World War I and II Protest songs

Subject: World War 1 and 2 Protest songs
From: Jayto
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 02:36 PM

Can anyone give me some names of some WW 1 and/or 2 protest songs. Don't confine them to just American songs or feel compelled to do so because I am American. I want to know and hear more of these songs. I have had a hard time finding them though.

Thanks
JT

Subject: RE: World War 1 and 2 Protest songs
From: Mark Ross
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 03:11 PM

I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER (WWI)

THE STRANGE DEATH OF JOHN DOE (1941 by the Almanac Singers), a 78 album of anti-war songs.


Mark Ross

Subject: RE: World War 1 and 2 Protest songs
From: oldhippie
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 03:19 PM

This subject is well covered in the book "Dark Laughter" (War in Song and Popular Culture) by Les Cleveland.

Subject: RE: World War 1 and 2 Protest songs
From: Leadfingers
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 05:25 PM

Ewen MacColl wrote "The Second Front Song" which may or may not qualify as a Protest - it IS Mildly Ant American though.

Subject: RE: World War 1 and 2 Protest songs
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 07:22 PM

Browned Off by Ewan MacColl. Written in 1940 when he was called up and still known as Jimmy Miller. It is an ordinary soldier's song of dissatisfaction with army life - Pissed Off would be a modern equivalent of the title, I think.

Subject: RE: World War 1 and 2 Protest songs
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 07:26 PM

"The Green Fields of France" [No Man's Land] is one of my favourites

Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" is another.

"Universal Soldier" (Donovan/Buffy Sainte-Marie)

Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: World War 1 and 2 Protest songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 07:42 PM

Does D-Day Dodgers count? Someone pissed off the soldiers fighting in Italy in the 2nd war by suggesting that the real fighting was going on in Normandy, so they came up with this song. Not protesting the war itself, but certainly a protest song, and one connected to the war. It's in the DT:

http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=6150

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 08:17 PM

John Kendrick's "Christians at War" from the IWW Songbook:

http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/christia.html

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: r.padgett
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 03:40 AM

Try the little book called Kiss me Goodnight Sergeant Major, which has many poems and songs collected from soldiers

No tunes in the book but I think there were tunes and many suggested from existing tunes (parody fashion)

Ray

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Paul Burke
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 04:07 AM

I don't want to die,
I want to go home.
I don't want to go to the trenches no more,
Where the whizzbangs and shells do whistle and roar.
I don't want to go over the sea
To where the enemy will shoot at me.
I don't want to die,
I want to go home.

Not sure if it's an original, or a re- working of a bawdy WWI song perhaps by Rosselson and Bailey. Rosselson used it as the intro to Remembrance Day 1969 on Huggermuggeretc.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 04:57 AM

Austraia's Jason & Chloe Roweth's
Riderless Horse - An Australian Impression of World War 1 contains many songs & poems by soldiers, full lyrics & liner notes here

sandra

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 04:58 AM

maybe Preview is a Good Idea, cos I just might have noticed that i can't even type the name of my own county - Australia!

sandra

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 05:27 AM

The one that springs to mind is "I Don't Want to Join the Army, I don't want to go to war". Perhaps a 'tongue in cheek' song, I doubt if many Tommies actually wanted to become pimps, just wanted to get home in one piece.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: David C. Carter
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 05:29 AM

Would "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" written by Eric Bogle be a contender?

David

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Cats
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 05:49 AM

How about Poor Murdered Men by Jon Heslop. Also worth checking out is the whole of the Unsung heroes show by Cornwall Songwriters which was all about the gardeners from the Lost Gardens of Heligan going to WW1 and that is why the gardens were lost.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 07:00 AM

"Someone pissed off the soldiers fighting in Italy in the 2nd war by suggesting that the real fighting was going on in Normandy,"
Lady Astor stood up in parliament and called those 'sunning themselves in the Italian holiday resorts such as Monte Casino and Palermo' as 'The D-Day Dodgers' - god love her privileged little arse.

