My dad used to sing this song constantly. I thought it was something from the Marine Corps, but then I saw all this stuff about it being from a Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald movie musical. Well, I found it in a book called 100 Best Songs of the 20's and 30's, which appears to have full sheet music, not just the chorus that you find in most sources. Also, in italics, it has a U.S. Navy version, which is probably the U.S.M.C. connection (the Marines are part of the Navy). I knew the song was by Sigmund Romberg, but I hadn't known that the lyrics were written by none other than Oscar Hammerstein II. Copyright 1927, but Harms, Inc.

Interestingly, when I searched for this song, it came up on Barbra Streisand sites. I wonder what Dad would think if I told him Babs was singing "his" song. Guess I'll have to send him the CD.

STOUTHEARTED MEN
(Sigmund Romberg-music, Oscar Hammerstein II-words, 1927)

You who have dreams, If you act
They will come true!
To turn your dreams to a fact
It' s up to you!
If you have the soul and the spirit
Never fear it, you'll see it through.
Hearts can inspire other hearts with their fire
For the strong obey
When a strong man shows them the way!

Give me some men
Who are stout-hearted men
Who will fight for the right they adore.
Start me with ten
Who are stout-hearted men
And I'll soon give you ten thousand more, Oh!
Shoulder to shoulder
And bolder and bolder
They grow as they go to the fore!
Then there's nothing in the world
Can halt or mar a plan,
When stout-hearted men
Can stick together man to man!

[U.S. Navy Version]
Give me some men
Who are stout-hearted men
Who will fight for the right they adore.
Give me some men
Who will fight like the men
Who have fought in the Navy before! Oh!
Give me some guns
For the stout-hearted sons
Of the ones who have won every war!
Then there's not a chance on earth
For freedom's cause to die,
When stout-hearted men
Are on the sea and in the sky!


My dad is a little short guy with a gentle soul. The Marine Corps was his one brush with machismo - well, that and getting a Jesuit education. Hearing him sing this song always makes me chuckle.