WWII songs

Subject: WWII songs
From: Vixen
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 03:16 PM

D'Cats--

I just found out that VicTim will be playing an Elderhostel gig in June. Last year, the theme of the Elderhostel was 19th and 20th c. immigration, and we played background music at a "tea-party" which was a reenactment of a wealthy woman's garden tea with Irish immigrant servant girls. The group that did the reenactment calls themselves "The Irish Biddies" and Tim and I played a bunch of Irish tunes on fiddle, hammered dulcimer, and recorder. It was fun for us and the seniors *loved* it.

This year, the theme is WWII. I have no idea what the lunch will be like, but we'd like to have some popular tunes from the WWII era for the Seniors sing along to if they wish. If you have any suggestions, let me know titles and possible sources for the lyrics and music. If you don't know where I can find the music, just let me know titles and I'll try to find lyrics and music.

Thank You All in Advance--

V

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From:
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 03:45 PM

(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover
When The Lights Go On Again All Over The World
Rosie The Riveter
Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me)
I'll Be Seeing You
Deep In The Heart Of Texas
Don't Fence Me In
Swinging on a Star
Mairzy Doats
Pistol Packin' Mama
Dance with a Dolly
Sentimental Journey
Empty Chair at the Christmas Table
There's A Gold Star In Her Window
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Rum and Coca Cola
In The Mood
It's Been A Long, Long Time

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Bert
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 04:14 PM

Bless 'em All
D-Day Dodgers and/or it's parent Lili Marlene
Various parodies on Colonel Bogey
When They Sound the Last All Clear
Follow the white line
Lionel Bart had some good songs in his musical "Blitz" The only one that come to mind at the moment though is "Duty Calls"
George Formby did dozens, Again I can't recall any specific ones but a web search might find them.

Bert.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 04:24 PM

As Time Goes By

We'll always have Paris, Rick," she said, and walked off toward the plane.....

(well, maybe it's not an exact quote)
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Art Thieme
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 04:34 PM

"White Cliffs Of Dover"---I used to do it with banjo...

"Franklin Roosevelt told the people how he felt,
We damn near believed what he said,
Said, I hate war and so does Eleanor,"
But we won't be safe 'til everybody's dead."-------From The Almanac Singers Pete singin' lead...

See the song I posted here quite recently "Beneath A Bridge In Sicily".

Art

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: LEJ
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 05:25 PM

Tuxedo Junction,
Deep Purple,
Unchained Melody,
She wore a Yellow Ribbon

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: jofield
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 06:54 PM

God, those were great songs! '38 - '45 was really the high-point in American and British popular music, when the best musicians were also the ones selling the most records. I saw a documentary -- probably the World At War -- with a clip of George Formby surrounded by troops playing the uke and singing a song about the Maginot Line -- very cute.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Tiger
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 06:54 PM

Vixen....

I do a 2-song WWI-WWII medley, with 2 songs which may have been the most popular and tear-producing war-related songs of these two periods:

Till We Meet Again
Lili Marlene

I'd recommend the Clancy Brothers version of Lili if you can find it.

.....Tiger

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Shack
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 07:09 PM

I don't know if this is rightfully a WWII song or a song ABOUT WWII, but how about ...

FRAULEIN (1957)

"As my memory wanders away over yonder,
down by the old river Rhine,
where I loved her and left her
and now can't forget her,
She was my pretty fraulein."
(chorus)
"Fraulein, fraulein, go down by the water,
just as the stars start to shine.
By the same stars above you, I swear that I love you.
You are my pretty fraulein."

Subject: Lyr Add: STARS AND STRIPES ON IWO JIMA^^
From: Ferrara
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 09:59 PM

We had a 78 RPM record of this one. I don't know how many people would know it, though. It wasn't a big hit but it was a hit in our family right after the war.


STARS AND STRIPES ON IWO JIMA
Written by Bob Wills, ©1945
As recorded by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys

When the Yanks raised the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima isle,
Through the blood and tears they won through.
Bless the heart of each Yankee there on Iwo Jima Isle,
Resting 'neath the blanket of blue.
High on the hill of Suribachi,
Waves Old Glory and she always will.
When the Yanks raised the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima isle,
There were tears in their hearts though they smiled.

[The following verse is sung by The Sons of the Pioneers; it is not on Wills' recording:]

When the Yanks raised the stars and stripes on Iwo Jima isle
Ev'ry heart could sing once again
And the sight of Old Glory over Iwo Jima Isle
Swelled the hearts of our fighting men.
Long will it wave o'er the hilltop
As a symbol of heroes who died.
When the Yanks raised the stars and stripes on Iwo Jima isle,
There were tears in their hearts though they smiled.


If anyone wants the tune, say so. I'm about halfway through typing it into Noteworthy Composer, but I'll have to get Bill's help in posting it. - Rita F

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 10:24 PM

Others to add:

Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer
The Ballad of Rodger Young
A Walk in the Sun - Earl Robinson

Delete from previous lists "Unchained Melody". This song was written as the title song for the movie "Unchained" in the mid-1950s. What! You've never heard of it? It was a prison story starring Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch of LA Ram football fame. The co-star was 40's band singer Johnny Johnston; he was asked to sing the song over the titles, but declined because he wanted to take his career in another direction. Bad choice...the movie tanked, the song was a monster hit. JJ's career moved to hosting a Friday night bowling on the tele.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: SeanM
Date: 17 Apr 99 - 01:10 AM

Not to throw in a dissonant note here, but earlier it was mentioned that the WWII period was the high point in American and British music...

I'd like to voice the opinion that there was just as much chaff among the gems as there always has been... time has just preserved the ones we enjoy. In another 30-40 years, people will look back on the 80s and 90s and bemoan 'why can't we have music like we had then!'

M

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: alison
Date: 18 Apr 99 - 02:49 AM

Don't know if they were WWI or WWII... but have used them in this sort of thing for old folks..

Keep the campfires burning
roll out the barrel
(pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and) smile, smile, smile
It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary (makes a good medley with the previous two)

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: AndyG
Date: 18 Apr 99 - 07:49 AM

alison,

(Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag ang) Smile, Smile, Smile & It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary are both WWI, Roll out the Barrel is, I think, WWII. Don't know the other song, but Keep the Home Fires Burning is WWI.

AndyG

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Bud
Date: 18 Apr 99 - 09:08 AM

These were popular during the War, I am not sure when they were first composed

Amapola
Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Woodpecker's song
Maria Elena
Elmer's tune
Deep in the Heart of Texas
I've got a gal in Kalamazoo
Tangerine
As time goes by
Don't Fence Me In
I'll Walk Alone
Chickery Chick
Till the end of time
G.I. Jive
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (of Company B)
Jersey Bounce
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
Don't sit under the apple tree

White Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer are also frrom this era, but unless your performance is in December, may not be seasonally appropriate.

Thanks for the nostalgia!!

Bud

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Tucker
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 05:33 AM

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when but I know it will be some sunny day...... I don't know if that's the same one mentioned earlier by Tiger but it's a tear jerker and a moving song

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Alan B
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 05:42 AM

It may be WW1, not 2, but try this.
A few years ago at a school concert we (the audience) were split into two groups.

One group were asked to sing "(Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag) and smile, smile smile" chorus.

Then the second group sang "It's a long, long way to Tipperary" chorus.

Finally, the two were brought together, with Tipperary as a counterpoint to Pack up your troubles. It worked really well.

f you want to try it, start singing

Its a Long way, and "Pack" starts on the same beat as the word "Long"

No idea if the same would work with the verses, but might be fun trying

Alan B

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From:
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 06:27 AM

I agree with Tiger in his choice but add "I'll Walk Alone". You can find the words and melody for We'll Meet Again and Lili Marlene and the melody only for I'll Walk Alone at Song Lyrics Archive

http://ingeb.org/folksong.html

I know the lyrics to I'll Walk Alone if you need them.

Blessings Reta

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Ferrara
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 06:37 AM

You can also sing all four service theme songs together: Anchors Aweigh, Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder, The Caissons Go Rolling Along and the Marines Hymn (from the halls of Montezuma...). I'll admit this is probably not something you'll want to do.

I saw it done with about 80 people in the audience. The leader made up big newsprint song sheets for each song, divided the audience into four groups, practiced each song once and let 'er rip. A good time was had by all.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Reta
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 06:38 AM

Hi again!

This site will give all the top recordings and lyrics of the great wars.

http://www.summer.com.br/~pfilho/html/top1/index.html

Blessings Reta

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Vixen
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 08:28 AM

WOW!!!

Once again, the Mudcats are the BEST! I wish the rest of the world ran this way!

I just got in on Monday morning, and read the postings from the weekend!

Thank you all! Tim and I are going to have a blast with this one!

(if anybody needs an exclamation point, help yourself to some of mine!!!!)

V

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Tiger
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 10:17 AM

My suggested WWI song was not We'll Meet Again, but rather Till We Meet Again. The one where the chorus begins:

"Smile the while you kiss me sad adieu."

....Tiger

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 11:05 AM

Is "I'll Walk Alone" different from "You'll Never Walk Alone"? (YNWA is from the right time.)

Is the George Formby song about the Maginot Line "We're Gonna Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line"?

"Roll out the Barrel", aka "The Beer Barrel Polka", was popular in Britain in 1939-40 and also in the U.S. in 1940, before the U.S. entered the war. According to The Timetables of History,, where I'm getting all this information, it's of Czech origin.

Another (and very moving) one from 1940 is "The Last Time I Saw Paris".

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a few years later.

Oklahoma is from 1942. You probably don't need me to suggest "People will Say we're in Love" as a duet, Vixen.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: bey
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 02:19 PM

Vixen, just found a few minutes to check the mudcat. I've been going through Mom's music and have many, many differnt WWII song sheets and books. I'll get them out when I get home and send the ones that are not already listed. (I'm at school now, lunch time and lunch is dumb today). It always amazes me the number of songs that come up when someone asks for something. Later, bet

Subject: Lyr Add: EMPTY CHAIR AT THE CHRISTMAS TABLE^^
From: Gene
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 02:36 PM

Here's a couple of other WWII songs...

EMPTY CHAIR AT THE CHRISTMAS TABLE
words and music by Bob Wills, Cliff Sundin and "Cactus Jack" Cliff Johnsen, ©1945.
As recorded by Bob Wills

There's an empty chair at the table
And a light on the Christmas tree.
And a story's told by a star of gold
And a light on the Christmas tree.
Bless all the angels up in heaven.
May they watch o'er him oh, so tenderly.
There's an empty chair at the table
And a light on a Christmas tree.

Heads bowed in prayer to ask His blessing
For that one still so dear to you and me,
There's an empty chair at the table
And a light on a Christmas tree.


WHITE CROSS ON OKINAWA
words and music by Bob Wills, Cliff Sundin and "Cactus Jack" Cliff Johnsen, ©1945.
As recorded by Bob Wills

There's a white cross tonight on Okinawa
Under skies of blue, worldly cares are through
High above waves the old star-spangled banner
In his memory, she'll be true.
Some mother's heart knows the sorrow
Silently her prayers cross the foam
There's a white cross tonight on Okinawa
And gold star in some mother's home.

Some mother's heart knows the sorrow
Silently her prayers cross the foam
There's a white cross tonight on Okinawa
And gold star in some mother's home.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: LEJ
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 03:02 PM

Vixen...be careful when you mention Oklahoma . You'll get Catspaw started up on his x-rated parodies again.

My Dad always loved "Lili Marlene", even though it came from the German side in the war.

Was wondering how many World War II vets visit the Mudcat?

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Lion
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 03:07 PM

Hey! LEJ your phone is busy. I know you're enjoying the thread but I gotta talk to you!!!!xxxx

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Reta
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 04:23 PM

Hi all!

Yes, I'll Walk Alone is a different song than You'll Never Walk Alone. It's very lovely and sentimental. I believe a singer by the name of Jane Froman made the popular recording.

I heard a story about Lili Marlene many years ago but don't know how true it is. It was said that Hitler commissioned the writing of that song to honor his love for his niece. Later, when he confessed his love to her she rebuffed him & he had her killed. As I said, I don't know if it's true or not. If anyone knows I would like to hear about it. I always considered it to be one of the greatest songs of ww2, as did most of the world at that time. Blessings Reta

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Pete M
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 04:42 PM

Reta, it hardly seems likely since the song is about a prostitute; but "Lili" is undoubtedly the defining song of WWII. There are many recorded instances of both sides singing it together, in hospitals, cages, and across no mans land.

One other popular song not yet mentioned is "Coming in on a wing and a prayer". Then of course you could start on the folk songs.

Ferrara "..theme songs of the services???" Sheesh! As they say 'Only in America'!

Pete M

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Dale Rose
Date: 19 Apr 99 - 05:22 PM

I recently purchased The Best of Dolores Keane, in which she sings a nice version of Lili Marlene (in English). No indication in the notes as to why the Irish lady chose that particular song.

The defining version, of course, is that of Lale Andersen. You can find a clip of her version (cut #7) at tunes.com, along with many other songs on the CD VE Day, 50th Anniversary Musical Memories. At 31 songs for $10.99, it is a real bargain. It contains segments of speeches, as well as songs from several countries, not just the United States.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Henrik W.
Date: 20 Apr 99 - 12:48 PM

Two really good songs _about_ WWII are

a) "51st Highland Division's Farewell to Sicily"
by Hamish Henderson (who was with the 51st HD, when
they were stationed on Sicily).

b) "The Beaches of St. Valery" by Davy Steele of
Battlefield Band - incidentally this song is also
about the 51st Highlanders.

Cheers

Henrik

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Ferrara
Date: 20 Apr 99 - 02:12 PM

This may be WWII - at least my mom sang it a lot when I was a kid and it has that sort of feeling... don't know the title but chorus went, "I'll hold you in my heart Til I can hold you in my arms, Darling, please wait for me."

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: bet
Date: 20 Apr 99 - 05:11 PM

I went through some of Mom's music last night and came up with a few that are probably WWII. If you need melodies I have the music, let me know. A few have already been mentioned.

Coming In On A Wing and a Prayer
I'm Gettin' Sentimental Over You
I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima
The White Cliffs of Dover
Candy
Bell Bottom Trousers
Soldier's Last Letter
There'll Be A Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go Marching In)
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
Six Lessons from Madam La Zonga
When the Lights Go On Again (All Over the World)
A Little on the Lonely Side
Paper Doll

Also have a military book with patriotic songs in it if you want a list of those songs. It's called "Army, Navy, Marines" and has songs like:

Twenty-One Dollars a Day, Once a Month
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
When Private Brown Becomes a Captain

and if I remember right about 30 to 40 more such songs. I'd be glad to share any you might be able to use.

bet

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Tucker
Date: 20 Apr 99 - 08:37 PM

It appears there are good things that come from bad things...even war. Tiger, I think we are talking about two different songs and Henrik answered a question I was wondering about. "Banks of Sicily". I remember it being on the radio or sung to me vaguely, but the Chad Mitchell Trio brought it home to me somewhere around 1962.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Night Owl
Date: 20 Apr 99 - 11:09 PM

Mom, (89yrs. old & former USO Hostess during WWII) says she remembers a song called "The Hut Hut Song" playing a lot on the jukebox at the USO....said it was a fun song to sing & dance to, but doesn't remember the words.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Gene
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 12:06 AM

It was the Hut Sut Song...Andrew Sisters for one...

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Pete M
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 12:26 AM

Dale, "..the defining version ..(of Lili Marlene)..is that of Lale Andersen"??? Surely you jest.

Never Heard of Marlene Dietrich?

Pete M

Subject: Origins: Lili Marlene (Lili Marleen)
From: Dale Rose
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 02:21 AM

OK, here I am after an hour or so of research. Lili Marlene (also Lili Marleen)was written by Hans Leip as a poem in 1915. Apparently he had two friends named Lili and Marleen, and it was their names which inspired the title. It was published in a book of poetry in 1937 and was set to music by the composer Norbert Schultze in 1938. Cabaret singer Lale Andersen started singing the song soon after, and recorded it on 2 Aug 39. It made little impression until 1941, when a copy of her recording began to get airplay on a radio station for German soldiers. It was an immediate hit among the soldiers of many nations, and reportedly has since been translated into 48 languages. The Fassbinder film, Lili Marlene in 1980 is a highly fictionalized account of Lale Anderson's life, quite loosely based on her biography from the accounts I read.

Despite looking reasonably diligently, I was unable to come up with a date for Marlene Dietrich's recording, but I think you would have to assume that it was no earlier than 1941. I don't think there is any question as to the fact that her version was better known and much more frequently played in the United States, and perhaps most of the Allied countries as well, though that is just my assumption.

