A couple of stanzas show up in Moss Hart's 1944 Broadway play, "Winged Victory," and later in the movie version.

In 2002 I was seated on a jetliner next to a young lady who'd recently finished U.S. Army basic training. Her version:


                They say that in the army,
                The chow is mighty fine;
                Well, how the hell would they know?
                They never tasted mine.

                Cho.:        I don't want no more of army life,
                        Lordy, I want to go,
                        But they won't let me go,
                        Lordy, I want to go ho-o-o-o-o-o-o-ome.

                They say that in the army,
                The biscuits they are fine;
                One fell off the table,
                And killed a friend of mine.

                They say that in the army,
                The chickens they are fine;
                One jumped off the table,
                And started marking time.

                They say that in the army,
                The pay is mighty fine;
                They give you fifty dollars,
                And take back forty-nine.