This isn't the way it happened
But it really could have been.
Through half closed eyes
I can imagine the scene.
We're sitting having a beer
The whole troop and me,
That cycle's shifts are over
For a day and half we're free.
All so nice and relaxed
As the drink flowed
And some of us got into
A Yarn spinning mode?
My name isn't really Max
Max said to our surprise
Really my name is Gerard
I swear I'm not telling lies.
An instructor in Basic said
He really didn't like that name
So, I'm going to call you Max
And It was Max that he became.
it was awkward at first he said
Because his folks didn't know
And when they'd called him Gerry
His response at times was slow.
He learned to adjust he said
No thanks to that Catterick nonce
Buy he'd learned to live his life
Under two identities at once
So Gerard became Max and
He'd learned to accept his fate
And after training was finished
To change it back was far too late
It didn't seem so improbable
In our barmy army game
And Max was our mate and
After all what's in a name..
That wasn't the way he told us
But it really could have been so
And after all these long years
Who the heck is likely to know.
Now Old Max has left us
Another valued comrade gone
But to us his old mates
His memory still lives on.
