"Follow the Colours" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar

Edward Elgar

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...

, with words by Capt. William de Courcy Stretton. The song is for male voice solo with an optional chorus of male voices.

The song was written as the result of a commission from the Worshipful Company of Musicians

Worshipful Company of Musicians

The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of music making in London moved from the City to the...

 in 1907. It is said that Alfred Henry Littleton (chairman of Novello’s music publishers) had to plead with Elgar to go ahead, as there was much Elgar disliked about the idea. Its original title was "Marching Song", and it was first performed by a four-part choir (S.A.T.B.) at the Empire Day

Commonwealth Day

Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations held on the second Monday in March, and marked by a multi-faith service in Westminster Abbey, normally attended by HM Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, with the Commonwealth Secretary-General and Commonwealth High...

 concert in the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

 on 24 May 1908. It 1914 it was adapted by the composer for solo and optional male chorus, orchestrated and republished as "Follow the Colours". It was performed at the Royal Albert Hall on 10 October 1914.

The mood is at best cheerful optimism, at worst bombastic: but this was before the real horrors of the war which Elgar later recalled more sensitively a year later with For the Fallen.

The chorus generally reinforces the solo singer in the second and fourth lines of each verse, and joins in the refrain.

The accompaniment is for full orchestra, and is an example of brilliant but sensitive writing for the large percussion section, which consists of three timpani

Timpani

Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

, side drum

Snare drum

The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...

, triangle

Triangle (instrument)

The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...

, bass drum

Bass drum

Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...

 and cymbal

Cymbal

Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...

s.

Lyrics

FOLLOW THE COLOURS

1.

Thousands, thousands of marching feet,

All through the land, all through the land ;

Gunners and Sapper

Sapper

A sapper, pioneer or combat engineer is a combatant soldier who performs a wide variety of combat engineering duties, typically including, but not limited to, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences, general construction and building, as well as road and airfield...

s, Horse and Foot,

A mighty band, a mighty band.

Refrain:

Follow the Colours, follow on,

Where’er they go, where’er they go ;

Loyal the hearts that guard them well,

’Twas ever so, ‘twas ever so.

March, march, march !

Roll the drums, and blow the fifes,

And make the bagpipes drone ;

Glory for some and a chance for all,

Till we come again to our own.

2.

England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales

Send forth their sons, send forth their sons ;

Children of Empire seas beyond

Stand to their guns, stand to their guns.

Refrain:

3.*

[What's in the wind now, what's toward ?

Who cares a bit, who cares a bit ?

Marching orders, we're on the way

To settle it, to settle it.]

4.

Some will return, and some remain,

We heed it not, we heed it not ;

Something’s wrong, to put it right’s

The Soldier’s lot, the Soldier’s lot.

Refrain

Verse three and its refrain is omitted from the arrangement.*

Recordings

• "The Unknown Elgar" includes "Follow the Colours" performed by Stephen Holloway (bass), with Barry Collett (piano), and male voice chorus.
• John Ireland - Orchestral Songs and Miniatures With a collection of the music of Ireland, two songs by Elgar are included: Follow the Colours and A War Song
  A War Song
  "A War Song", originally called "A Soldier's Song", was a poem written by C. Flavell Hayward and set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1884....
  
  , performed by Roderick Williams (baritone), BBC Concert Orchestra/Martin Yates