One thing is certain, without Lale Andersen, there almost certainly would be no Marlene Dietrich version. As to which is better or "more" definitive, I guess that is just a matter of opinion.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Tucker
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 03:57 AM

Jeez, the things you learn on these threads! Thx Dale, nice info.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 04:41 AM

Well, Pete, I'm not ready to believe "Lili Marlene" is about a prostitute, any more than I believe the Hitler story. I've heard the prostitute story before, but I've never heard anything to make me think it's factual. It's such a nice, sweet song. I think it's true love. Can you prove otherwise?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Pete M
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 07:28 AM

Dale, I couldn't find a date for the Dietrich recording either, so pax eh? Joe, no I can't prove it one way or the other, just passing on what I was told. Like Dale I tracked the song back to the Leip poem, but have no further info on who the subject(s) were or Leips' relationship with her/them.

Pete M

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 08:00 AM

Jerry, George Formby's song goes "Imagine me in the Maginot Line/Sitting on a mine on the Maginot Line/Sergeant says I'm doing fine..." and I can't remember any more (mercifully!). The other song goes:

CHORUS: We're Gonna Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line,
Have you any dirty washing, mother dear?
We're going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line,

'Cause the washing day is here.
Whether the weather may be wet or fine, we'll just rub along without a care.
We're going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line,
If the Siegfried Line's still there!"

VERSE: Mother dear, I'm writing you from somewhere in France,
Hoping to find you well.
Sergeant says I'm doing fine, a soldier and a half,
Aagh! I've forgotten the last line! Sorry! Somebody put us out of our misery?

There was a series of wartime cartoons called "Life in the B.E.F. - popular misconceptions", which had a great picture of Tommies stringing up lines between the guns and festooning them with washing, to the puzzlement of the German soldiers.

Steve

Complete lyrics can be found here.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Ferrara
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 04:34 PM

Pete M, So sorry to have offended, I know there is a generic name for the songs that I named above for the Army, Navy, etc, but was having a Senior Moment and couldn't think what it might be so I called them "Theme Songs." Actually it has turned into a Senior Week, because I still can't think for the generic name that would usually be used to refer to them although I'm fairly sure it exists.

Joe, I agree, based on the first verse of Lili Marlene, all I can remember right now, there's no reason to suppose that the song is about a prostitute. Maybe someone assumed that because they met under a lamppost outside the barracks and that was a common place for prostitutes to stand. On the other hand, the short parody of Lili Marlene given in the DT database *is* explicitly and hilariously about a prostitute.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Vixen
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 05:13 PM

Dear Ferarra,

If the Senior Moment lasts into June, you're welcome to come to the Elderhostel and sing along!!! In fact, regardless of how long the "moment" lasts, you're welcome to come sing along!!!

A friend of mine calls Senior Moments a symptom of "Sometimer's Disease", which you get before you get "AllTheTimer's Disease." I'm sure she's just a pessimist!

V

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Pete M
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 09:40 PM

Ferrara, no need to apologise, I wasn't offended, bemused would be nearer the mark. The thought of the armed services having thier own "theme" songs just seemed to me to be typically and idiosyncratically American. Although most forces have one or march tune associated with them, some of which may have had words set to them eg "Hearts of Oak", and "A life on the ocean Wave", for the RN and RM; I've never heard of anyone other than civilians singing them, and that only at the begining of the century.

Just don't keep going on about "senior moments" people will start thinking we are getting old, and I refuse to admit to more than 45.

Pete M

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Max
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 10:36 AM

Senior moments!! We call them CRS which stands for 'Can't Remember Sh**'. And they start ocurring at a much younger age than 45.
Bert. (Using Max's machine)

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Ferrara
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 12:16 PM

Yeah, Bert, I first heard about "CRS syndrome" when I was still in the hospital after my heart transplant. One of the support group members told me to expect it, most of the transplant recipients experience it. I've been thinking of making myself a t-shirt that says, "I've got CRS -- *C*an't *R*emember a Darned Thing!"

Pete M, "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" is from WWI and was widely sung by the infantry. A splendid song, it was probably published, but the guys took it up and it became popular in the same way that "Mademoiselle from Armentières" did. I don't know the history of the Marine Corps and Air Force anthems but I do know they're great, well written songs and very well known.

Vixen, (1) where is your ElderHostel going to be? and (2) I loved, loved the "SomeTimer's Disease" and "AllTheTimer's Disease" line! -- I do get an excessive number of senior moments, possibly due to the transplant, and there are times when a joke keeps it from becoming awkward. - Rita F

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Penny
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 01:44 PM

My Dad was in the Royal Engineers (Pioneer Corps) and he sang (sings) a song involving Upnor Hard (near Chatham, Kent), making fast a dinghy pontoon, marching on to Laffensplain (?spelling) and a Zulu warrior. I believe part of it has mutated into a rugby song. It is not to the Engineers march tune, I believe.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Reta
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 03:58 PM

Thank you for all the information Dale. Very interesting. I don't think she was a lady of the night either Joe. I think Marlene Dietrich may have sung it in "The Blue Angel". Will try to find out. Don't know the date of that movie but it was long, long ago.

Blessings Reta

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: bert
Date: 24 Apr 99 - 02:07 PM

Penny,

I might have known you'd have a song about an English place name.

Bert.

Subject: Lyr Add: DER FUEHRER'S FACE
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 25 Apr 99 - 07:12 PM

I just posted this song to another thread where a discussion of WWII songs--particularly the Horst Wessel Lied--was underway:

"Der Fuehrer's Face"
Words and music by Oliver Wallace, ©1942.
As recorded by Spike Jones and His City Slickers

Ven der fuehrer says ve iss der master race,
Ve heil! (spphhht) heil! (spphhht) right in der fuehrer's face.
Not to love der fuehrer iss a great disgrace,
So ve heil! (spphhht) heil! (spphhht) right in der fuehrer's face.

Ven Herr Goebbels says "Ve own der vorld and space,"
Ve heil! (spphhht) heil! (spphhht) right in Herr Goebbels' face.
Ven Herr Goering says, "Dey'll never bomb dis place,"
Ve heil! (spphhht) heil! (spphhht) right in Herr Goering's face.

Are ve not der supermen, Aryan pure supermen?
Ja, ve iss der supermen, super-duper supermen.
Iss dis Nazi land so good? vould you leave it if you could?
Ja, dis Nazi land is good. Ve vould leave it if ve could.

Ve bring der vorld new order;
Heil Hitler's vorld new order,
Every one of foreign race vill love der fuehrer's face,
Ven ve bring to der vorld disorder.

Ven der fuehrer says ve iss der master race,
Ve heil! (spphhht) heil! (spphhht) right in der fuehrer's face.
Not to love der fuehrer iss a great disgrace,
So ve heil! (spphhht) heil! (spphhht) right in der fuehrer's face.


It's from a Disney cartoon, with Donald Duck and others.

--seed

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: lingolucky
Date: 26 Apr 99 - 12:05 AM

As a navy veteran of ww2, I remember fondly listening to Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain boys doing Smoke on the water (on the land and the sea when our army and navy overtake the enemy). Also, how about The Sinking of the Reuben James by Woody Guthrie. thanx.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Ronn
Date: 26 Apr 99 - 01:10 AM

The Whole World Is Waiting For Sunrise,
All The Things You Are,
Hold Tight (I Want Some Seafood Mama),
Three Little Fishies,
Frenesi,
I'll Never Smile Again,
Polkadots and Moonbeams,
This Is the Army, Mister Jones,
God Bless The Child,
Take The "A" Train,
Java Jive,
I'll Remember April,
Jukebox Saturday Night,
Skylark,
Opus One,
Laura,
Give Me The Simple Life,
It Might As Well Be Spring,
One Meat Ball,
Baltimore Oriole,
Caledonia,
Tico-Tico,
Straighten Up and Fly Right,
It Could Happen To You,
Accentuate The Positive,
Trav'lin' Light,
You're Nobody Til Somebody Loves You,
I'll Be Home for Christmas,
Rose Ann Of Charing Cross,
and (of course) God Bless America
are all of the era.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Tom May
Date: 26 Apr 99 - 02:12 PM

Which side of the Atlantic and what aspect of WWII? Remember servicemens' songs are quite different to civilian songs. It has been said that every war starts using the songs of the last war, my late father remembered "(Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and) Smile, Smile, Smile" and "It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary" in 1939, (as well, of course as "Colonel Bogey"), so you can still use a number of songs from the Great War. As for title suggestions , try "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square", "White lillies", "Run, Rabbit, Run", "Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant-Major" or (if you feel mischevious) "The Second Front Song". If you can get your hands on a copy, try the book "Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major" (NOT the Falklands one).

Good luck.

Tom

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Penny
Date: 26 Apr 99 - 06:18 PM

Bert, this thread was full of place names long before I put my pennyworth in. And does anyone know where Laffensplain is? It sounds a bit South African. Which would fit the Zulu, presumably Rorkes Drift references.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Tom May
Date: 28 Apr 99 - 06:34 AM

One quick thought, I assumed that your concert was in English. If not (or for the sake of variety) why not throw in a couple of German songs just to see audience reaction, you already have Lili Marlene, why not add the "Panzerleid" (remember that scene in - I think - "Battle of the Bulge") or two Great War songs which still held favour, "Wacht am Rheine" or "Marineleid" ("Wir fahren gegen England") (My apologies if the spelling is incorrect, I have enough trouble in English, let alone German).

Good Luck

Tom

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Pete M
Date: 28 Apr 99 - 07:15 AM

One song which I don't think has been mentioned, I'm not sure if it originated in WW1 or 2, would be "Ich haben ein kameraden" (Apologies for any incorrect spelling/tense etc), I thought it might be in the DT but couldn't find it. Any chance of posting the lyrics Wolfgang? I was also going to mention "Wacht am Rheine", but Tom beat me to it.

Pete M

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Vixen
Date: 28 Apr 99 - 01:35 PM

D'CATS--

Again, a bazillion thanks for all the help! Tim and I are busily listening to recordings and compiling a set list. One big surprise is how many of these songs I know, but didn't know when they were written. We're aiming to learn an even dozen--we've got 6 weeks. What's cool about it all is that we just booked a retirement picnic gig 5 days after the Elderhostel gig, where I'm sure all of these songs will come in handy! As for questions about language--I'm going to stick to English for now. I've got enough to worry about hitting the right note at the right time and right volume without having to wonder if I'm pronouncing the words right. My voice box is my achilles heel right now--if I'm not careful, I might end up with athlete's mouth!

Anyway, I'll post our playlist when we get it finalized, and I'll post the response the Monday after the gig. Thanks again for all your help!

V

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Apr 99 - 04:26 PM

Pete M. I know I keep saying this, but if you look in DigiTrad for "kameraden", guess what you find.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From:
Date: 28 Apr 99 - 08:25 PM

Reta and Pete M., I don't think either story is likely. Hitler's niece was called Geli (short for Angelika), and she shot herself, as far as is known. As for the prostitute story - see Dale's research of 21 April. I've read a piece by Leip himself where he says just this - that he was linked with both girls, couldn't decide between them and decided to put them both into the song when he wrote it.
Most Germans would still associate the song with Lale Andersen today, I suspect. There is a story that the song virtually saved her life. She fell out of favour with the Nazis for some reason, but they couldn't put her in a concentration camp because she was too well loved as the singer of this song.
Don't know when Marlene took the song up, but certainly not in The Blue Angel. That film was made about seven years before the song.
Pete M., 'Ich hatt einen Kameraden' and 'Die Wacht am Rhein' are much older than the century. They go back at least to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, as far as I know. It seems the Nazis didn't use the former very much. Perhaps it was too elegiac and sad for their purpose. - Susanne

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: DAni
Date: 28 Apr 99 - 09:55 PM

-seed, I've got 'em somewhere. Give me the weekend to listen to my (dusty) old WWII stuff and I'll write them down.

Dani

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 22 Jun 00 - 07:56 PM

To whoever mentioned the 51st Highlanders Farewell to Sicily, It was indeed written by hamish Henderson and was performed by the Chad Mitchell Trio. As I remember, (I was rather young when I heard their version, perhaps 7 or 8 years old 1962-63)John Denver sang the lead.

Though I know this is a very late posting to the thread would be complete without mentioning the incredible Vera Lynn and two of her songs "Auf Wiedersehn, Sweetheart" and "From the Time You Say Goodbye." Both are truly splendid! regards Neil

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: kendall
Date: 22 Jun 00 - 08:34 PM

Didn't have any luck with that link, how about
There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere. Written during ww2 by a Mainer named Paul Roberts.
Rudolph was written in 1949 to be exact.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Jun 00 - 10:02 PM

Auprès de ma blonde - WWI or WWII?

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 01:52 AM

Looks like about 12 hrs of material there! I'm keeping the lists in case I do a show like that. If I do, however, I would omit the German songs so as to avoid offense. "Lili Marlene" did become popular in the UK and later among the other Allies. My own favorite is "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" - for the melody rather than for the words. (Americans note: it's pronounced Barcl'y.) == Johnny in Oklahoma City

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: pastorpest
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 07:55 AM

Find a copy of "Songs from the Front and Rear: Canadian Servicemen's Songs of the Second World War" by Anthony Hopkins, Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, 1979, ISBN 0-88830-172-3 bd or ISBN 0-88830-171-5 pa. There is excellent material there: melody lines, suggested chords and good notes about context. Mind you, you will have to edit out a lot of XXX rated material.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Sailor Dan
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 08:07 AM

Darn it, the part about this thread that hurts is I remember 90% of the songs and most of the words. One song that I didn't see mentioned was American Patrol and another one was Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition. and thats my two cents worth.

Dan

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 08:31 AM

Wheww....

The thing's that happen at Mudcat when you're offline for a couple of days. Much-Catch-Up to be done. Most of my non-Kiwi-specific song suggestions were shot down in the first few posts.

Tom - your "Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major" reference must be to the Martin Page book of 1973 - I've dug out my 1975 Panther virgin - and will have to get the scanner going to salvage it - the pages are as brown as Tatton Park recruits under-dungers.....;)

Anyway, "fem-fox" (Vixen) you'll find the lyrics for many WWII "pop" songs at Hit songs from 30-90s.

NZ had a bit of a hit with "Now is the Hour" Bing Crosby had his last "Top of the Pops" with it in 1949.

Best version I can find is on Jenny George's pages at Haere Ra

Best I can do from "down-udder"

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: The Walrus at work
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 08:50 AM

Mrrzy ,

>Auprès de ma blonde - WWI or WWII?

I think that you'll find that it's more like Seven Years War ("French & Indian Wars" over the pond).

Regards

Tom

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Vixen
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 08:51 AM

D'Cats--

Wow! Was I surprised to find this thread at the top of the list. I thought I had posted the set list from this gig, but I don't see it here. Maybe I posted it to another thread. Anyway, (as far as I can recall) we played:

Teddy Bears' Picnic
(Blue Birds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover
Accentuate the Positive
Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else But Me)
Swinging on a Star

and two or three others that escape me right now...

We filled in the gaps with timeless sing-along songs. (e.g. Suwanee River, You Are My Sunshine, etc) Overall, it was a rousing success.

This year, the theme was the 1960s, and we had so much material we had a hard time sorting through it all. Next year, the theme is the American Civil War, but I'll start another thread asking for those songs, so don't post Civil War titles here please!

Thank you all again!

V

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 08:54 AM

"How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?"

"Now Is The Hour" is my favorite. Thanks, Billy.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 09:11 AM

This thought may be too late for your event but....
A few years ago we did a World War II theme afternoon with a mock radio show . The announcer did war bulletins amid Andrew Sisters type songs and radio ads with jingles and show theme songs.

It ended with the anthems from each military group with veterans invited to stand while their Corp was honored. Audience loved it. And the food included red white and blue Jello decorated with flags along with Spam.

Sometimes hokey works.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 12:12 PM

And there's those never-to-be-forgotten classics:

Goodbye, Mama (I'm off to Yokohama)
They Started Somethin' (but we're gonna end it)
Heil! Heil! Right in Der Fuehrer's Face!

and in a more conventional mood:
The House I Live In
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 03:02 PM

...and the ever popular...

"I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues."

......Hoagy Carmichael..1942

and here is the definitive list of WW2 songs but evidently you have to go to Rochester to see them.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: DougR
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 11:14 PM

Ferrara: The song you posted was a popular Bob Will's hit, "When the Yanks Raised the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima Isle." Tommy Duncan was the vocalist, of course, and it was very popular (in Country circles) after the battle of Iwo Jima.