Browned Off, (who could forget the verse - though most people do)

The medical inspection it is a bleedin' farce
Thery grope around your bollocks and they finger up your arse,
For even a privates privates enjoy no privacy,
You sacrifice all that to save democracy.

Any Complaints?

I Want to Go Home,
or
I Don't Want to Join the Army
I don't want to go to war,
I'd sooner hang around Piccadilly Underground
Living off the earnings of a - high born lady
I don't want a bayonet up my arsehole,
I don't want my bollocks shot away,
I'd rather stay in England, in merry, merry England
And fornicate me bleedin' life away
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: GUEST,George Henderson
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:14 AM

Jim Carroll,

There is a second verse to I don't want to join the army:

Monday I touched her on the ankle
Tuesday I touched her on he knee
On Wednesday night success
I lifted up her dress
On Thursday night we went to the pictures
Friday I laid me hand upon it
Saturday she gave me balls a tweek
On Sunday after supper,
I rammed the fucker up her
And now I'm paying 30 bob a week

Gorblimey

I don't want to join the army etc.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Silas
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:23 AM

The D-Day Dodgers was Hamish Henderson as I recall?

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:31 AM

http://www.prato.linux.it/~lmasetti/canzonicontrolaguerra/index.php?lang=it

A italian site.

A. Leone
([e-mail])

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:45 AM

Hanging On The Old Barbed Wire

Linn

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:55 AM

The D-Day Dodgers is mainly traditional, collated and very well put together by Hamish Henderson, who was an Intelligence Officer in Sicily at the time.

eric

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Zen
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:55 AM

A favourite, though pre-WW1, is "Bad Luck To This Marchin'", by Charles Lever (as sung by Sean Tyrrell on his CD "The Orchard").

Also with a Sean Tyrrell connection... several fine anti-war songs on the compilation album of Francis Ledwidge WW1 songs "Songs of Peace".

Zen

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: GUEST,HughM
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 09:06 AM

In a radio broadcast Hamish Henderson said that The D-Day Dodgers song was not written until after it had become known that Lady Astor had not in fact said what had been alleged, but it was thought to be too good a song-writing opportunity to miss.

The writing of the song was a joint effort involving a number of people, one of whom was Hamish.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Silas
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 09:06 AM

Hi Eric

As I understood it Hamish wrote the song in response to a speech by Nancy Astor.

Could be wrong though...

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: theleveller
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 12:14 PM

There are plenty of protest songs that have been written after the events. As mentioned, Eric Bogle has written some of the most moving, such as 'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda' and 'No Man's Land'. Reg Meuross' 'And Jesus Wept' is a superb song that is a protest about those who were shot at dawn for supposed cowardice.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE STRANGE DEATH OF JOHN DOE (M Lampell)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Nov 13 - 12:32 AM

This was mentioned by Mark Ross earlier in this thread.

THE STRANGE DEATH OF JOHN DOE
Written by Millard Lampell
As recorded by The Almanac Singers*

I'll sing you a song and it's not very long.
It's about a young man who never did wrong.
Suddenly he died one day.
The reason why no one could say.

He was tall and long and his arms were strong,
And this is the strange part of my song:
He was always well from foot to head,
And then one day they found him dead.

They found him dead, so I've been told,
And his eyes were closed and his heart was cold.
Only one clue to why he died:
A bayonet sticking in his side.

[* Actually, it sounds like Pete Seeger and his banjo only. This recording appears on 3 albums that can be heard through Spotify:
Various Artists: "Power to the People: Protest Songs"
Various Artists: "Protest Songs of America"
Almanac Singers: "Talking Union (1941-1942)"

This song is so short—only 1:25 or so—that it makes me think it probably only took up half of one side of a 78-rpm record.

Subject: Lyr Add: AND JESUS WEPT (Reg Meuross)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Dec 13 - 01:43 AM

Theleveller mentioned this on 29 Oct 08 – 12:14 PM:

Lyrics copied from Reg Meuross' web site (which also has chords). I also checked the lyrics against a recording on Spotify:


AND JESUS WEPT
Reg Meuross, as sung on his album "Dragonfly" (2008)

The moon is slowly sinking, the final moon I'll see.
My head is tired of thinking; there's just the rosary,
An empty place at table, and my mother's eyes are wet.
The hand of God came down last night and Jesus wept.

