Military Jodies?

Subject: Military Jodies?
From: Nonie Rider
Date: 26 Sep 97 - 05:38 PM

(Sorry to still be asking dumb newcomer questions)

Has anyone collected or discussed jodies, the unofficial military marching chants?

Most of the people I know seem to have run into variants of the left/right gingerbread repeater:

Left. Left.
I LEFT my WIFE and FORTy-nine KIDS
In a STARVing conDITion withOUT any GINGerbread,
HOPE I did RIGHT. RIGHT.
RIGHT for my COUNtry, by GOLLy,
I HAD a good JOB and I LEFT.
Left. Left. (repeat endlessly)

And most of us have heard the tagline "Napalm sticks to kids!" but no memorable verses to match. A friend also sung me another old one (with an actual TUNE) about the appropriate distribution of a keg of beer through the squadron, but I never got her to write it down.

So, is this stuff all discussed somewhere I shoulda looked, or does anyone have input?

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Sep 97 - 05:32 AM

I never heard them referred to as "jodies," Nonie, but it certainly is an appropriate name. Search the database under "Jody" and you'll get two variations of the Duckworth Chant (Sound Off). Vaughn Monroe made a hit of that one in the early 1950's, and I've been looking for a CD recording of it - so far, no luck.
-Joe Offer-

---

I found it - it's on a compilation called The Very Best of Vaughn Monroe. It was a difficult quest, because I wanted to find a song that had "Duckworth" and didn't have most of the songs that are on the other Vaughn Monroe compilation that I already had.
-Joe Offer, 26 Sept 04-

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Sep 97 - 02:55 PM

Oh, and in answer to your question, I don't think this subject has been discussed here before, and it might make a very interesting thread. The only "jodies" I'm familiar with are the Duckworth Chant, and what I learned in Basic Training. Most of THOSE I wouldn't recite in mixed company, but I think there are some that are quite clever.
I dropped out of a Roman Catholic seminary in 1970, and lost my "divinity student" draft exemption. I considered filing as a Conscientious Objector; but at the time, I could not say that I was completely opposed to all war in all circumstances. I've moved a little closer to complete pacifism in my old age. Even at the age of 21, though, I had trouble shouting out,

I want to be an Airborne Ranger
I want to live a life of danger
I want to go to Viet Nam
I want to kill old Charlie Cong

I didn't want to kill anybody. I'm sure glad they sent me to Berlin, where I worked as a German linguist.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From:
Date: 27 Sep 97 - 09:52 PM

I once read a marching song, translated from the Latin, sung or chanted by the legions of the famous Scipio Africanus. The complaint was that they did all the fighting, while all the wine and women were for Scipio Africanus.

I'll see if I can find it again, as it was rather funny.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Barry
Date: 27 Sep 97 - 10:10 PM

A Lomax. R Abrahams both have collections & George Carey, in the Journal of American Folklore #77 (Jan.-March 1965) "A Collection Of Airborne Cadence Chants" & Bruce Jackson # 80 (Oct-Dec 1967) all refering to 'Jody" or Joe the (de-Jody) Grinder. He also appears in Bruce Jacksons collection of prison worksongs (see Jody).

Ain't no use in writting home ya, ya,,, ya,ya Jody got your girl an gone ya,ya,,,,ya,ya,

Ain't no use in feeling blue ya,ya,,,,ya,ya Jody got your sister too ya,ya,,,ya,ya,

R Abrahams claims Jody, in his many variants was sung by all Afro-American outfits in WWII.In that culture Jody is the culpirt who is left alone, behind with the women folk & not to be trusted, he is a threat and he's very convincing (hence the Grinder). Barry Finn

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: alison
Date: 28 Sep 97 - 12:27 AM

Hi

Here's one care of Bart Simpson,

We are happy, we are merry, We've got a rhyming dictionary, Sound off........................

slainte

Alison

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: dani
Date: 28 Sep 97 - 04:32 PM

Funny you should mention this today... I just yesterday read this term for the first time in a newspaper column. The writer used the term 'Jody' to describe a guy from a Marine base's morale and rec department who had an affair with a Marine who was overseas. My life is one giant confluence of ephemera!