Apologies if this was cleared up in other threads. Haven't read them all.

I agree that WW2 did produce some great songs.

DougR

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: simon-pierre
Date: 23 Jun 00 - 11:33 PM

Yep, Mrrzy, Tom is right, Aristide Bruant sang "Auprès de ma blonde" before WWI.

Subject: Lyr Add: I'LL HOLD YOU IN MY HEART (TILL I CAN...)
From: toadfrog
Date: 23 May 01 - 11:36 PM

Ferrara:
That is one of the very best WWII songs, I can remember this much:


I'LL HOLD YOU IN MY HEART (TILL I CAN HOLD YOU IN MY ARMS)
Words and music by Eddy Arnold, Hal Horton and Tommy Dilbeck, ©1947.
As sung by Eddy Arnold.

I'll hold you in my heart
Till I can hold you in my arms,
Like you've never been held before.
I'll think of you each day,
And then I'll dream the night away,
Till you are in my arms once more.

The stars up in the sky,
Know the reason why,
I feel so blue,
When I'm away from you.

I'll hold you in my heart,
Till I can hold you in my arms,
So darlin', please wait for me!


I think Kitty Wells sang that more recently than the war. But it is hard to imagine anything that intense ever becoming popular again. Not without another World war.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: DougR
Date: 23 May 01 - 11:50 PM

Toadfrog: I don't recall that song coming along until after WW2. I believe Eddy Arnold had the hit, though I'm sure others recorded it. I associate it more with the very late 40's or early Fifties, but I certainly could be wrong.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Big Red
Date: 23 May 01 - 11:54 PM

Although not "popular" at the time, WWII vets always react positively to THE SINKING OF THE REUBEN JAMES by Woody Guthrie.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: toadfrog
Date: 24 May 01 - 01:31 AM

Doug R.
A google search suggests that you are correct. There is a "discogrophy" out there somewhere saying "(c) 1947, lyrics by T. Dilbeck." My memory gets very fuzzy back that far. Eddy Arnold does get prominent mentions out there. I had not been familiar with him.

Wow! There are actual references to "Shotgun boogie" out there! Remember that one? I was real sure I had heard the last of that.

. Well, I met a little gal and she was tall and thin
Asked her what you got, she said a box fulla tin!
I looked her up and down, said boy, this is love!
So I headed for the brush to get a big fat dove!

Shotgun boogie! (Blam, Blam!)
Boy the feathers flew!
Look out, mister dove, when I draw a bead on you!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: DougR
Date: 24 May 01 - 01:54 AM

Yep, Toadfrog, I do remember it.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Allan S,
Date: 24 May 01 - 02:14 AM

What about the song "The Ballad of Rodger Young" Don't remember all the words but---- Rodger Young Rodger Young fought and died with the men he marched among. in the everlasting glory of the Solomons lived the man Rodger Young

Gin and Lime juice at 2AM doesn't help the memory

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 May 01 - 03:53 AM

Is Normandy Orchards by Keith Marsden a WWII song? Sounds like it but perhaps John O'Hagen or Graham Pirt of this forum would know best? It's a lovely song anyway.

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: DougR
Date: 24 May 01 - 01:19 PM

I don't recall that song being popular during WWII, Dave.

DougR

Subject: Lyr Add: PASSIVE RESISTANCE
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 May 01 - 07:56 PM

This is an unusal song an old friend found in the GET ON BOARD Collection of Folk Songs edited by Beatrice Landeck and published by Edward B. Marks Music Corp. in 1944; the song is unusual in terms of being a protest song, and for being written by a young Richard Dyer-Bennet.

PASSIVE RESISTANCE
(Words and music by Richard Dyer-Bennet © 1942)

This is a story of passive resistance,
Of a man who refused to give Nazis assistance;
A farmer there lived in occupied Norway
Who found a grim warning tacked on to his doorway,
It read: "You have failed to come up to your quota;
Next week if you fail by a single iota,
Your farm will be taken and you will be killed.
This is the law and must be fulfilled."

The farmer replied: "Sirs, the undersigned begs
To inform you concerning my quota of eggs,
I posted the warning right where the hens live,
But the stubborn old bipeds still failed to give
So I wrung all their necks, the foul saboteurs.
Delighted to serve you, sincerely yours."

Subject: Lyr Add: ROLL ME OVER^^
From: toadfrog
Date: 24 May 01 - 11:50 PM

Allen S: "Rodger Young" is on the DT, and you can find it easily without even a clickie. It is masquerading as a folk song; actually written by Frank Loesser, of Tin Pan Alley Fame (Tin Pan Alley gave us some great songs!)

What I actually miss on DT is the following genuine WWII folksong. A song honored by a mention in Stan Hugill's book. It is all over the web, including the following scholarly site, which identifies the author as "Anonymous."

ROLL ME OVER

Traditional

This is number one,
And the fun has just begun,

Roll me over, lay me down and do it again! (Do it again!)
Roll me over, Yankee soldier,
Roll me over, lay me down and do it again.

This is number two,
And my hand is on her shoe.

This is number three
And my hand is on her knee.

This is number four
And I've got her on the floor.

This is number five
And I'm glad that I'm alive.

This is number six
And I've got her in a fix.

This is number seven,
And I feel like I'm in Heaven.

This is number eight,
And the doctor's at the gate.

This is number nine,
And the twins are doing fine.

This is number ten,
Let's go back and do it again.

Charles McCabe called this the "Battle Hymn of the Republic of the Second World War." But people are always too embarassed to sing it, or else they add dumb cutsy lyrics which no soldier ever sang. But this is not just another "dirty song": It has a powerfultune, and millionsof British and American, and Canadian, and yes! maybe Austrialian soldiers sang it!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 25 May 01 - 11:17 AM

I'm disappointed! I think nobody's mentioned They Started Something, But We're Gonna End It, Right in Their Own Back Yard!" and Goodbye, Mama (I'm off to Yokohama)

Yours in the pursuit of musical excellence,

Dave Oesterrreich

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 May 01 - 05:16 PM

Ahhhhh - thanks Doug. I should have said about WW11 - or was that irony? Never mind eh. Thanks anyway - either for the correction or for the laugh:-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 21 Jun 01 - 10:43 AM

Hi Reta,

your story about the origin of Lili Marleen is definitely wrong. The lyrics were written in 1915 by Hans Leip when serving his time with the Fusilier Guards in Berlin (Look up the end of Lili Marleen in the Digitrad Database). Published the lyrics were in 1935 in "Die kleine Hafenorgel" (The little Port Organ), a collection of Leip's poems. Although of WW I origin, the song was made popular in WW II by the German Forces Network in Belgrad, when lacking a more popular song the military DJ played the B-side of a disc with a better known hit on it. Nobody could imagine at first what a hit they had landed. I think only a soldier parted from his true love, and remembering her in the dark hours can understand this song best, and the tune fitting the lyrics so well touches the heart of all soldiers, friend and foe.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,argenine
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 05:04 AM

If you are singing armed forces songs, don't forget the oldest branch--the Coast Guard. Their song is "Semper Paratus" (Always Prepared).

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,argenine
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 06:02 AM

I know this is a very old thread, but I looked into it because I do several Veterans' Day programs each year, and I am always looking to expand my playlist. While I have the thread open, I might as well add to it.

Some WWII and WWII era popular songs that haven't been mentioned are:

God Bless America --- Irving Berlin wrote it it WWI but did not publish or release it until 1938, when Kate Smith sang it on Armistice Day. It was so popular in WWII that there was a movement to make it the national anthem -- until Berlin nixed the idea of replacing the one we already had.

Sentimental Journey -- it launched Doris Day's career in 1945

Now Is The Hour - a Maori song from New Zealand. The Allied troops learned it, took it to Hawaii, where the English-lyric version became popular.

This Is the Army, Mister Jones - Irving Berlin
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
Marie
In Apple Blossom Time
Red Sails In The Sunset
Harbor Lights
Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Old Oak Tree
(Right In) Der Fuehrer's Face
There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere
They're Either Too Young Or Too Old

Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning! -- Berlin wrote it in WWI --right after he got drafted!-- but he also sang it in a review for the troops in WWII.

Don't Get Around Much Anymore

Theses have been mentioned before but deserve a second mention:

Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer
Beer Barrel Polka
Lili Marlene
Amapola
We'll Meet Again
When The Lights Go On Again (All Over The World)
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (recorded a few years after WWII, but related)

String of Pearls

P.S., My record of Dietrich singing "Lili Marlene," is an album called "Wiedersehen Mit Marlene," recorded live when she returned to Germany after a 20-year self-imposed exile (because of Hitler). It was recorded, I think, sometime around 1960.

I don't know if that was her first recording of it, but it's very special.

(Also, though I only took one semester of German, my understanding of the German lyrics tells me that she is a girlfriend, not a prostitute. If she is a prostitute, he sure is hung up on her!)

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,genie
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 06:38 AM

Woody Guthrie, of course, made several contributions to WWII songs, although they weren't as popular as many of the ones mentioned above.

His main contribution, of course, was his answer to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" -- This Land Is Your Land. He also had a song about Fascists not being welcome. Something like, "We Don't Need No Fascists." (That's not it, but it's something like that.) "The Sinking Of the Reuben James," and "Round and Round Hitler's Grave" have already been mentioned.

But he, apparently, added WWII related verses to some of his existing songs while Hitler was in power. For instance, in the song, "The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done (The Great Historical Bum)," he sang this verse:

"There's a man across the ocean, I think ya know him well, His name is Adolf Hitler, we'll blow his soul to Hell, We'll kick him in the panzers and put him on the run, And that'll be the biggest thing that man has ever done."

He also wrote a song called "Miss Pavilchenko," about a Russian spy in WWII.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 03:58 PM

I remember one of those "Errol Flynn" type war films where the rest of his platoon was surplus to requirements!!

One of the songs started with the line: From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli.."

I, as a war orphan in London during the blitz was invited along with many others to a party thrown by the US Army stationed there.

We were warned not to sing, "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy.." as it was considered politically incorrect. Not that I knew what that at the time!

So that's another WW11 Song.

Has anyone mentioned, "Bless 'Em All"?

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 04:11 PM

I don't what happened to my last thread?? It seems that a chunk of it didn't print out.

Back to the Errol Flynn film where he won the war single handed!!

The song started with the line: "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli."

As a war orphan in London during the blitz, The US army threw a party for a whole gang of kids like me. We were warned not to sing, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" It was considered politically incorrect - not that I knew what that meant at the time!

Has any one mentioned "Bless 'Em All"?

Do you remember Bud Flanagan & Chesney Allen and their song "Who Do You Think You are Kidding Mister Hitler?"

It was of course the theme music to "Dad's Army."

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: The Walrus
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 05:35 PM

Skipper,

> Do you remember Bud Flanagan & Chesney Allen and their > song "Who Do You Think You are Kidding Mister Hitler?" > >It was of course the theme music to "Dad's Army."

I think that you'll find that song is Bud Flanagan only (Chesney Allen was dead by the time it was recorded IIRC) IIRC "Who Do You Think...." Was actually written for "Dad's Army" in the 1960s.

Regards

Walrus

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Gareth
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 07:00 PM

I fear there is a whole load of folk song lost, or misparked in the memories of veterans. As a kid in the 50's I can recall sheltering with my mother, and other mums and kids in the clubhouse kitchen of a certain Kentish Rugby Club, on Saturday Night whilst the singing went on. Yes I learnt some songs that got me a clip round the ear, when I repeated them.

They weren't just the bawdy, the A25 Song was one of them.

I was pleased to find that in the in Mudcat,

Mother's attitude, and that of the other wives was simple (This being in the mid 50's) They survived, they are entitled to sing.

The man we all called Uncle Tony, who taught me a cleaned up version of the A 25 Song, survived 3 years of flying Swordfish (String bags) including the sorties on the "Bismarck" from HMS "Victorious".

It was only later that I realised what that meant.

Some months ago I started this thread Click Here Now this may sound funny but I think we all have a duty to record and collect these songs before, and I quote Ralph McTell, " Memories fade, like the Medal ribbons that he wore "

Gareth

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,genie
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 10:55 PM

"I'll Walk Alone" was also an immensely popular hit for Frank Sinatra as a teenage idol.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,genie
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 11:04 PM

A couple of folks mentioned "Aupres De Ma Blonde." This song does go back to before 1900 and its setting is, per the lyrics, some war between Holland and France. But it was a standard marching song for the Doughboys in World War I.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Alta Rigo
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 11:11 PM

Most of the songs mentioned above are in English, but there is a great folk song that I think was popular in that era, "Die Gedanken Sind Frei." I think the Weavers may have sung it, and it it is in Rise Up Singing.

It has great lyrics both in German and in English.

Also, the Weavers' "Wasn't That A Time" (although Pete Seeger said on PBS today that the song was considered by many to be too "red" to be played on the radio a lot).

I'm also wondering about the Johnny Horton song, "Sink the Bismarck." When was it written and was it popular before the Horton version? (It's tune is pretty much the same as Woody Guthrie's "The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done."

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 01:29 AM

Hey---thanx for the Hutsut song! ---I can remember singing that one in '47!

Have the "D-day Dodgers" had a mention?

Some of the gems brought home by the Desert Rats have stayed in my memory over the years--- "Bury me out in the Desert" 'Bury me out in the desert Under a Libyan sun Bury me out in the desert-- My duty for Blighty is done And when you get back to old Glasgow [Newcastle-Cardiff-belfast---etc......] Back to old Blighty once more, Remember the boys in the desert, Who'll never see Blighty no more."

A pawky parody of the Egyptian National anthem of the time was well known and sung by the "Rats". It begins 'Up yer pipe, King Farouk, Hang yer bollocks from a hook"---and gets quickly more impertinent from then on! Boab

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 03:28 PM

Dear Mr "Walrus"

Thank you for your observations re: "Who do you Think.You Are Kidding Mr. Hitler?".which was - as you pointed out performed solo by Bud Flanagan.

I didn't know that it was written as late as 1960!.

I have been racking my brains trying to think of other WW11 songs that were sung in those far off days.

Maybe the "doodlebug that was dropped at the end of our street and which blew all the windows and doors out of our house.(and we were sheltering under the stairs, right next to the gas meter!!)

That could have affected my memory!

Anyway thanks for putting me straight.

Remember me to the "Carpenter" when next you see him!!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Jeanene
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 04:46 PM

Would "Dona, Dona" be considered a WWII song?

I did get a book from the library that had a lot of Jewish songs -- mostly in Yiddish -- about the Holocaust and WWII. Naturally, most of these are not happy songs, but some, like "Dona, Dona" and the German "Die Gedanken Sind Frei," are defiant and/or a tribute to the strength of the desire for freedom and the struggle to overcome oppression.

Jeanene

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 01:10 AM

refresh for guest looking for songs for her classes' tribute

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 07:04 PM

"Bless 'Em All" (or, more properly, "Fuck 'Em All"), tho popular during W.W. II (especially, IIRC, in the U.S. Air Force), is a good deal older & is British in origin.

Does anyone know who wrote "The Second Front Song"? To me, it is one of the most impressive songs to come out of the war. I don't mean to say that I heard it during the war -- I was a little boy in California then. I heard it at the Ballads & Blues Society in London in 1959, and then in Ewan MacColl's collection.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Genie
Date: 02 Nov 01 - 03:53 PM

refresh for folks looking for Veterans' Day song lists

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Tweed
Date: 02 Nov 01 - 08:37 PM

Here's a couple you can listen to if you got some time on your hands. They're from the Library of Congress' Fort Valley State College Folk festival recordings in 1943. This is Mr. Buz Ezell doin' "Roosevelt and Hitler" parts one and two. They're rough as cobs but good recordings of his songs just the same. You just gotta listen a little closer to make 'em out. Windows Media plays 'em pretty good.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MartinRyan
Date: 04 Nov 01 - 07:32 AM

Joe F.

Regarding "The Second Front Song". Martin Pages book "The (bawdy) Songs and Ballads of World War ii" (originally published as "Kiss me Goodnight, Sergeant Major..") gives Ewan McColl as the author.

