The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #17941   Message #2404656
Posted By: GUEST,Marymac90
04-Aug-08 - 01:07 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Into the Air (Junior Birdmen)
Subject: RE: Origins: Into the Air (Junior Birdmen)
I'm glad posters corrected the date of coversion from Air
Corps to Air Force, from 1943 to 1947. My dad was in the
Army Air Corps during World War II, so I know 1943 couldn't
have marked the end of the Corps.

I knew the Birdmen song as starting "Up in the air...". I
also knew it with the chant or cheer at the end about
boxtops, bottle caps, etc. At the very end, we would go
"And one - thin - di-i-ime, TEN CENTS!" The last two words
were yelled, not sung.


I had another thought related to the actual Air Force song, transcribed above. When I was a kid in the 50's, I had=
recordings of all the service songs, probably on 78's. It
was the Cold War, and a time of much anxiety about possible
atomic warfare. We'd have air raid drills at school where
we'd get under our desks, like we were supposed to do if
there actually was an atomic attack. There were propaganda
films that taught us to "Duck - and Cover" so we'd be safe
from atomic attack!!! Anyway, my kid's brain interpreted
what we saw transcribed above as "At-em, boys" into "Atom
Boys".

May there always be blue skies...

Marymac