If I'd been a captain, they would have sent me home,
But I am just a private condemned to die alone.
The firing squad's been drinking; it's a dawn they won't forget.
The hand of God came down last night and Jesus wept.

Sound the drum for their young precious years,
But no glory will shine on my poor mother's tears.

A soldier's good for fighting—that's what my father said—
And if the man's not fighting, he might as well be dead.
Shame has drawn the curtains, and the neighbours won't forget.
The hand of God came down last night and Jesus wept.

I got the shakes on Tuesday; "I cannot go," I said.
They sent me down on Wednesday; by Thursday I was dead.
I fought for King and country two years without regret.
The hand of God came down last night and Jesus wept.

We all fall in the cause of the free.
When the sun sets on England, will you think of me?

In unmarked graves in Flanders lie three hundred boys and men,
Killed unloved and frightened by those they thought were friends.
A nation's guilty secret is this generation's debt.
The hand of God came down last night and Jesus wept.
The hand of God came down last night and Jesus wept.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 11 Dec 13 - 05:31 AM

Should mention that the The D-Day Dodgers shares tune with the WWi song, We Are Fred Karno's Army; both indeed variants of the hymn called The Church's One Foundation.

We are Fred Karno's Army, the British Infantry.
We cannot march, we cannot fight, what fucking use are we?
And when we get to Berlin, Der Kaiser he will say
"Mein Gott, Mein Gott, what a bloody rotten lot are the British Infantry!".

(Fred Karno was a well-known music hall impresario of the time, "credited with inventing the custard-pie-in-the-face gag" - wikipedia -- whole entry v informative.)

~M~

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 11 Dec 13 - 06:02 AM

Or perhaps I am misremembering, as I seem to recall having heard Hamish himself sing The D-Day Dodgers, & I think his tune was Lili Marleen?

Anyhow, the Fred Karno song will do as another contribution, even if the 'protest' element may be implied rather than explicit.

~M~

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 11 Dec 13 - 06:10 AM

Ireland's imminent involvement in the war was a major factor in the War of Independence.
Despite the fact that the Easter week rebels had to be protected from screaming crowds of Dublin women demanding that "you should be helping our lads in the trenches", proposed conscription coupled with the brutal execution of the rebel leaders (seriously wounded Connolly had to be strapped into a chair in order to be shot by firing squad) reversed public opinion within months of the uprising.

Two Irish songs that were made at the time when Ireland was being railroaded into becoming involved in WW1 - a year before the Easter Week uprising

Jim Carroll

This is an anti-recruiting song and was composed by Seamus O'Farrell in 1915. The tune is that of The Peeler and the Goat. It was branded a 'treason' song by the British and anyone heard singing it in public rendered himself liable to six months' imprisonment. Anti-recruiting songs were a great vogue in Ireland as is demonstrated by Teddy McGrath, The Kerry Recruit and Kickham's beautiful Patrick Sheehan / Glen of Aherlow.

Anti-enlistment songs, and later on anti-conscription ones, relied heavily on sarcasm, a device used by ballad makers throughout history because it was considered the only weapon the oppressed had against the powerful. These ballads specialized in lampooning politicians and authority figures who encouraged Irishmen to fight in foreign wars. The figure of the 'Recruiting Sergeant' has traditionally been a target for verbal abuse and during the Great War he provided inspiration for many ballads as in this one from Tipperary,

The Recruiting Sergeant

As I was going along the road and feeling fine and larky O,
A recruiting sergeant trim and neat said you'd look fine in khaki O,
The King he is in need of men just read the proclamation O,
The life in Flanders would be fine, for you it would be vacation O.

That may be true I answered back but tell me Sergeant dearie O,
If I had a pack stuck on my back would I look fine and cheery O
The proclamations are alright I have read the last of French's O,
Well it might be hot in Flanders but its draughty in the trenches O.