Regards

p.s. Its striking, incidentally, how many of the songs were fitted to "The Mountains of Mourne" air.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,wildlone
Date: 04 Nov 01 - 01:44 PM

For Soldiers songs you can try Click here
This page has

D day Dodgers with a verse that I have not heard sung before. {found on this site Click here
dave

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 05 Nov 01 - 11:50 AM

MartinRyan: Thanks very much for looking that up. Further light on what MacColl did during the war!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: masato sakurai
Date: 05 Nov 01 - 06:51 PM

The name "Ewan McColl" [sic] is given also at the end of the lyrics of "The Second Front Song" in Martin Page, Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant Major (Panther, 1973, p. 146)[MartinRyan's original], but MacColl says in notes to Bundook Ballads: Ewan MacColl (Topic 12T 130):

THE SECOND FRONT SONG By 1944 a good deal of hostility had arisen between British troops and American soldiers based in the British Isles. A good deal of this was the result of the difference in spending power between the troops of the two nations. Although the tune is well known in Scotland under the title of Musselborough Fair, the song is said to be the work of a group of English soldiers serving in a regiment of The Black Watch. By 1945 the song had become a signal for a free fight and it was consequently outlawed in all pubs patronised by troops. On V.E. night, a riot was narrowly averted in Leeds, Yorkshire, when troops numbering more than a thousand defied the authorities by singing it in the civic centre.

And, according to Ewan MacColl: songmaker (Introduction to The Essential Ewan MacColl by Peggy Seeger),

"He was a contortionist in some cases and, for reasons best known to himself, often did not claim authorship of certain songs which family and friends know are unarguably his." Ivor", "The Second Front Song", "Browned Off' are three that spring immediately to mind. Of course, it is possible that he wrote them with other people. But when he sang them onstage, he would never say whose songs they were or where he had learned them (a sure sign with Ewan, for he would always credit the maker if he knew who it was. And his memory was infallible). He would rarely say, onstage, 'This is a song I wrote' or 'This is one of my songs'. "

~Masato

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 06 Nov 01 - 11:55 AM

Masato Sakurai: Thanks very much for the additional information. MacColl seems to have been quite the slyboots: "...is said to be..." (but not, of course, by me!). %^)

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Genie
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 12:22 AM

So, Joe F,

"Bless 'Em All" (or, more properly, "Fuck 'Em All"), ... is a good deal older... .

How old is it?   And what were the earlier lyrics. (Did they include,
"You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean...?")

Genie

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: The Walrus
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 07:48 PM

Genie,

Re: "Bless 'Em All"
Lewis Winstock was told by some Chelsea Pensioners that the song "was current" in the army during the last decade of the 19th Century.
According to Roy Palmer, it was written (or just first written down) by one Fred Godfrey of the RNAS, and the popular arrangement was written in about 1940 by Jimmy Hughes and Frank Lake.

(all culled from Roy Palmer's "What a Lovely War")

Regards

Walrus

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Laurent
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 05:38 PM

One last (?) word about the song "Auprès de ma blonde".

The song goes back to the early 18thcentury. It seems to have been known since 1704 as "Le prisonnier de Hollande". "Auprès de ma blonde" was the French foot soldiers' marching song at the battle of Denain (July 1712), during the war of the Spanish Succession.

(Being French, I apologize for my poor English).

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Leadfingers
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 08:57 PM

I have 'The Airmens Songbook' lots of RFC and RAF songs , One I DO like is Heinkel Come Back to Me,a parody of Lover come Back to Me.
Words availablle on request.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Genie
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 02:23 AM

Merci, Laurent, pour l'histoire de la chanson "Aupr쳌s De Ma Blonde." V™tre Anglais est mieux que ma Fran쳌ais, bien sžr. J'ai cru que cette chanson etait plus vieux que le vingtieme Ciecle, mais je n'ai pas su quand les Fran쳌ais ont fait la guerre avec les Hollandais.

Genie (Jeanene)

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Santa
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 06:53 AM

Bloody Orkneys

"...no bloody girls, no bloody beer..." and so on for several verses.

It doubtless had many versions with other placenames!

The Fleet Air Arm Museum sells a songbook of FAA, mainly WW2, songs. There are others (including the A25 song) in Cyril Tawney's The Grey Funnel Line.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 04:13 PM

Fred Godfrey may well have written "Bless 'em All" in 1916 as Roy Palmer (and others) have maintained, but no one seems to have published this putative "ur-text." Nor have I come across a contemporary reference to anybody singing the song during World War I.
If Palmer's is pukka gen, a Great War version is out there. But is it? As for Winstock's pensioners (more than one or two?) they were thinking back sixty years or more and may simply have been mistaken. It is significant that Winstock provides no early text in "Songs and Music of the Redcoats," his well-researched book on pre-1914 British military music.

At any rate, part of the melody of "Bless 'em All" strongly resembles that of the popular World War I song, "I Want to Go Home," credited to Canadian Lieutenant Gitz Rice.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: toadfrog
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 10:38 PM

GUEST: When I asked about that earlier, on THIS THREAD, the response seemed to be that Godfrey's version was not printed because it was not considered printable in its day. And also, that Godfrey only wrote down a song already long in circulation. There has sure been an enormous change in my lifetime, which is getting to seem long but is but nothing to the geologist, in attitudes about what is printable be printed and what isn't.

Of course all this does not prove the song is old. But the songs words are not about World War II, so it seems implausible it was written then.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,lighter
Date: 15 Apr 03 - 04:50 PM

TOADFROG: Yes, the Indian army subject matter of "Bless 'em All" in its widely known WWII version does suggest a pre-war origin, and, further, that Hughes & Lake may have just tidied up a saltier original and added new stanzas of their own.(The Indian army references appear only in stanza 1 and, presumably, in the chorus : "no promotion this side of the ocean." My point is simply that the Fred Godfrey/WW I origin has been repeated for decades (at least since C. H. Ward-Jackson's "The Airman's Songbook" (1945), but no one has provided the slightest evidence that it is true; nor is there a text of any sort collected or sung before 1940. I may well have missed something, but I've never come across even a first-person recollection of singing or hearing the song in any form before WW II.

The word "airman" alone in the 1940 version hardly guarantees an RFC/RAF origin. Hughes & Lake might have changed it from "swaddy" or "soldier" or, if the RN is invoked, "sailor" or "matlow." (Just speculating here, of course.)

Now for a positive turn. Harry Morgan's "More Rugby Songs" contains a short lyric, seemingly of British cavalry origin, called "F*** 'Em All." It doesn't scan well to the Hughes & Lake tune, but is perhaps relevant for two reasons. First, Ward-Jackson's WW II text contains a stanza about the British cavalry. Second, Legman somewhere observes that Morgan included some texts (he doesn't say which ones) from a mimeographed collection of bawdy Indian army cavalry songs compiled 1939 - 1940. Further info not at hand. IF the Morgan song is pre-WWII, it could be the progenitor of the well-known "Bless 'em All" in its infinite permutations. In that case, though, Hughes & Lake would seem to have rewritten and reset the old song till it was essentially a new creation.

If anyone wants to investigate further (and they should), I wish them luck.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Peggles
Date: 16 Apr 03 - 03:12 AM

Steve'
Last line to "Washing" "Here's a song that we all sing and it will make you laugh".

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Compton
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 07:49 PM

Just a thought !...I heard a record some while ago called "Come On Boys"...which had a fair number of Bawdy(ish) songs on..I think Dave Townsend (and the Sods Chorus??)had some thing to do with it. Cant remember all the tracks but a new version of Bloody Orkney was on it!

Subject: Lyr Add: COOK 'EM ALL
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 08:16 PM

Here's a version of Bless 'em all I cooked up a couple of moths ago, when there were stories about how cooks in the British Army were having to provide instruction on fighting, because of shortages of trained instructors.

Cook 'em all, cook 'em all,
Now the cookies have answered the call.
Cook all the sergeants and the officers too,
And cook all their privates to serve in a stew.
They say that we're headed away to the East
Though we'd much sooner go down the pub,
There's some bugger called Bush says it's time for a push,
Though we'd rather be dishing up grub.

Here we go, cheerio,
You might think we are marching too slow,
But the British divisions need ample provisions,
To be fit for to fight with the foe,
I hear that the tanks that we got from the Yanks
Are inclined to get stuck in the sand,
But with bangers and mash we will cut quite a dash,
So they need us to give them a hand.

Cook em all, cook em all,
The long and the short and the tall,
They're cooking up something and it seems it's a war,
So it's time to get stuck in, like always before.
But are we downhearted or are we distressed?
Why no, we'll be having a ball,
For cookie is always at home in a mess.
So cheer up me lads, cook 'em all.

Subject: Lyr Add: FUCK 'EM ALL
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 08:37 PM

"Bless 'Em All" (Fuck 'em All) is listed in the Traditional Ballad Index cufresno. It is dated 1916 and credited to F. Godfrey?

Much more discussion, and several versions, are given by Ed Cray in his "Erotic Muse." Ewan MacColl noted that this song has "been the anthem of British Fighting Men since World War 1. Anthony Hopkins, 1979, "Songs From the Front and Rear," p. 105, credits the song to F. Godfrey, 1916, and linked with the Royal Naval Air Service.
The song was not copyrighted until 1940, by Hughes and Lake, as noted in posts above.

Of the several versions, Cray gives pride of place to the British Army version. The first verse is essentially the same as the WW2 British version in the DT, but with the "Fuck 'Em All" chorus.

FUCK 'EM ALL

They say there's a troopship just leaving Bombay,
Bound for old Blighty's shore,
Heavily laden with time-expired men
Bound for the land they adore.
There's many a soldier has finished his time;
There's many a twerp signin' on,
But they'll get no promotion this side of the ocean,
So cheer up, my lads, fuck 'em all.

Chorus;
Fuck 'em all, fuck 'em all,
The long and the short and the tall.
Fuck all the corporals and W. O. Ones,
'Cause we're sayin' good-by to them all,
As back to the billet we crawl.
They'll get no promotion this side of the ocean,
So cheer up, my lads, fuck 'em all.

Alternate chorus:
Fuck 'em all, fuck 'em all,
The long and the short and the tall.
Fuck all the sergeants and their bleedin' sons,
Fuck all the corp'rals and W.O. ones,
'Cause we're sayin' good-by to them all,
As back to the billet we crawl.
They'll get no promotion this side of the ocean,
So cheer up, my lads, fuck 'em all.

Cray also prints a variation on the Lancaster version of WW2 (in the DT):

They say there's a Lancaster leaving the Ruhr,
Bound for old Blighty's shores,
Heavily laden with terrified men,
Shit-scared and prone on the floor.
There's many a flak gun shooting them down,
There's many a night fighter, too,
But there'll be no promotions,
This side of the ocean,
So, cheer up my lads, fuck 'em all.

Chorus:
Fuck 'em all, fuck 'em all,
The long and the short and the tall.
Fuck all the sergeants and WO-1s,
Fuck all the corporals and their bastard sons,
For we are saying good-by to them all,
The long and the short and the tall,
There'll be no promotions this side of the ocean,
So, cheer up my lads, fuck 'em all.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,lighter
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 02:32 PM

Q: When Cray, Hopkins and others ascribe "Bless 'em All" to Fred Godfrey, 1916, they merely repeat an assertion made by Ward-Jackson in 1945 (see above). There seems to be no available evidence for this claim beyond hearsay. It may well be true, but what is the real basis of the claim? All we know is that Hughes and Lake copyrighted their British version in 1940, making the song an immediate hit, and that other, quite insipid, pop versions followed. The burden of proof, which may still be met by someone, rests upon those who simply ASSERT the song's existence before that date. (Use of the melody may indicate that it, at least, really was in the public domain, but we still need evidence.)

"Bless 'em All" was one of the best-known melodies of the 20th century. It would be nice to know more about the song's history.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 03:39 PM

Agreed, there are lots of songs which supposedly have long white beards, but documentation is lacking. I quoted Cray and Hopkins, but there is nothing beyond their anecdotal, unsupported evidence.
We have just about lost all WW1 soldiers, the only hope for verification is in their notes and letters, which upon their deaths their descendants consign to trash.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: toadfrog
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 07:06 PM

Well, it is a mysterious song, because the tune is a remarkably good one, and sounds like it has to come from an older dance tune, to which someone then wrote a military parody. It is just too good a tune to have been invented by an anonymous soldier at some anonymous time. People who invent tunes that good, in recent times, have not normally remained anonymous. And I respectfully suggest that if someone can locate the sheet music for that tune, so that we know when the tune was popular, we have the key to when the song itself originated.

Someone once told me there was a Spanish song, transl. "I Like them All." Is that a concept for anyone?

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 08:08 PM

I once heard a full British Military Band play "Bless 'Em All," with strong emphasis on drums as they marched along. I could believe a band music origin as well.
I agree, it is a song that sticks to your guts and brain and odd that we haven't a clue as to a starting point.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 08:49 PM

Who was Fred Godfrey? Could he have been the popular composer? A Fred Godfrey was composer, with A. J. Mills and Bennett Scott of the 1916 hit song, "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty." Published by Chappell Music, London.
From a useful list of WW1 songs at: WW1 Songs
He is listed as composer of "Come Lads and Lasses," (Arr.?) of "Lucy Long," Arr. for piano 1925 "Patience," and arr. works by Grieg for piano. "Meet Me, Jenny, When the Sun Goes Down" (with Murphy and Castling, attrib. ?), "Have You Got Another Girl At Home Like Mary?" by A. J. Lawrence and Fred Godfrey (1908). Billy Williams (Australian) collaborated with Fred Godfrey for a time on popular tunes.

Words to "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty" at Blighty

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 20 Apr 03 - 10:47 PM

Interesting essay and songs. "Songs of the Air Force in the Vietnam War." Lydia Fish. Vietnam Songs

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Oct 03 - 08:10 PM

Just to note someone wrote keep the campfires burning. Maybe you are singing a different song but I wonder if you should be singing keep the home-fires burning!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: mg
Date: 20 Oct 03 - 10:31 PM

I suspect he or she meant

keep the home-fires burning
while your hearts are yearning,
though the lads are far away they dream of home
there's a silver lining
through each dark cloud shining
turn the dark cloud inside out till the boys come home.

I used to have a clip of John McCormack playing that..don't think I still do but search around the internet and you might find it . It is an absolutely great song/singer combination. mg

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: mg
Date: 20 Oct 03 - 10:47 PM

I did find it and search around this web site and you will find it too..just type in keep the home-fires burning john mccormack and it is one of the first..

but here is a recording of Christmas sounds in the German trenches in WWI....someone probably was playing a record...

http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/germanxmas.htm

this is an amazing site...lots of old WWI songs..

mg

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: LadyJean
Date: 21 Oct 03 - 12:31 AM

From a lady who was a young girl during WWII.

"Around the corner, and under a tree,
A gallant soldier made love to me.
He kissed me once and then he kissed me twice.
It wasn't exactly the thing to do, but golly it was nice!"


My father said that the unofficial motto of the First Armored division wasn't love 'em and leave 'em, but Screw and Bolt. That was the one and only dirty joke my father ever told me. I thought it shoudl be preserved for posterity.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 21 Oct 03 - 06:25 PM

My mother used to sing "Around the Corner" in the 1940s, with some other phrase (maybe "sugar daddy") in place of "gallant soldier". It was an infinite song -- you went straight back from "it was nice" to "around the corner". I suspect it is a good deal older than WW II.

A tale in journalistic circles (possibly apocryphal) has it that at the old New York _Graphic_, a story about an escapee from an asylum who committed a rape was barely prevented, by a vigilant editor, from appearing under the headline "Nut Bolts and Screws". Ick.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 21 Oct 03 - 07:27 PM

Around the corner and under a tree,
A sergeant major ---
A gallant sailor ---
A hardhead soldier ---
A Bengali lady ---
A Malay lady ---
A Tamil lady ---
A Chinese lady ---
etc.

Definitely sung in WW1. Older? British? American?
Certainly everyone knows it.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MartinRyan
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 08:06 AM

I recently picked up a little booklet called "The Army Song Book". The fly leaf reads:
____________________________
Compiled by THE ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE in collaboration wiht THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS and published by order of the SECRETARY OF WAR.

This book is the property of the United States Government and its contents may be used only wiothin the military services.

1941
_______________________________-

It is also rubber-stamped as follows:

SPECIAL SERVICE OFFICE HQRS., THIRD ARMY.

I suspect the versions contined bear little resemblance to what was actually sung!

Regards

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 06:54 PM

When I was the secretary of my student house at Caltech, 1955-1958, I inherited a stack of papers from my predecessors that included a mimeographed book called SERENADE: "From South Pacific to North China" & put out by the U.S. Marine Corps (Aviation). I copied a few songs from it, none of them a war song:

Ala Boogy
Daughter of the Rabbi (= Harlot of Jerusalem)
Shanty Town

Too bad I didn't steal it.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: The Walrus
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 07:53 PM

Joe_F,

The version of the story I'd heard was the escaped lunatic raped a laundry-woman, the headline being 'Nut screws washer and bolts' - Definitely apocryphal I'd say.

