unquestioning support to the king and the Empire. Unlike Britain’s, however, New Zealand’s wartime songwriting has left little trace. ‘It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary’ and ‘Pack Up Your Troubles’ were hits in New Zealand just as they had been at ‘Home’. New Zealand’s music industry was totally dominated by British concerns and with no infrastructure such as record companies or pressing facilities, local performances and sheet music versions of the original songs were the only way in which they could be distributed. This chapter examines the response of New Zealand songwriters to the Great War: the themes of the songs, their means of being heard, and their audiences.