The recruiting sergeant in Dublin fared no better than his colleague in Tipperary. The Dublin ballad maker Peadar Kearney who wrote many popular songs during this turbulent period, including the Irish national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann, treated the recruiting sergeant in an equally sarcastic manner in his song 'Sergeant William Bailey.'

Sergeant William Bailey

Sergeant William Bailey was a man of high renown,
Tooral looral looral looral loo,
In search of gallant young recruits he used to scour the town,
Tooral looral looral looral loo,
His face was full and swarthy, of medals he had forty,
And ribbons on his chest red white and blue,
It was he that looked the hero as he made the people stare O,
As he stood on Dunphy's corner tooral loo.

But alas for human greatness every doggie has his day,
Tooral looral looral looral loo,
And Sergeant William Bailey he is getting old and grey,
Tooral looral looral looral loo,
No longer youths are willing to take his dirty shilling,
And things for him are looking mighty blue,
In spite of fife and drumming no more recruits are coming,
For Sergeant William Bailey tooral loo.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Dec 13 - 10:53 AM

More complete copies of lyrics to THE RECRUITING SERGEANT have been posted in this forum: here, for example, from The Pogues.

Subject: Lyr Add: SALONIKA
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 11 Dec 13 - 11:20 AM

And another
Jim Carroll

Me husband's in Salonika, I wonder if he's dead
I wonder if he knows he's got a kid with a foxy head
So right away, so right away,
So right away Salonika, right away me soldier boy

Now when the war is over, what will the slackers do
They'll be all around the soldiers for the loan of a bob or two
So right away, so right away,
So right away Salonika, right away me soldier boy

Now when the war is over, what will the soldiers do
They'll be walking around on a leg and a half
And the slackers they'll have two
So right away, so right away,
So right away Salonika, right away me soldier boy

They taxed our pound of butter; they taxed our half-penny bun,
But still with all their taxes they can't beat the bloody Hun
So right away, so right away,
So right away Salonika, right away me soldier boy

They taxed the Coliseum; they taxed St. Mary's Hall
Why don't they tax the Bobbies with their backs against the wall
So right away, so right away,
So right away Salonika, right away me soldier boy

Now when the war is over, what will the slackers do
For every kid in America in there will be two
So right away, so right away,
So right away Salonika, right away me soldier boy

Never marry a soldier, a sailor or a marine
But marry a young Sinn Feinner with his orange, white and green
So right away, so right away,
So right away Salonika, right away me soldier boy

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 12 Dec 13 - 02:42 AM

Dodgers.
It was always Lilli Marlene Michael.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 12 Dec 13 - 02:44 AM

It became a favourite tune of the Brits in the desert, when they listened to German radio.

Subject: Lyr Add: I WANTED WINGS (from Oscar Brand)
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 12 Dec 13 - 04:41 PM

I Wanted Wings is a good one.

I know Oscar Brand recorded it on one of his albums, but I think it's a slightly cleaned-up version (and it doesn't have the final verse below). Still, it should definitely be added to the list.

I WANTED WINGS
As recorded by Oscar Brand (except for added verse at the end)

I wanted wings, 'til I got the goddamn things.
Now, I don't want them anymore.
They taught me how to fly, then they sent me off to die.
Well, I've had a belly full of war.
You can save those bloody Zeros
For the other goddamn heroes.
Distinguished Flying Crosses
Do not compensate for losses, Buster.

I wanted wings, 'til I got the goddamn things.
Now, I don't want them anymore.

Yes, I'll take the dames; let the rest go down in flames.
I have no desire to be burned.
Air Combat spells romance, 'til they shoot holes in my pants.
I'm not a fighter, I have learned.
You can save the Mitsubishis
For the other sons-o'-witchies.
I'd rather make a woman
Than be shot down in a Grumman, Buster.

I wanted wings, 'til I got the goddamn things.
Now, I don't want them anymore.

Now, I'm too young to die in a lousy PBY.
That's for the eager, not for me.
I don't trust in my luck, to be picked up by a "Duck,"
After I've crashed into the sea.
Yes, I'd rather be a tarrier
Than a flier on a Carrier.
With my hand around a bottle,
You can keep your goddamn throttle, Buster.