Guest,O,
If your song is pre-WW2, with the references to Begalis,Tamils and Malays, I'd suspect that it's not American.

One song my late Father recounted to me, from the WWII period (possibly picked up from GIs - from the 'Pride of New York' reference) was a parody of 'In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree'

"In the shade of the old apple tree
"Where two lovely white legs I could see
"And right at the top
"A nice little spot,
"I knew it spelled Heaven to me."

"So I pulled out the Pride of New York
"And it fitted her just like a cork
"Then I said "Please don't scream"
"As I turned on the cream
"'Neath the shade of that old apple tree."

Any use?

Walrus

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,James
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 12:27 PM

My dad use to sing the following..can anyone tell me more about this song..I only know one verse..is it from one of the wars. My dad was Canadian, is it a canadian song or poem..
It is only an old bit of bunting,
It is only an old coloured rag;
But many have died for it's honour
And shed their best blood for our flag.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 12:53 PM

Walrus, I don't know where it started out, but "Around the corner" was sung, with different words, by troops from both sides of the pond. The verses about Tamil, etc. were from an English site and would not have been known to most American troops. I know that they were never sung by my father (American, WW1). Unfortunately I remember few of his lyrics which, at the time, were "unprintable."

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,don
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 05:04 PM

i'm looking for the name of a war song and who sings it? it goes something like this:

my war ribbons i'll send home to you,
darling ther red ,there white and there blue.
if my love for you is dead
wear my ribbons made of red.
if my love for you is true
wear my ribbons made of blue
and if you may or if you might
wear my ribbons made of white.

if anyone could please help me.thank you don

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Lighter (w/o cookie)
Date: 21 Aug 04 - 05:38 PM

Hey, big breakthrough in "Bless 'em All" studies!

Head for the Library of Congress's "American Memory" page and navigate to Captain Leighton Robinson's performance of a 19th C. music-hall song called "A-Roodle-Tum-Toodle-Tum-Too." With a few strategic alterations, this is unmistakably the melody we now associate with "Bless 'em All." The words, of course, are unrelated.

Robinson learned the song on his first voyage to sea -- in 1888.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Lindsay
Date: 22 Aug 04 - 04:52 AM

"Room Five Hundred and Four" is probably my favourite World War Two song

some other suggestions

"He Wears a Pair of Silver Wings"
"Tell Them We All Died Game" (from Australia)

and this one, in tribute to our American allies:

Thanks, Mr Roosevelt, its swell of you
For the way you're helping us to carry on
We'll see the British Empire smiling through
When at last these dark and stormy days have gone
And Frankin, by the way, please convey
Our congratulations to the folks in USA
We're saying thanks, Mr Roosevelt, we're proud of you
For the way you're helping us to carry on.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From:
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 01:15 AM

I am trying to find a song from WW11 my Uncle seved on the USS DUFILO 423 he is asking about this song he remembers it playing when he was in the war all he can tell us is something about where's Annie he is a stroke patient and is unable to communicate I am trying to find this for him. Is ther anyone out there that can help

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Bert
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 02:37 PM

I found this with a google search. Dunno if it's the one though.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From:
Date: 16 Jul 05 - 12:55 PM

Does anyone on here have the lyrics to "When the Lights Come on Again?" I've searched the Internet for about 2 years without success and have also made vain attempts to locate them in a few libraries. Would be most grateful for any assistance in this endeavor.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN THE LIGHTS GO ON AGAIN
From: GUEST,ragdall
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 07:20 AM

I found this version, here:

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO ON AGAIN (ALL OVER THE WORLD)
by Eddie Seiler, Sol Marcus, Bennie Benjemen, ©1942
As sung by Vaughn Monroe

*When the lights go on again all over the world,
And the boys are home again all over the world,
And rain or snow is all that may fall from the skies above,
A kiss won't mean "goodbye" but "Hello" to love.

When the lights go on again all over the world,
And the ships will sail again all over the world,
Then we'll have time for things like wedding rings and free hearts will sing,
When the lights go on again all over the world.

Is that the one?
rags

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Feb 06 - 06:14 PM

Shotgun Boogie was a hit in 1950.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Shelley
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 03:51 PM

Does anyone know the lyrics and, indeed, the correct title to the song

"How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?"

My daughter is doing a highschool history project and needs to know the lyrics to this song as it has historical relevance to a subject they are studying.

Anyone's help would be most sincerely appreciated...thanks.

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 04:07 PM

You can get a couple of sound files from archive.org and work out the lyrics from there.

Here's one by Byron Harlan & Ada Jones
http://www.archive.org/details/ByronGHarlanwithAdaJones

And you'll find three versions by Arthur Fields here
http://www.archive.org/details/ArthurFields

Subject: Lyr Add: HOW 'YA GONNA KEEP 'EM DOWN ON THE FARM?
From: The Walrus
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 08:26 PM

GUEST,Shelley,
Re:- How 'Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)
The song can be heard here:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/howyagonna.htm


HOW 'YA GONNA KEEP 'EM DOWN ON THE FARM? (After They've Seen Paree)
Words by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young; Music by Walter Donaldson; ©1919.

1. "Reuben, Reuben, I've been thinking,"
Said his wifey dear,
"Now that all is peaceful and calm,
The boys will soon be back on the farm."
Mister Reuben started winking,
And slowly rubbed his chin.
He pulled his chair up close to mother,
And he asked her with a grin:

CHORUS 1: How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm,
After they've seen Paree?
How 'ya gonna keep 'em away from Broadway,
Jazzin' aroun' and paintin' the town?
How 'ya gonna keep 'em away from harm? That's a mystery.
They'll never want to see a rake or plow,
And who the deuce can parley-vous a cow?
How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm,
After they've seen Paree?

2. "Reuben, Reuben, you're mistaken,"
Said his wifey dear,
"Once a farmer, always a jay,
And farmers always stick to the hay."
"Mother Reuben, I'm not fakin',
Tho' you may think it strange;
But wine and women play the mischief
With a boy who's loose with change."

CHORUS 2: How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm,
After they've seen Paree?
How 'ya gonna keep 'em away from Broadway,
Jazzin' aroun' and paintin' the town?
How 'ya gonna keep 'em away from harm? That's a mystery.
Imagine, Reuben, when he meets his pa,
He'll kiss his cheek and holler "oo-la-la!"
How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm,
After they've seen Paree?

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,alison kay
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 06:49 AM

i love woold war 2 sngs

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Muttley
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 03:32 AM

My Nan used to have a sing-along in the car whenever we drove up to Healesville (about 50 miles east of Melbourne, Australia) and several of those mentioned were always in the repetoire - she adored the old songs of the WW2 era (her 2 husbands, all her brothers and brothers-in-law and cousins all served in the various arms of the Australian Armed Services):

Especial favourites were the already mentioned "One of Our Planes is Missing" and another I have forgotten the major part of was called (I think)'Barefoot Days:

I think the chorus ran -

Barefoot Days; when we were just a kid
Barefoot Days; Oh Boy! The things we did
We'd go down to a shady nook
And use a bent-pin for a hook
And we'd fish all day and we'd fish all night
But the jolly old fish refused to bite
Then by-and-by; on some old cellar door
We'd slide and slide; 'til our pants got torn
And then we'd have to go home: Stay in our bed
'Til Mother got busy with a needle-and-thread
Oh Boy! What joy, we had in barefoot days.


Damn I miss my Nan and those long, hazy drives!

Mutley

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Trev
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 08:57 AM

D-Day Dodgers, parody of Lili marlene.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 01:42 PM

Having been born before WWII, I heard most of the ones played in the U.S. The songs of that era tend to be intensely personal and the list one keeps in memory tends to reflect where he or she was at the time. If you were in England during the Blitz, you had one set of issues to worry about, as destruction rained down from the skies. If you were in the states, you might have been a lonely bride waiting for news of a loved one overseas. If you were a G.I., or a soldier or sailor anywhere, certain songs reminded you of the home and family you longed to see again. I remember the voices of certain singers who were prominent at the time; Jo Stafford, Margaret Whiting, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine and many others.

You can probably size up your audience and find appropriate songs depending on which constituency they represent from the War era.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 02:26 PM

Trev,
D-Day Dodgers....not a parody...it just borrows the tune.
Steve

Subject: WWII songs How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm
From: Genie
Date: 02 Jul 08 - 02:51 PM

Walrus, I think of "How 'Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm" as a WWI song.   Was it also popular in WWII?

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,B.O.P._ARIES.Co/raptorwing
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 09:28 PM

~S~
hello all well i play il-2 online and am at this time tryn to make a movie but i want some ww2 erra music dealing perticurly with the air war aspect of it as il-2 is a ww2 fighterplane sim do any of you know of any : )
thnx in advance

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Greg B
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 02:33 PM

Oscar Brand is probably the best source for such things; Google him, he's got a web site. He made an album (probably still available) of
WW II pilot songs. Cracking show!

There's also a book you might be able to find called, if I recall
propery, "There I Was Flat on My Back."

I used to be quite active in Combat Flight Sim (version 1 mostly).

I was a member of the "Old Geezer" (GZR) squadron; hung out a bit
with the 'Daffy Ducks' (France-based) (coin coin!) as well.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 01 Oct 08 - 12:02 PM

Though many songs come to mind, from my childhood in the 1940's, what I recall most vividly is how evocative many of the best songs were in painting pictures of the loneliness of men far from home, the pain of parents, wives and families waiting and praying for their safe return and of the longing for familiar things many at war knew they would never see again. At no time since, in no other war in my lifetime, have such images been as indelible. The shame of it is that it takes a war to make us all realize how precious life and love truly are.

With today's instant news and satellite transmissions, time and distance have shrunk so much that it is unlikely that such songs will ever be written again. They were, after all, very much the product of that earlier time when news was long in coming and radio and newsreels provided all that could be learned on the home front. A deep melancholy was the result and the songs were a shared way of expressing it.

Subject: 1900's song - Strike up the band here comes a sail
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 08:40 PM

Strike up the band (here comes a sailor) - anybody know it??

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Carol V.
Date: 10 Apr 09 - 10:41 AM

Trying to find a song called, {Love Will Find A Way} Sung to the soldiers when they left for battle. Anyone know this song?

Subject: Lyr Add: LOVE WILL FIND A WAY
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Apr 09 - 11:19 AM

Carol V.

This might be what you are looking for.


LOVE WILL FIND A WAY
(Noble Sissle / Eubie Blake) 6-1921 New York, New York

Discography (variious artists)

Emerson 10336
Regal 9137

Vocalion 14218-B

Okeh 4504-B

Pathé Actuelle 020655
Pathé Actuelle 10232

Edison 50866

Ah!   http://www.mdhs.org/eubieblake/subs/detail.asp?cat=Sheet+Music&id=404&mult=1

Band 3
LOVE WILL FIND A WAY
Noble Sissle, vocal; Eubie Blake, piano

(Verse) Come, dear, and don't let our faith weaken,
Let's keep our love fires burning bright.
Your love for me is a heavenly beacon,
Guiding me all through love's darkest night.
Don't start minding
Or fault finding,
No matter how dark one's path may grow.
Fate won't hurry,
So don't worry,
We'll just keep our hearts a-glow.

(Refrain) For love will find a way
Though skies now are gray.
Love like ours can never be ruled
Cupid's not schooled that way.
Dry each tear-dimmed eye
Clouds will soon roll by
Though fate may lead us astray
My dearie, mark what I say
Love will find a way.


©1921 M. Witmark & Sons. Copyright renewed. All rights reserved.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Gene
Date: 10 Apr 09 - 01:17 PM

Been a few years since this was posted...

RE: ABOVE SHOTGUN BOOGIE by Tennessee Ernie Ford...


Well, I met a little gal and she was tall and thin
Asked her what you got, she said [a box fulla tin!]

correct lyrics are


Well, I met a little gal, she was tall and thin
I asked her what she had, she said "a FOX 410"

that's an over and under shotgun/rifle

very popular in the late 40s & 50s...

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,me
Date: 18 May 09 - 06:58 PM

wow...

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 18 May 09 - 10:26 PM

Dang, Gene!   You sure did some good work there. "a FOX 410" is EXACTLY right, and all these years I have heard "a pocket full of tin" even though it didn't make any real sense. I just now listened to it and can't even imagine how someone could get it wrong. :) And it DOES make sense now.

This isn't our oldest long running discussion, but it is over 10 years old now. Nice to see the good ones come back again.   Thanks again, Max.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 19 May 09 - 06:46 AM

I hope this won't count as thread drift. On Saturday 4th. July the Lewes Saturday Folk Club in Lewes, Sussex, UK, has a night with the excellent verse and prose reader Roger Brasier:

'THE DAY WAR BROKE OUT
An evening of humour, nostalgia and pathos to mark the 70th. anniversary of the start of World War Two. Featuring Roger Brasier (Yes! it's That Man Again) and Full Supporting Programme.'

Roger will perform, of course, but we'd like the floor singers to choose songs, tunes or readings in advance and let us know what they've chosen. This means we can put a programme together and you can be sure that what you've chosen won't be nicked by someone else. The music of the First World War has been much researched, but less has been done on the Second World War.

If you'd like to take part, please email me with your choice of music: valmaigoodyear(at)aol.com.

I can tell you for a start that I'm doing Louis Simpson's poem 'Carentan' which is in ballad style, so I've put what I hope is an appropriate tune to it.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Mallee
Date: 21 May 09 - 12:59 AM

1st verse
If you want to see the colonel i know where he is i know where he is i know where he is.
If you want to see the colonel i know where he is pinning another medal on his chest

Last verse:
If you want to see me privates i know they are i know where i know where they are
if you want to see me privates i know they are their hanging on the old barbed wire

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Karen Webb
Date: 19 Nov 09 - 07:29 PM

I so want to know if there's any more to 'Around the corner, and under a tree' My parents' version continued:

The sergeant-major made love to me
He kissed me once, he kissed me twice
It wasn't quite the thing to do, but oh it was so nice.

Since it's set to a tune, surely there was more? Or was singing or humming it maybe a signal of interest?

Any more info - or verses! gratefully welcomed.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 02:19 AM

'.. Another (and very moving) one from 1940 is "The Last Time I Saw Paris". ... '

I think it worth drawing attention to distinguished authorship of this one: Music: Jerome Kern; lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II. Wow!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 02:27 AM

'Lewes Saturday Folk Club in Lewes, Sussex, UK, has a night with the excellent verse and prose reader Roger Brasier:

'THE DAY WAR BROKE OUT
An evening of humour, nostalgia and pathos to mark the 70th. anniversary of the start of World War Two. '

Must have been a great evening. Does everyone recognise its title? It was the opening catchphrase of the v popular N Country radio comedian Robb Wilton right thru the War. I remember his first broadcast when the War had just ended, & he brought the house down by beginning, "The day Peace broke out..."

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: melodeonboy
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 06:53 AM

'ere, what about "Stalin wasn't Stallin"?

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,thinking of nana
Date: 02 Mar 11 - 11:43 PM

my nana used to sing a song that went something like:
_ _ the band's all here
what the heck do we care
we only have our underwear

do you know the song and the rest?
she just passed and she used to sing it
i miss her
thanks
cj

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 03 Mar 11 - 06:14 PM

nana's Guest:
For the origin & original words of this song see
here. It is much older than W.W. II & of course has been extensively parodied. If "heck" is too profane for you, you can retreat to

Hail, hail, the gang's all here.
Never mind the weather.
Here we are together.
Hail, hail, the gang's all here.
Let the trouble start right now!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: henri
Date: 17 Apr 12 - 08:56 AM

Glenn Miller wrote I got a gal in Kalamazoo. There is a line in it which goes...
Am I dreamin',
I can hear her screamin'
Hiya Mr Jackson, everything's
O-K-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O-O...ETC.

I would like to know who the heck this Mr Jackson is.
Any ideas anyone?

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Apr 12 - 12:00 PM

Glenn Miller's orchestra indeed played "Girl in Kalamazoo"; but it was not written by Miller, but by Harry Warren & Mack Gordon ~~

Out of interest, have looked up that ubiquitous composer Harry Warren in my Ox Guide to Popular Music. Just a selection of his output:—

words by Al Dubin: 42nd St; We're in the Money; Keep young & beautiful; I'll string along with you; I only have eyes for you; Lullaby of Broadway; September in the rain;

words by Johnny Mercer: Jeepers creepers; You must have been a beautiful baby; Jezebel; Acheson Topeka & Santa Fe.

words by Mack Gordon: Down Argentina Way; I-yi-yi-yi like you very much; Chatanooga choo-choo; Gal in Kalamazoo; I like to be loved by you; You'll never know

What a guy!

