Bit of a shame this one. There are some great pieces of music, some good lyrics and the concept of following a soldier's path from joining the army to his eventual death is interesting and novel. But some of the lyrics are so awful that I just can't listen to it.
The good lyrics to me include the soldier not understanding what the war is about (an obvious thing but I'd never considered this before).
I like the fact that Morrissey challenges the cliché of a soldier dying doing the job he loves. Ridiculing the phrase 'peace-making' is also fair enough.
The reflection of his parents (i.e. that their son has died for nothing) at the end is poignant and rather heart-breaking.
But many other lyrics are just dreadful. I disagree that soldiers have a hatred for human life (apart from the very odd exception) and it's clearly not the soldiers' fault that wars take place in the first place.
'Give me an order and I'll blow up your daughter' makes no sense whatsoever. Maybe 'I'll blow up someone's daughter' but not the daughter of the person giving the order. Just idiotic. The 'honour mad cannon fodder' chant is also pretty grating.
The 'funny how' section is indeed great as others have pointed out - I'd suggest maybe the best ever coda in a Morrissey song. Guitar sounds like something off Graceland. But I still can't listen to the song. As with much of Low in High School, it's surprisingly good music marred by surprisingly bad lyrics.