As I suspected, the song that Andy gave us on 7 January – Salonika – has been going round and round in my head. It’s also been leading me down various rabbit holes on the internet. The lyrics are available on a range of websites, alongside some very earnest discussions about the meaning of the song, including some rather fanciful descriptions of the role of Salonika in the First World War: a supply base for the Gallipoli campaign. Really?
As you would expect for a folk song, it exists in multiple versions, but one of the odd things is how many of the lyrics render the chorus as “So right away, so right away, so right away Salonika, right away my soldier boy”, which makes no sense at all. If the woman is unsure whether her soldier husband is still alive – putting her separation allowance in jeopardy – then surely she wants him to ‘write away’ and quickly! The folk band, Lankum, have realised this and their lyrics, with a fine recording for purchase, is online at ‘Bandcamp’. They admit to having changed the location of the song from Cork to their native Dublin. Cork was the home of the 6th and 7th Battalions of the Royal Munster Fusiliers who were part of 30th Brigade of 10th (Irish) Division, but as they served alongside the 6th and 7th Battalions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, that transfer of cities is not unreasonable.
There is an online article in Irish Central from last year about the song which includes a marvellous video of it performed in Thessaloniki by Tír Fhada (a Greek-based Celtic music group), with lots of footage of the city and ends with a Greek song – a real Hiberno-Graeco mashup. Great fun and just the thing for a cold day in the UK!
Irish fusiliers in southern Serbia, late 1915. Photo taken by 2/Lt David Cowan (5/Connaught Rangers) and reproduced with thanks to Graeme Sheppard and the Cowan family.
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Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918 
Prompted by Robin Brasher’s comments on the song, “Salonika”, I wondered if there were any other songs that might reflect life in Salonika during the war. A few minutes searching found this article which makes interesting reading, especially since the main focus is a song written in the light of experience of the Great Fire in 1917.
https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/20th-century-events-in-salonica-retold-in-american-sephardic-song/
Note that the lyrics and a translation are available from a link at the end of the paragraph headed “Under Greek Rule”.
As an alternative, this link on YouTube is a performance of a version of the song by David Saltiel, Sephardic community leader and cantor born in Saloniki in 1931.
The video includes several photographs of the town including during the fire.
Rob Elliott
Thanks Rob, that’s fascinating.