~Michael~

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Bert
Date: 17 Apr 12 - 12:40 PM

More WWII stuff here

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: goatfell
Date: 17 Apr 12 - 12:43 PM

Der Fuehrer's Face Spike Jones

Subject: Lyr Add: I'LL WALK ALONE (Cahn/Styne)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 12:03 AM

This song has been mentioned several times in this thread. Wikipedia says Dinah Shore recorded it twice. Indeed, Spotify has 2 versions. I'm guessing the first version shown below is the one used in the film, and the second is a result of a reworking to turn it into a Christmas song—but without liner notes, I can't be sure of the circumstances.


I'LL WALK ALONE
Words by Sammy Cahn; music by Jule Styne; ©1944.
Introduced by Dinah Shore in the film "Follow the Boys"

[Version 1:]

They call; no date.
I promised you I'd wait.
I want them all to know
I'm strictly single-O.

I'll walk alone
Because, to tell you the truth, I'll be lonely
I don't mind being lonely,
When my heart tells me you are lonely too.

I'll walk alone.
They'll ask me why and I'll tell them I'd rather.
There are dreams I must gather,
Dreams we fashioned the night
You held me tight.

I'll always be near you wherever you are,
Each night in ev'ry prayer.
Just whisper; I'll hear you, no matter how far,
So close your eyes and I'll be there.

Please walk alone,
But send your love and your kisses to guide me.
Till you're walkin' beside me,
I'll walk alone.
Darling, all by myself I'll walk alone.
* * *
[Version 2:]

I'll walk alone
Through every Christmas until you're beside me,
And I'll dream you're beside me,
When my heart tells me you are dreaming too.

I'll walk alone,
With all the mem'ries of other Decembers,
Just a girl who remembers
Dreams we fashioned the night
You held me tight.

I'll always be near you … [same as above]

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 05:30 AM

I collected a song from a little old lady with a powerful voice. Donnie Donegan. Usually seen at Upton FF UK. She used to run the Gallion FC in Stourport for amny years. She sang the song
"Down with Hitler and the Nazis" and she is not sure where it came from but thinks her father might have written it in Liverpool during the war.

I have a recording of it somewhere. She has recordings of Arlo Guthrie who was booked for her club, singing into the wee small hours in her front room. She reckons she still has the tape! Somewhere!

Subject: Lyr Add: THANKS, MR ROOSEVELT! (George Formby)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Jun 13 - 12:28 AM

I'm tempted to think this was meant ironically, but apparently not.

THANKS, MR ROOSEVELT!
Written by: Connor, 1941.
As sung by George Formby

John Bull has written a message
And sent it off by clipper plane today.
Oh, what a wonderful message!
Now let me tell you what it had to say:

It just said, "Thanks, Mr. Roosevelt; it's swell of you
For the way you're helping us to carry on.
You'll see the British Empire smiling through
When these dark and stormy days are gone.

"And Franklin, by the way, please convey
Our congratulations to the folks in USA."
We're saying, "Thanks, Mr. Roosevelt; we're proud of you
For the way you're helping us to carry on.

"Old friend, you've never denied us.
In our hearts, your name is evergreen.
Your land is standing beside us,
As in the days of nineteen seventeen."

So we say, "Thanks, Mr. Roosevelt; it's swell of you
For the way you're helping us to carry on.
You'll see the British Empire smiling through
When these dark and stormy days are gone.

"And Franklin, by the way, please convey
Our congratulations to the folks in USA."
We're saying, "Thanks Mr. Roosevelt we're proud of you
For the way you're helping us to carry on.

[Instrumental interlude.]

"And Franklin, by the way, please convey
Our congratulations to the folks in USA."
We're saying, "Thanks, Mr. Roosevelt; we're proud of you
For the way you're helping us to carry on."

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN THEY SOUND THE LAST ALL CLEAR
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Jun 13 - 09:53 PM

WHEN THEY SOUND THE LAST ALL CLEAR
words ad music Hugh Charles, Louis Elton, 1941.
As sung by Vera Lynn

When they sound the last all clear,
How happy, my darling, we'll be,
When they turn up the lights
And the dark lonely nights
Are only a memory.

Never more we'll be apart,
Always together, sweetheart,
For the peace bells will ring
And the whole world will sing
When they sound the last all clear.

We've got our troubles and we've got our cares,
But as long as we keep smiling through,
There'll come a day when the clouds roll away
And the sun will be shining anew.

[Repeat:] When they sound the last all clear....

Nevermore we'll be apart....

Subject: Lyr Add: GOODBYE, MAMA (I'M OFF TO YOKOHAMA)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Jun 13 - 11:37 PM

I listened to all the available recordings on YouTube--there were several--and compiled this composite:


GOODBYE, MAMA (I'M OFF TO YOKOHAMA)
Words and music by J. Fred Coots, ©1941.

Johnny was a soldier boy who never looked for scraps,
But this young buckaroo
Was Yankee through-and-through;
Then Johnny heard our country's call to arms against the Japs,
And as he marched away,
His buddies heard him say:

1. [Male voice:] Goodbye, mama.
I'm off to Yokohama
For the red, white, and blue,
My country, and you.
Goodbye, mama.
I'm off to Yokohama
Just to teach all those Japs
The Yanks are no saps.
A million fightin' sons of Uncle Sam, if you please,
Will soon have all those Japs right down on their Japa-knees.
So goodbye, mama.
I'm off to Yokohama
For my country, my flag, and you.

2. [Female voice:] Say goodbye to mama.
You're off to Yokohama,
So be brave and be strong;
You won't be gone long.
Say bye-bye, mama,
For Land of Yama-Yama
Until April I guess
Will be your address.
On Christmas eve when dad and I are trimming the tree,
You'll do your share of trimming out on land and on sea.
Say goodbye to mama;
You're off to Yokohama
For your country, your flag and me.

* * *
VARIATIONS – In some recordings, the following lines are substituted for the lines in italics above:

[Female voice:] All those Japs will feel worse
To hear I'm a nurse.
A soldier needs a woman's touch when he starts to fight.
That's why the girls will do their share with all of their might.

Though the Japs may tough,
We're calling their bluff.

Though they're tricky and smart,
We'll soon break their heart.
Our bugler is a colored boy who's good with the dice,
And when he's finished with the Japs they'll soon have no rice.

Tell dad I plan a big surprise; nobody knows.
I'll bring him back a Jap valet to care for his clothes.

We're learning jujitsu where you kick with the feet.
We'll kick 'em in their Tojo and watch 'em retreat.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 12:19 AM

REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR by Don Reid & Sammy Kaye, 1941.

Subject: Lyr Add: HE WEARS A PAIR OF SILVER WINGS
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 12:53 AM

HE WEARS A PAIR OF SILVER WINGS
Michael Carr & Eric Maschwitz
As recorded by Kay Kyser & His Orchestra, Harry Babbitt, vocalist.

Although some people say he's just a crazy guy,
To me he means a million other things,
For he's the one who taught this happy heart of mine to fly.
He wears a pair of silver wings.
And though it's pretty tough, the job he does above,
I wouldn't have him change it for a king.
An ordinary fellow in a uniform I love,
He wears a pair of silver wings.

Why, I'm so full of pride when we go walking
Every time he's home on leave,
He, with those wings on his tunic,
And me with my heart on my sleeve.

And when I'm left alone and we are far apart,
I sometimes wonder what tomorrow brings,
For I adore that crazy guy who taught my happy heart
To wear a pair of silver wings.

For I adore that crazy guy who taught my happy heart
To wear a pair of silver wings.

Subject: Lyr Add: THAT'S SABOTAGE (Gordon/Warren)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 07:48 AM

THAT'S SABOTAGE
Words, Mack Gordon; music, Harry Warren; ©1942.
As performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, with Marion Hutton, vocalist.

Baby, what's wrong with you?
I can't get along with you.
When it comes to romance, you're never in the mood.
I say yes; you say no.
I say stop; you say go.
Lately, honey, I can't understand your attitude.

If you don't thrill me like you used to thrill me, that's sabotage.
If you don't kiss me like you used to kiss me, that's sabotage.
When you hear sirens screamin' those "be-alert" alarms,
Don't run helter-skelter; there's a bomb-proof shelter in my arms.

If you don't thrill me like you used to thrill me, that's sabotage.
Some fifth-column jerk did his dirty work and changed your mind about me.
I can't sleep; I've got to keep my F-B-eye on you,
'Cause if you've been untrue, that's sabotage.

If you don't thrill me like you used to thrill me, that's sabotage.
Some fifth-column jerk did his dirty work and changed your mind about me.
I can't sleep; I've got to keep my F-B-eye on you,
'Cause, baby, you've become a habit.
Please don't go and try to crab it.
If you've been untrue, that's sabotage.


[Wikipedia says THAT'S SABOTAGE was written for the film "Orchestra Wives" but was cut.]

Subject: Lyr Add: THIS IS THE ARMY, MISTER JONES (I Berlin)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 08:47 AM

THIS IS THE ARMY, MISTER JONES
Words and music by Irving Berlin, ©1942.

VERSE: A bunch of frightened rookies were list'ning filled with awe.
They listened while a sergeant was laying down the law.
They stood there at attention, their faces turning red.
The sergeant looked them over and this is what he said:

CHORUS 1: This is the army, Mister Jones,
No private rooms or telephones.
You had your breakfast in bed before,
But you won't have it there any more.

CHORUS 2. This is the army, Mister Green.
We like the barracks nice and clean.
You had a housemaid to clean your floor,
But she won't help you out any more.

BRIDGE: Do what the buglers command.
They're in the army and not in a band.

CHORUS 3: This is the army, Mister Brown.
You and your baby went to town.
She had you worried, but this is war,
And she won't worry you any more.

[I am a bit disturbed by the implications of Chorus 3: Being in the army is a convenient way to abandon a pregnant girlfriend?]

Subject: Lyr Add: YOU'D BE SO NICE TO COME HOME TO (Porter)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 09:30 AM

YOU'D BE SO NICE TO COME HOME TO
Words and music by Cole Porter, ©1942.
Introduced by Janet Blair and Don Ameche in the film "Something to Shout About"
As sung by Dinah Shore:

You'd be so nice to come home to.
You'd be so nice by the fire.
While the breeze on high
Sang a lullaby,
You'd be all that I could desire.

Under stars chilled by the winter,
Under an August moon burning above,
You'd be so nice.
You'd be paradise
To come home to and love.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 10:45 AM

http://para-phenalia.com/cart/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=282

Above is link to sheet music of 1940 song I remember called 'Sons of the Old Contemptibles'

Sons of the Old Contemptibles
Carrying on the same old way
The were the old dependables
And we're very glad to say
Steady and strong they marched on to fame
They won the war, boys, and we'll do the same..."

--- from memory over 73 years. Good catchy tune. The original Old Contemptibles -
The name self-adopted by British troops belonging to the regular army in 1914, the term was supposedly derived from a comment made by the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II.
The Kaiser, upon hearing that German forces were being held up in France while en route to the French capital, is said to have exclaimed his exasperation of "Sir John French's contemptible little army" -online War Encyclopedia

I remember also that the 'big bands' [Henry Hall, Geraldo, Harry Roy et al] during their half-hour radio spots, would include their vocalists singing the genuine [if euphemistically somewhat bowdlerised] soldiers' song "Bless 'Em All".

All meant to keep up morale when things weren't going that great early in WWii.

~M~

Subject: Lyr Add: A FELLOW ON A FURLOUGH (Bobby Worth)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 10:52 AM

A FELLOW ON A FURLOUGH
Words and music by Bobby Worth, ©1943.
As recorded by Glenn Miller.

I'm just a fellow on a furlough out looking for a dream,
The one who's in my dreams every night;
A lonesome fellow on a furlough in search of company,
Somebody who will be my guiding light.

"Oh, pretty lady," you'll hear me say,
"Beautiful lady, are you going my way?"

I'm just a fellow on a furlough whose hopes have all come true.
The girl of my furlough dream is you.

[Note: some versions of this song are cast in the third person: "He's just a fellow...." (etc.)]

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 10:55 AM

Also one called "Browned off" - not to be confused with the Ewan MacColl song of same title ...

When you're browned off for something you ain't done
When you're browned off because you've lost your gun
When you're browned off it's just a bit of fun
-- Cor chase me round the barrack square

(followed by the floating 'Far better off in a home' chorus)

I suspect a bit of misunderstanding of army slang in this one: 'browned off' was a variant of 'pissed off' = of course 'fed up'. But the songwriter seems to have taken it as synonymous with 'told off', ie reprimanded by NCO; particularly in the first line.

~M~

Subject: Lyr Add: I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (Gannon/Kent)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 11:39 AM

I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS^[1]

VERSE: I'm dreaming tonight of a place I love, even more than I usually do,
And although I know It's a long road back I promise you—^[2]

CHORUS: I'll be home for Christmas; you can plan on me.^[3]
Please have snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree.^[4]
Christmas eve will find me where the love light gleams.
I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.

NOTES:
1. From Wikipedia: "The song was written by the lyricist Kim Gannon, and the composer Walter Kent. Buck Ram, who previously wrote a poem and song with the same title, was credited as a co-writer of the song following a lawsuit. The original 1943 release of the song by Bing Crosby on Decca Records listed only Walter Kent and Kim Gannon as the songwriters on the record label. Later pressings added the name of Buck Ram to the songwriting credit."

2. The verse is omitted by most singers, including Bing Crosby.

3. Some recorded versions have "count on me."

4. Some recorded versions have "by the tree" or "under the tree."

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 12:19 PM

I'll Be Home for Christmas

I'm dreaming tonight of a place I love
Even more than I usually do
And although I know it's a long way back
I promise you-

I'll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents under the tree

Christmas Eve will find you
Where the love light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams

I'll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents under the tree

Christmas eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams
If only in my dreams.

As sung by Michael Bublé. Adds an introductory verse (in sheet music?).

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 07:01 PM

One that came to mind was posted by Joe Offer, thread 11733- "Buckle Down, Winsocki." 1941

Buckle Down, Winsocki

"San Antonio Rose" came out in 1938, but it was on every juke box in Texas all during the War.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 07:14 PM

Top songs in the source charts are listed by year here:

http://tsort.info/music/yr1941.htm

http://tsort.info/music/yr1942.htm
and et cetera.

Not the year written, but years of top popularity.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 07:47 PM

HE WEARS A PAIR OF SILVER WINGS
Michael Carr, music; Eric Maschwitz, words, 1942
Kay Kyser lyrics

Although some people say he's just a crazy guy
To me he means a million other things
For he's the one who taught this happy heart of mine to fly
He wears a pair of silver wings.

And though it's pretty tough, the job he does above
I wouldn't have him change for a king
An ordinary fellow in a uniform I love
He wears a pair of silver wings.

Why, I'm so full of pride when we go walking
Every time he's home on leave
He with those wings on his tunic
And me with my heart on my sleeve.

But when I'm left alone and we are far apart
I sometimes wonder what tomorrow brings
For I adore that crazy guy who taught my happy heart
To wear a pair of silver wings.

For I adore that crazy guy who taught my happy heart
To wear a pair of silver wings.

from www.lyricsmode.com

Subject: Lyr Add: I'M GOING TO GET LIT UP (H Gregg)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 09:14 PM

I'M GOING TO GET LIT UP (WHEN THE LIGHTS GO ON IN LONDON)
Words & Music, Hubert Gregg, ©1943.
As sung by Carroll Gibbons.

I'm gonna get lit up when the lights go up in London.
I'm gonna get lit up as I've never been before.
You will find me on the tiles.
You will finally reach the smiles(?).
I'm gonna get so lit up I'll be visible for miles.

The city will sit up when the lights go up in London.
We'll all be lit up as the strand was, only more, much more,
And before the party's played out,
They will fetch the fire brigade out
To the littest-uppest scene you ever saw.

Subject: Lyr Add: SAY A PRAYER FOR THE BOYS OVER THERE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 09:45 PM

SAY A PRAYER FOR THE BOYS OVER THERE
Words, Herb Magidson; music, Jimmy McHugh; ©1943.
Introduced by Deanna Durbin in the film "Hers to Hold"
As sung by Deanna Durbin.