I wanted wings, 'til I got the goddamn things.
Now, I don't want them anymore.

I do not care to tour over Berlin and the Ruhr.
Flak always makes me lose my lunch.
I get an urge to pray when they holler, "Bombs away!"
I'd rather be at home with the bunch.
For there's one thing you can't laugh off,
When they shoot your tailpipe half off.
I'd rather be home, Buster,
With my tail than with a cluster, Buster.

I wanted wings, 'til I got the goddamn things.
Now, I don't want them anymore.

They feed us lousy chow, but we stay alive, somehow,
On dehydrated eggs and milk and stew.
The rumor has it next, they'll be dehydrating sex.
Well, that's the day I tell the coach, I'm through.
For I've managed all the dangers,
The shooting back of strangers,
But, when I get home late,
I want my woman straight, Buster.

I wanted wings 'til I got the goddamn things.
Now I don't want them anymore.

The day that we bombed Metz, I ran out of cigarettes.
I always smoke one just for luck.
They make them by the ton, but I haven't got a one.
Oh, what I'd give to have a butt.
The home front may be pitching,
But I'll still do my bitching,
'Til I find a real sharp cookie
Who can mass produce some nookie, Buster.

I wanted wings, 'til I got the goddamn things.
Now, I don't want them anymore.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 12 Dec 13 - 09:26 PM

"Christians at War", mentioned above by Jack Campin, was actually written *before* W.W. I, and somehow failed to prevent it. I have read that it was actually cited by pro-war propagandists to show the need for sedition laws.

My mother remembered from W.W. I:

O say, can you --
Imagine, mother?
Your boy is in the guardhouse now.

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 13 Dec 13 - 06:05 AM

Loads of parodies from the wars
I never knew if there was any more of this one from WW2
Tune obvious.

That lovely night, the night we met
There were whistling bombs in the air,
No bankers dining at The Ritz
And the refugees slept in Berkley Square.

I may be right, I may be wrong,
But the newspapers say it's no lie.
The rich folk's children sailed away
And left all the worker's kids to die.

Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 13 Dec 13 - 10:20 AM

Presumably that was a bit of Natzi propaganda?

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 13 Dec 13 - 10:45 AM

My school, Garden Suburb, Hampstead, got bombed out in 1940, Jim; the King & Queen came to inspect the damage that afternoon. Think I have related elsewhere on this forum of the girl who ran out as he passed & slapped the King heavily between the shoulders, explaining tearfully to the Headmaster & the Mayor of Hendon, who quite naturally inquired as to what she thought she was doing, "I only wanted to be able to tell people I had touched the King!" I missed many weeks' schooling.

Just for your info, you understand. Even if these may be facts unpalatable to that well-known Carrollian "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts, please" Weltanschauung.

~M~

Subject: RE: World War I and II Protest songs
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 14 Dec 13 - 07:57 AM

In 1951 the 15 Medium Regt, Royal Artillery was holding a regimental 'smoker', which is an all-ranks party with a special meal, free drinks, and smokes, and as many blokes as possible were expected to 'give a turn.' Some sang, some told jokes, one recited Kipling's 'If'. I did my Al Jolson impression. Late in the proceedings Battery Sgt. Lou Hibbert got up and sang 'The D-Day Dodgers' to a hushed audience. The tune was 'Lili Marleen'. Sgt Major Hibbert was a long service soldier, a veteran of the Italian campaign, and had the scars to prove it. He did not sing the song as a jolly ditty, as I have heard it done many times in folk clubs. He sang with a hard tone, and a serious face, it was obvious that the song meant a lot to him. I never forgot this scene and was able to relate it to Hamish Henderson many years later. It made an impact on me in the same way that hearing 'McCafferty' early in my army career showed me that their was British folk song, and sent me in pursuit of it, thereby, eventually, changing my life. I was 18 at the time. I am now 80, and can still remember the occasion clearly. Songs have power.