The lyrics recount the experiences of a member of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in the Battle of Gallipoli.

Bogle deliberately gave the dead soldier an Irish name ("Willie McBride") as a counter to the anti-Irish sentiment prevalent in Britain during the 1970s.

The song has been covered by Alex Beaton (with "A Scottish Soldier" from The Water is Wide), Plethyn ("Gwaed ar eu Dwylo" (Blood on their Hands), sung in Welsh from "Blas y Pridd"), Hannes Wader ("Es ist an der Zeit" (It is the Time)), and Dutch folk band Wolverlei as "14-18".

The lyrics from the song were referred to by former British prime minister Tony Blair in 2003 as his favourite anti-war poem.

[3] "As if he Knows" (2001) widens the theme of the wastage of war to describe the sadness of Australian mounted soldiers in Palestine in 1918 as they are obliged to shoot their horses, "who asked so little and gave so much", before embarkation.

Another notable song on a similar theme, but with a more contemporary setting, is the Troubles-inspired "My Youngest Son Came Home Today", with its tale of a young man killed during fighting in Northern Ireland.

Other well-known songs, with lighter subject matter, include two homages to departed pets, "Little Gomez" and "Nobody's Moggy Now" and an acknowledgment of his folk music fans with "Do You Sing Any Dylan?".

These tours have usually included a supporting cast of Australian-based singers and musicians, most regularly John Munro and Brent Miller.

This featured a Saturday Night Special on 27 June with Martyn Wyndham-Read, Johnny Collins and Les Sullivan in Watford, the closest venue to London.

More recent tours in Australia have included Adelaide-based musicians Emma Luker (fiddle) and Pete Titchener (guitar/bass) Bogle was a prominent artist at the National Folk Festival in Canberra over Easter 2011 as well as a regular artist at the Port Fairy Folk Festival held in Port Fairy, Victoria, every March.

[5] On 25 January 1987, Bogle was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia "In recognition of service to the performing arts as a song writer and singer.