All of us are working hand in hand.
We're working to preserve this wondrous land;
But there is something more we all can do
That will help to bring our loved ones safely through:

Say a prayer for the boys over there
When they play the Star-Spangled Banner.
Picture them by the dawn's early light,
And ask the Lord to watch over them each night.

Lift your eyes as you silently rise
When they play the Star-Spangled Banner.
As the song of freedom fills the air,
Say a prayer for the boys over there.

As the song of freedom fills the air,
Say a prayer for the boys over there.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE INFANTRY? (Loesser)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 11:34 PM

WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE INFANTRY?
Words and music by Frank Loesser, ©1943.
As recorded by Glenn Miller & The Army Air Force Band.

What do you do in the infantry? You march; you march; you march.
What do you do when your pack has got your back as stiff as starch?
This is a mechanized war, they say; that saying is sure a bust,
'Cause all that you see in the infantry is one another's dust.

What do you do in the infantry? You hike; you hike; you hike.
What do you do in the infantry? You left and right or bike(?).
Everyone else can ride a jeep or fly up in the sky,
But there's nothing to ride in the infantry; you're just a tired guy.

The hard way, the hard way,
Sweat till you get there the hard way.

What do they say in the infantry? They squawk and squawk and squawk
All about miles and miles and miles that they have had to walk.
They march across the ocean, and that's quite a trick to do,
But don't forget the Air Corps has done some marching too.

What do you do in the ground crew? You're always fixin' planes.
Never a chance to sleep and dream of beautiful G. I. Janes.
You're patching a hole in the fuselage or loading the bomber's sticks.
What do you do in the ground crew? You fix and fix and fix.

What do you do in the Air Corps when the flak begins to scream?
How can you duck when the bombardier says, "Steady on the beam"?
How can you dig a foxhole or jump behind a tree?
Wouldn't you love to march away just like the infantry?

The soft way, the soft way,
Try to crash land, brother, the soft way.

What do you do when your gas is gone and you're flyin' a Thunderbolt?
You with the silk can say a prayer and land with an awful jolt.
You drop in a jungle and wrench your back; you're thinkin' of givin' up,
Yet what do you mumble crawlin' back? It's "Hup, two, three, four, hup, two, three, four, hup!"

[I'm pretty sure "bike" is wrong in verse 2, but I can't make out the real word.]

Subject: Lyr Add: A HOT TIME IN THE TOWN OF BERLIN
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 01:23 AM

A HOT TIME IN THE TOWN OF BERLIN
Words, John De Vries; music, Joe Bushkin; ©1944.
As recorded by by Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters

There'll be a hot time in the town of Berlin
When the yanks go marchin' in.
I want to be there, boy, spread some joy,
When they take old Berlin.
There'll be a hot time in the town of Berlin
When the Brooklyn boys begin
To take the joint apart and tear it down
When they take old Berlin.

They're gonna start a row
And show 'em how
We paint the town back in Kokomo.*
They're gonna take a hike
Through Hitler's Reich
And change that "Heil" to "Whatcha know, Joe?"*
There'll be a hot time in the town of Berlin
When the Yanks go marchin' in.
You could never keep 'em happy down on the farm
After they take Berlin.

[The above lines are sung by Bing Crosby; when the Andrews Sisters repeat them they change "Kokomo" to "Michigan" and "Whatcha know, Joe?" to "Gimme some skin."]

Subject: Lyr Add: D-DAY (Nat King Cole)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 08:53 AM

D-DAY
Words and music by Nat King Cole, ©1944.
As sung by Nat King Cole.

Grab yourself a chair and sit down, Gate(?); you're
Gonna hear some news of a military nature.
Relax while I give you the latest report, sport.

There never was a finer sight
When all our boys were fixed to fight
On D-Day, D-Day, D-Day, D-Day.

We hope they'll soon be comin' back
For now they're on a solid track
Since D-Day, D-Day, D-Day, D-Day.

It'll take more than a weekend,
So let's be patient, calm.
Cut out that public speakin',
Or we'll be the victim of a false alarm.

We got to help; we're in it too,
So buy those bonds and I do mean you,
For D-Day, D-Day, D-Day, D-Day.

D-day, D-Day, D-Day, D-Day.

D-day, D-Day, D-Day, D-Day.

Subject: Lyr Add: FIRST CLASS PRIVATE MARY BROWN (Loesser)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 09:28 AM

FIRST CLASS PRIVATE MARY BROWN
Words and Music by Frank Loesser, ©1944.
As sung by Perry Como

First Class Private Mary Brown,
She wore that uniform like a million-dollar gown.
How my heart would leap when she drove the jeep
With the one big stripe on her arm,
And it seemed to me that a PFC
Stood for "perfect feminine charm!"

First Class Private, Mary Brown,
Oh, how she smiled goodbye when they shipped me out of town!
Let the big guns roar; let me win this war,
'Cause I want to hurry right back
To First Class Private Mary Brown, my wonderful WAC.

First Class Private, Mary Brown,
I've got her army serial number written down.
She was all GI, but when she marched by,
I just had to look at her twice,
And it struck me then that the ASN
Meant an "angel, specially nice."

First Class Private, Mary Brown,
Could make the PX seem like the Ritz in New York town.
Let the big guns roar; let me win this war,
'Cause I want to hurry right back
On the double to First Class Private Mary Brown, my wonderful WAC.

Let the big guns roar; let me win this war,
'Cause I want to hurry right back
On the double to First Class Private Mary Brown, my wonderful WAC.

Subject: Lyr Add: COULD YOU PLEASE OBLIGE US WITH A BREN...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 12:32 PM

COULD YOU PLEASE OBLIGE US WITH A BREN GUN?
Words and music by Noel Coward, ©1943.
As sung by Noel Coward

Colonel Montmorency, who was in Calcutta in ninety-two,
Emerged from his retirement for the War.
He wasn't very pleased with all he heard and all he saw,
But whatever he felt, he tightened his belt and organised a Corps.

Poor Colonel Montmorency thought, considering all the wars he'd fought,
The Home Guard was his job to do or die,
But after days and weeks and years, bravely drying his manly tears,
He wrote the following letter to the Minister of Supply:

"Could you please oblige us with a Bren gun?
Or, failing that, a hand grenade will do.
We've got some ammunition in a rather damp condition,
And Major Huss has a arquebus that was used at Waterloo.

"With the Vicar's stirrup pump, a pitchfork and a spade,
It's rather hard to guard an aerodrome,
So if you can't oblige us with a Bren gun,
The Home Guard might as well go home.

"Could you please oblige us with a Bren gun?
We're getting awfully tired of drawing lots.
Today we had a shipment of some curious equipment,
And just for a prank, they sent us a tank that ties itself in knots.

"On Sunday's mock invasion, Captain Clark was heard to say
He hadn't even got a brush and comb,
So if you can't oblige us with a Bren gun,
The Home Guard might as well go home."

Colonel Montmorency planned, in case the enemy tried to land,
To drive them back with skill and armoured force.
He realised his army should be mechanised, of course,
But somewhere inside, experience cried, "My kingdom for a horse!"

Poor Colonel Montmorency tried, at infinite cost to time and pride,
To tackle his superiors again.
Having just one motorbike, fourteen swords and a marlinspike,
He wrote the following letter in the following urgent strain:

"Could you please oblige us with a Bren gun?
We need it very badly, I'm afraid.
Our local crossword solver has an excellent revolver,
But during a short attack on a fort, the trigger got mislaid.

"In course of operations planned for Friday afternoon,
Our orders are to storm the Hippodrome,
So if you can't oblige us with a Bren gun,
The Home Guard might as well go home.

"Could you please oblige us with a Bren gun?
The lack of one is wounding to our pride.
Last night we found the cutest little German parachutist.
He looked at our kit and giggled a bit, and laughed until he cried.

"We'll have to hide that armoured car when marching to Berlin.
We'd almost be ashamed of it in Rome.
So if you can't oblige us with a Bren gun,
The Home Guard might as well go home."


[There have been several distinguished people named Montmorency, but as far as I can figure, the one in this story is fictional.]

Subject: Lyr Add: (LIGHTS OUT) 'TIL REVEILLE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 12:49 PM

(LIGHTS OUT) 'TIL REVEILLE
words, Stanley Cowan; music, Stanley Cowan & Bobby Worth; ©1941.
As recorded by the John S. Trotter Orchestra with Bing Crosby, vocalist.

From taps till reveille, I dream the whole night through.
Each night till I hear reveille, I dream, my dear, of you.
I have your face before me, the moment we're apart,
And from taps till I hear reveille, I dream of you, sweetheart.

[Also recorded by Kay Kyser & His Orchestra; Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, with Ray Eberle, vocalist]

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 01:57 PM

THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS
Words, Oscar Hammerstein II; music, Jerome Kern; ©1940.
Introduced by Ann Sothern in the film "Lady Be Good" (1940)
Also used in the film "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (1954)
As sung by Ann Sothern:

A lady known as Paris, romantic and charming,
Has left her old companions and faded from view.
Lonely men with lonely eyes are seeking her in vain.
Her streets are where they were, but there's no sign of her.
She has left the Seine.

[a] The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay.
I heard the laughter of her heart in every street cafe.
The last time I saw Paris, her trees were dressed for spring,
And lovers walked beneath those trees and birds found songs to sing.

I dodged the same old taxicabs that I had dodged for years.
The chorus of their squeaky horns was music to my ears.

The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay.
No matter how they change her, I'll remember her that way. [b]

I'll think of happy hours and people who shared them,
Old women selling flowers in markets at dawn,
Children who applauded Punch and Judy in the park,
And those who danced at night and kept our Paris bright,
Till the town went dark.

[Repeat from [a] to [b].]


[Wikipedia says: "The song catered to a wartime nostalgia for songs about European cities following the Second World War Battle of France (which brought Paris under Nazi control)...", but I don't know of any other songs in that category. Anybody?]

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 02:09 PM

Long thread; haven't read every post: but I take it somewhere up there will be found Bud Flanagan's "Who Do You Think You're Kidding, Mr Hitler?", signature tune for Dad's Army.

Does it count, as it was written for the series by Jimmmy Perry as a psatiche of the sort of defiantly patriotic songs this thread is so full of [see wikipedia entry]?; but it's a very good, convincing pastiche, isn't it?

~M~

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 03:58 PM

Some fine day the news'll flash
Satan with a small moustache
Is asleep beneath the lawn
When That Man Is Dead and Gone

Irving Berlin, would you believe? 1941. I remember that one. In fact, I remember them all. This thread isn't history to me, it's a big nostalgia trip!

~M~

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 04:03 PM

Along with Jimmy Kennedy's "We're Gonna Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line (Have you any dirty washing, mother dear?"" ~~ a funny little couples-in-circle, Gay Gordons style, dance went to this one ~~ goose-stepping around with arms raised, Heil Hitler style. Very Jimmy Kennedy ~~ he wrote the Hokey Cokey too.

The Siegfried Line, in case you didn't know, was the German fortifications system, against which the Allies had the French Maginot Line: which turned out to be a chocolate teapot.

~M~

Subject: Lyr Add: THERE'S A BOY COMING HOME ON LEAVE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 05:37 PM

THERE'S A BOY COMING HOME ON LEAVE
Words and music by Jimmy Kennedy, ©1940.
As recorded by Maurice Winnick and His Orchestra.*

In a big department store,
There's a girl whose heart sings a song.
She's had word to say he's on his way,
And now it won't be long.

There's a boy coming home on leave.
There's a girl wants him home on leave.
She'll meet him right at the station,
And will she tell all the nation!

There's a boy coming home on leave,
And his heart won't be on his sleeve.
They'll have a grand celebration
When he comes home on leave.

And as they meet, he'll tell her how he's missed her.
That's after he's kissed her;
And then they'll talk about that wedding party(?).
They'll plan a honeymoon; the army can't wait till June.

There's a boy coming home on leave.
He'll enjoy coming home on leave.
They'll make it ten days of heaven,
When he comes home on leave.

[* I picked this recording rather arbitrarily because it was easiest to understand among several available on Spotify. I was unable to find out which recording was the first, or best known or had the most sales—I suspect it was Flanagan & Allen because their version is on many currently available CDs.]

Subject: Lyr Add: TILL THE LIGHTS OF LONDON SHINE AGAIN
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 06:06 PM

TILL THE LIGHTS OF LONDON SHINE AGAIN
Words and music by Tommie Connor & Eddie Pola, ©1939.
As sung by Chick Henderson, with Joe Loss & His Band.

For a while we must part,
But remember me, sweetheart,
Till the lights of London shine again;
And while I'm over there,
Think of me in every prayer,
Till the lights of London shine again.

I'll keep your picture near me, a tender souvenir.
Now hold me close and kiss me, and may God bless you, dear.

Don't you cry when I'm gone.
Wear a smile and carry on,
Till the lights of London shine again.

Subject: Lyr Add: ADOLF (Annette Mills)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 06:33 PM

ADOLF
Words and music by Annette Mills, ©1939.
As recorded by Ambrose and His Orchestra, with vocalist Sam Browne.

1. A certain German chancellor has lost his head.
He's going to get a headache somewhere else instead,
And he will be retiring very soon,
To join a certain Kaiser down in doom(?).

CHORUS: Adolf, you've bitten off much more than you can chew.
Come on; hold your hand out; we're all fed up with you. (Gor blimey!)
Adolf, you toddle off, and all your Nazis, too,
Or you may get something to remind you of the old red, white and blue.

2. We're sick of all the muddle and the mess you've made.
You've gone and stuck your fingers in the marmalade,
So now you're going to get a big surprise.
You're nothing but a basket full of lies. CHORUS

[I transcribed this song from Spotify, where it is found on 2 albums: "Sounds of the Big Bands Vol. 1" and "There'll Always Be an England: Great War Songs Vol. 3." The title I found there was ADOLPH but I have taken the liberty of correcting it to ADOLF. Apparently the spelling error was committed by either Spotify or the publisher of the CDs, and not by the songwriter or the publisher of the original sheet music or the 78-rpm record.]

Subject: Lyr Add: NASTY UNCLE ADOLF (Phil Park)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 10:32 PM

(IT'S JUST TOO BAD FOR) NASTY UNCLE ADOLF
Words and music by Phil Park, ©1939?
As recorded by Ambrose and His Orchestra, with Jack Cooper, vocalist.

This war's an awful nuisance and it's all one fellow's fault,
And now he's got it started, it's too late to call a halt.
We've so much to put up with that we call him awful names,
For everything that happens, he's the man the public blames.

We blame him for the sandbags that keep tripping up our feet,
For imitation coppers in tin hats on every beat.
Our air-raid warden's very blond and simply too-too sweet,
So it's just too bad for nasty Uncle Adolf; he's in for it now, all right.

A friend said, "I've an air-raid shelter, sandbags by the score.
I've put some fairy lights around it; can you guess what for?
They'll see the lights and vomit while we're playing darts next door,
So it's just too bad for nasty Uncle Adolf; he's in for it now, all right."

It really is amazing how we hate that fellow's name,
For everything that worries us, he has to take the blame.
We're always out of petrol and we keep our headlights dim,
So if the girl gets out and walks, we go on blaming him.

We blame him for the lies that Goebbels tells of you and me,
Announcements and news bulletins galore from BBC,
And records of some chamber music, opus ninety-three,
So it's just too bad for nasty Uncle Adolf; he's in for it now, all right.

Since Goering started slimming, he looks different on parade.
The tucks from all his uniforms rig out the boys' brigade,
And now there isn't room for all his medals, I'm afraid,
So it's just too bad for nasty Uncle Adolf; he's in for it now, all right.

Subject: Lyr Add: BERLIN OR BUST (from Six Swingers)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 12:56 AM

BERLIN OR BUST
As recorded by The Six Swingers, 1939?

And so it's Berlin or bust!
Oh, we didn't want to do it but we must, boys.
Berlin or bust!
Someone started kicking up a fuss, boys.
Tell them the truth, we loudly roar,
And so the RAF have posted leaflets through the door.
So it's Berlin or bust!
Oh, we didn't want to do it but we must.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN THAT MAN IS DEAD AND GONE (I Berlin)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 01:54 AM

WHEN THAT MAN IS DEAD AND GONE
Words and music by Irving Berlin, ©1941.
As recorded by Al Bowlly.

When that man is dead and gone,
When that man is dead and gone,
We'll go dancing down the street,
Kissing everyone we meet,
When that man is dead and gone.

What a day to wake upon!
What a way to greet the dawn!
Some fine day the news will flash:
Satan with a small mustache
Is asleep beneath the lawn,
When that man is dead and gone.

Satan, Satan, thought up a plan,
Dressed as a man,
Walking the earth, and since he began,
The world is hell for you and me,
But what a heaven it will be—

When that man is dead and gone,
When that man is dead and gone.
When they lay him twelve feet deep,
I'll be there to laugh, not weep,
When that man is dead and gone.

What a day to wake upon!
What a way to greet the dawn!
Satan'll take him by the hand
To meet old Goering's Luftwaffe band,
When that man is dead and gone,
When that man is dead and gone.

Some fine day the news will flash:
Satan with a small mustache
Is asleep beneath the lawn,
When that man is dead and gone.

What a day to wake upon!
What a day to greet the dawn,
When a certain man is dead and gone!

* * *
[On a different recording, Mildred Bailey sings these additional lines:]

Hap-hap-happy, yes, indeed,
On the morning when we read
That that man is dead and gone.

We've got a date (Oh, what a date!)
To celebrate (We're gonna celebrate!)
The day we catch up with that one man spreadin' hate.

His account is overdrawn
And his chances are in pawn.
Some fine day the news will flash....(etc.)

[A complete band arrangement is viewable online at The National Library of Australia.]

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: kendall
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 08:25 AM

Talk about coincidence,I just bought a 1937Chevrolet, and I found that someone had installed a radio' cd player. The seller may have forgotten his cd of old songs that was left in the player. One of the songs is The White Cliffs of Dover.

I remember many of the songs mentioned here; when I was a boy we used to listen to a battery powered radio, and one of the programs was called "Your Hit Parade" sponsored by Luck Strike cigarettes.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: beardedbruce
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 08:37 AM

I still like this one- ( lyrics from older thread)

I can relate to it by experience...




THE THING-UMMY-BOB (THAT'S GONNA WIN THE WAR)
(Written by David Heneker & Gordon Thompson, 1942)

Arthur Askey
Gracie Fields

SPOKEN: You've heard of Florence Nightingale, Grace Darling and the rest.
You've all seen Greta Garbo and her bosom friend, Mae West;
But there's a little lady I want you all to meet.
She's working on munitions and she lives just down the street.

She can't pretend to be a great celebrity,
But still, she's most important in her way.
The job she has to do may not seem like much to you,
But all the same, I'm very proud to say:

SUNG: She's the girl that makes the thing
That drills the hole that holds the spring
That drives the rod that turns the knob
That works the thing-ummy-bob.
She's the girl that makes the thing
That holds the oil that oils the ring
That takes the shank that moves the crank
That works the thing-ummy-bob.

It's a ticklish sort of job
Making a thing for a thing-ummy-bob,
Especially when you don't know what it's for;
But it's the girl that makes the thing
That drills the hole that holds the spring
That works the thing-ummy-bob that makes the engines roar;
And it's the girl that makes the thing
That holds the oil that oils the ring
That works the thing-ummy-bob that's going to win the war.

SPOKEN: She's not what you would call a heroine at all.
I don't suppose you'll even know her name;
And though she'll never boast of her important post,
She strikes a blow for Britain just the same.

(REPEAT THE SUNG PORTION ABOVE.)

I thank you.

*****

VARIATION AS RECORDED BY GRACIE FIELDS:


SPOKEN: I can't pretend to be a great celebrity,
But still, I'm quite important in me way.
The job I have to do may not sound much to you,
But all the same, I'm very proud to say:

SUNG: I'm the girl that makes the thing
That drills the hole that holds the ring
That drives the rod that turns the knob
That works the thing-ummy-bob
I'm the girl that makes the thing
That holds the oil that oils the ring
That takes the shank that moves the crank
That works the thing-ummy-bob.

It's a ticklish sort of job
Making a thing for a thing-ummy-bob,
Especially when you don't know what it's for;
But it's the girl that makes the thing
That drills the hole that holds the ring
That makes the thing-ummy-bob that makes the engines roar;
And it's the girl that makes the thing
That holds the oil that oils the ring
That makes the thing-ummy-bob that's going to win the war.

SPOKEN: I'm not what you would call a heroine, at all.
I don't suppose you'd even know me name.
But though I'll never boast of my important post,
I'll strike a blow for freedom just the same.

(MUSIC)
That works the thing-ummy-bob
(MUSIC)
That works the thing-ummy-bob

It's a ticklish sort of job
Making a thing for a thing-ummy-bob,
Especially when you don't know what it's for;
But it's the girl that makes the thing
That drills the hole that holds the ring
That makes the thing-ummy-bob that makes the engines roar;
And it's the girl that makes the thing
That holds the oil that oils the ring
That makes the thing-ummy-bob that's going to win the war.

It is an' all.

Subject: Lyr Add: WE DID IT BEFORE (AND WE CAN DO IT AGAIN)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 05:26 PM

My transcription from a recording at YouTube:

WE DID IT BEFORE (AND WE CAN DO IT AGAIN)
Words and music by Charles Tobias, ©1941.
As sung by Dick Robertson.

December seventh, nineteen hundred and forty-one,
Our land of freedom was defied.
December eighth, nineteen hundred and forty-one,
Uncle Sam replied:

We did it before and we can do it again,
And we will do it again.
We've got a heck of a job to do,
But you can bet that we'll see it through.

We did it before and we can do it again,
And we will do it again.
We're one for all and we're all for one.
They'll get a lickin' before we're done.

Millions of voices are ringing,
Singing as we march along.

We did it before and we can do it again,
And we will do it again.
We'll knock them over and then we'll get
The guy in back of them.

We did before; we'll do it again.

Subject: Lyr Add: TWENTY-ONE DOLLARS A DAY, ONCE A MONTH
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 06:17 PM

TWENTY-ONE DOLLARS A DAY, ONCE A MONTH
Words by Ray Klages; music by Felix Bernard; ©1941.
As recorded by Tony Pastor and His Orchestra

You might have been a banker's son; you might have pushed a plow.
It makes no diff'rence what you were; you're in the army now.

They wake you up at five o'clock in the morning
For twenty-one dollars a day, once a month.
They take you for a hike without any warning
For twenty-one dollars a day, once a month.
Your feet will hurt, your back will ache, and you'll be muscle bound,
But all of this will disappear when payday comes around.
For seven days a week,
They build up your physique
For twenty-one dollars a day, once a month.

Subject: Lyr Add: ROUND AND ROUND HITLER'S GRAVE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 11:00 PM

ROUND AND ROUND HITLER'S GRAVE
Words by Woody Guthrie, Millard Lampell, and Pete Seeger; tune, trad. "Old Joe Clark"; 1942.
As sung by The Almanac Singers

Now I wisht I had a bushel; wisht I had a peck.
Wisht I had old Hitler with a rope around his neck.

CHORUS: Hey! Round and round Hitler's grave, round and round we go.
Gonna lay that poor boy down; he won't get up no mo'.

Mussolini won't last long; tell you the reason why:
We're gonna salt his beef and hang it up to dry.

The German army gen'ral staff, I guess they missed connection,
Went a hundred miles a day but in the wrong direction.

I'm a-goin' to Berlin to Mister Hitler's town.
I'm gonna take my forty-four and blow his playhouse down.

Now Hitler went to Russia in search of Russian oil,
But the only oil he'll find there is the pot in which he'll boil.

Now Mister Hitler's traveling mighty fast but he's on a one-way track,
Started down that Moscow road but now he's comin' back.

Subject: Lyr Add: V STANDS FOR VICTORY
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 12:32 AM

V STANDS FOR VICTORY,
As sung by Margaret Eaves (1941?)

V stands for victory,
Victors of tyranny.
V stands for victory:
Let that be your hymn.
V for victorious
In the air, on land and sea.
Let ev'ry mother's son
Until the war is won
Make his motto "V for victory."

[Apparently several different songs with the same title were written around this time. I was unable to determine who wrote this particular song.]

Subject: Lyr Add: A SLIP OF THE LIP (CAN SINK A SHIP)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 01:35 AM

A SLIP OF THE LIP (CAN SINK A SHIP)
Words and music by Luther Henderson, Jr. and Mercer Ellington, ©1942.
As recorded by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.

Shhh! Don't talk too much.
Shhh! Don't know too much.
Jack, don't be too hip,
'Cause a slip of the lip might sink a ship.

Shhh! Don't see too much.
Boy, don't you jive too much.
Jack, don't be so hip,
'Cause a slip of the lip might sink a ship.

The walls have ears.
The night has eyes,
So let's be wise
And trick those nasty Nazi spies.

Shhh! Don't talk too much.
Shhh! Don't know too much.
Boy, don't you be too hip,
'Cause a slip of the lip might sink a ship.

Shhh!
Shhh!
Shhh!
Shhh!
Shhh!
It's so bodacious to be loquacious.

A slip of the lip might sink a ship.
Shhh!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 03:30 AM

Couple more that leap to my mind {probably already mentioned, but just in case}

Praise the Lord & Pass the Ammunition

& I think, by atmosphere & implication & association

There'll Always Be An England

would qualify.

~M~

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 12:54 PM

"Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer" and "Praise the Lord...." are posted in thread 5146. But more information on composers needed for the latter.

Can't find that "There'll always be an England" has been posted.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 01:07 PM

Ear-ya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" is an American patriotic song written by Frank Loesser and published as sheet music in 1942 by Famous Music Corp. The song was a response to the attack on Pearl Harbor that marked United States involvement in World War II.

The song describes a chaplain ("sky pilot") being with some fighting men who are under attack from an enemy. He is asked to say a prayer for the men who were engaged in firing at the oncoming planes. The chaplain puts down his Bible, mans one of the ship's gun turrets and begins firing back, saying, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition".

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Kendall
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 01:10 PM

I thought Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition was a WW 1 song.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 01:12 PM

Two more relevant refs from wikipedia ~~

Trust in God and keep your powder dry is a maxim attributed to Oliver Cromwell, but which first appeared in 1834 in the poem "Oliver's Advice" by William Blacker with the words "Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry!" The poem is a dramatic representation of Cromwell addressing his army during the invasion of Ireland. Edward Hayes, who edited the anthology in which the work first appeared, calls it a "well-authenticated anecdote of Cromwell".

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article of January 1, 1943, the origin of the quote may well have been John Ford's 1939 film 'Drums along the Mohawk'.

Subject: Lyr Add: G. I. JIVE (Johnny Mercer)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 09:04 PM

G. I. JIVE
Words and music by Johnny Mercer, ©1944.
As sung by Johnny Mercer

This is the G.I. jive.
Man alive!
It starts with the bugler blowing reveille over your bed when you arrive.
Jack, that's the G.I. jive.
Rootly toot!
Jump in your suit.
Make a salute.
Voot!

After you wash and dress,
More or less,
You go get your breakfast in a beautiful little cafe they call the mess.
Jack, when you convalesce,
Out o' your seat,
Into the street.
Make with the feet.
Reet!

If you're a P-V-T, your duty
Is to salute the L-I-E-U-T,
But if you brush the L-I-E-U-T,
The M.P. makes you K.P. on the Q.T.

This is the G.I. jive.
Man alive!
They give you a private tank that features a little device called fluid drive.
Jack, after you revive,
Chunk all your junk
Back in the trunk,
Fall on your bunk.
Clunk!

This is the G.I. jive.
Man alive!
They give you a private tank that features a little device called fluid drive.
Jack, if you still survive,
Chunk all your junk
Back in the trunk,
Fall on your bunk.
Clunk!

Soon you're countin' jeeps, but before you count to five,
Seems you right back diggin' that G.I. jive.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE VICT'RY POLKA (Andrews Sisters)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 11:22 PM

THE VICT'RY POLKA
Words by Samuel Cahn; music by Jule Styne; ©1944.
As sung by the Andrews Sisters.

There's gonna be a hallelujah day,
When the boys have all come home to stay,
And a million bands begin to play,
We'll be dancing the vict'ry polka.

And when we've lit the torch of liberty,
In each blacked-out land across the sea,
When a man can proudly say "I'm free,"
We'll be dancing the vict'ry polka.

And we will give a mighty cheer
When a ration book is just a souvenir,
And we'll heave a mighty sigh
When each gal can kiss the boy she kissed goodbye.

And they'll come marching down Fifth Avenue,
The United Nations in review,
When this lovely dream has all come true,
We'll be dancing the vict'ry polka.

Dance, dance, dance the vict'ry polka.
Join, join the merry throng.
Sing, sing, sing the vict'ry polka.
Raise your voices loud and strong.

There's gonna be a great hallelujah day
When the boys have all come home to stay,
And a million bands begin to play,
We'll be dancing the vict'ry polka.

And they'll come marching down Fifth Avenue,
The United Nations in review.
When this lovely dream has all come true,
We'll be dancing the vict'ry polka.
We'll be dancing the vict'ry polka.

Subject: Lyr Add: RATION BLUES (Louis Jordan)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 11:57 PM

RATION BLUES
Words and music by Louis Jordan, Collenane Clark, & Antonio Cosey; ©1943.
As recorded by Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five

Baby, baby, baby, what's wrong with Uncle Sam?
He's cut down on my sugar; now he's messin' with my ham.

I got the ration blues, blue as I can be.
Poor me, I've got those ration blues.

I got to live on forty ounces of any kind of meat.
Those forty little ounces got to last me all the week.
I got to cut down on my jelly; it takes sugar to make it sweet.
I'm gonna steal all your jelly, baby, and rob you of your meat.

I got the ration blues, blue as I can be.
Poor me, I've got those ration blues.

I like to wake up in the mornin' with my jelly by my side.
Since rationing started, baby, you just take your stuff and hide.
They reduced my meat and sugar, and rubber's disappearin' fast.
You can't ride no more with papa 'cause Uncle Sam wants my gas.

I got the ration blues, blue as I can be.
Poor me, I've got those ration blues.

Subject: Lyr Add: THANKS FOR DROPPING IN, MR HESS (A Askey)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 01:13 PM

This song commemorates a strange occurrence during the war: Rudolf Hess’ flight to Scotland. You can hear it at YouTube. I have omitted some patter from the beginning of the record.


THANKS FOR DROPPING IN, MR HESS
As recorded by Arthur Askey (1941), also on “Band Waggon & Big-Hearted Arthur Goes to War”

Welcome, little stranger, falling from the skies,
Falling like the raindrops or the dew.
Are you out of danger? Do you realize
Just what sort of welcome’s waiting you?

Well, thanks for dropping in, Mister Hess.
We’ve told your friends to note your new address.
They’ve heard you got here safely in Berlin and in Rome,
So put away your parachute and make yourself at home.
Thanks for dropping in, Mister Hess.
Forgive the small announcement in the press.
Had you told us you were coming and informed us where you’d land,
We would certainly have had a big reception nicely planned
With a carpet and some streamers and Jack Hylton and his band.
Thanks for dropping in.
Thanks for popping in.
What a nice surprise, Mister Hess!

Nice and unexpected, just the way we like,
Strolling in as friendly as can be!
Soon we’ll have old Adolf jumping off his bike,
Calling in to have a cup of tea.

Thanks for dropping in, Mister Hess.
We trust you haven’t left behind a mess.
Perhaps you thought that someone would take you for a ride.
Perhaps you thought it safer here than on the other side.
Thanks for dropping in, Mister Hess.
Don’t tell us why you came; we’d like to guess.
P’rhaps you’d such a lot to tell us, that you thought we ought to know.
P’rhaps you’d heard that bonny Scotland was a charming place to go.
P’rhaps you even thought George Peck(?) might sign you up to do a show.
Thanks for dropping in.
Thanks for popping in.
What a nice surprise, Mister Hess!

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 07 Jun 19 - 08:16 AM

I've been looking for a song I heard my grandparents sing. Here is what I recall of it.
Hitler had a little ol' yaller dog.
A mangy ol' cur from Tokyo.
On December the 7th, when everything was still
He tried to sic that dog on Uncle Sam.

Well that little ol' yaller dog had a million yaller pups,
They jumped on Uncle Sam and tried to eat him up.
But you know our Uncle Sam, he's a mighty, mighty man.
He chased that litter back to Japan.

There was an ol' hog over in Rome.
He'd have been better off if he'd have stayed at home.
But he kept on a rootin' in the other feller's land,
Til he rooted right into Hitler's hand.

Subject: RE: WWII songs
From: Stringsinger
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 12:48 PM

Heil, Right In The Fuhrer's Face....Spike Jones

Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

Southern Black troops sang:
"Left my wife and a can o' beans, headed out to New Orleans"
"Sound off! Sound off! One two three four one two....three four!"
"I don't know but I been told, Berlin's streets are paved with gold" Sound off.....etc.