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Speed-1
Date: 28 Sep 97 - 05:21 PM

Will check with my husband,the former sailor.I seem to recall some interesting little ditties. I do remember one of hisdrill instructor's favorite instructions to exhort the troops to line up properly. The general wording was:

"Nuts to butts, gentlemen. Nuts to butts. Make that man in front of you SMILE!"

I don't know what that means :^)

Speed

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From:
Date: 28 Sep 97 - 08:06 PM

Oh

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: BBJ
Date: 29 Sep 97 - 11:28 AM

I went through training at Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, FL in 1969, under the care and tutelage of Marine DI's. We used the term "Jody Call" and the informal leader was the "Jody Call Body". I owned the title for several months, more on the strength of a strong voice than an encyclopedic knowledge of calls. The calls were much like Sea Shanties in structure and purpose. One common format was to have each line echoed by the column. A local favorite example was:

I don't know but I been told (echo) Navy wings are made of gold. (echo) I don't know but I heard it said (echo) Air Force wings are made of lead. (echo) Sound off etc.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Nonie Rider
Date: 29 Sep 97 - 12:17 PM

'S certainly true too that a lot of Jodies are improvised on the spot. I was once at a sing with Bob Asprin (AKA Yang the Nauseating), when he'd had just enough Tullamore Dew that he started reminiscing about leading long marches. He gave us over half an hour of invented-on-the-spot Jody, without pauses, just to prove he could do it.

(A great guy to listen to, as long as you don't want to get in a song edgewise yourself...)

--Nonie

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Bert
Date: 29 Sep 97 - 12:22 PM

Back in the sixties Frankie Howerd had a TV show called "Up Pompei" where he was a slave during the days of the Roman Empire. On one episode he was conscripted into the Roman army and was marching along to the chant of

Sinister - Dexter, Sinister - Dexter.....

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From:
Date: 29 Sep 97 - 02:16 PM

;)

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From:
Date: 29 Sep 97 - 02:17 PM

;)

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From:
Date: 30 Sep 97 - 03:25 AM

Lancer Militaria (PO Box 886, Mt. Ida, Arkansas 71957 USA Tel. [phone]), who mainly deal in military books, also carry a number of tapes and CDs, all military music of one sort or another. I believe that as of the last music catalog I saw from them they had a number of tapes of US military cadence calls - can't find the catalog at the moment, but I'm sure they would be happy to send you one if you were to call.

I highly recommend the set of Bobby Horton Civil War songs that they sell, BTW.

Eric Berge [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Justin
Date: 02 Oct 97 - 09:50 AM

I was another drafted conscientious objector, but during the Korean "Conflict". We sang a lot of Jodi. I don't know how much I can remember, but I can say that there were 2 tunes (chant styles?). One style was done in the movie "Battleground" and was recorded as "Sound Off".

That one had verses like:

I don't know but I believe, I'll be home by Christmas Eve.

I don't know but I been told North Korea's mighty cold.

Raise your head and learn this song Our CO's a real ding dong.

Each followed by:

(call) Sound off, (answer) One two (call) Sound off! (answer) three four (call) Cadence count. (answer) One two three four...one two...three four!

If the other call style was given, the answer rhythm was different:

You had a good home but you left! (answer) You're RIGHT! You wanna' go back, but you can't (answer) You're RIGHT! Jodi was there when you left! (answer) You're RIGHT!

(call) You ain't callin' home, Jodi's on the phone, He's got your wife an' shack, He's got your Cadillac.

(answer) One two three four...one two three four...one two!...three four!.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 02 Oct 97 - 01:23 PM

I believe, but can't be sure, that the Jody chants were popularized during WWII by black troops at Fort Duckworth. Cadence chants had been around much longer, but were generally pretty square rythmically; apparently the black troops were given more freedom in jazzing things up.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 02 Oct 97 - 06:49 PM

Did anyone in the actual military every use the "twenty-eight children in starving condition with nothing but gingerbread left" cadence?

I learned the second line of the "Airborne Ranger" one (from ROTC students at Princeton in the early 80s) as "I want a life of sex and danger." However, student folklore also included a parody of Joe Offer's version:

I want to be an econ major,
I want to live a life of ease.
My thesis is a thirty-pager.
Gee, this department's such a breeze!

Does this tune sound to anybody else like a slight simplification of a tune from Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto?

At MIT, I'm told, the ROTC cadets used to and may still chant, "One, two, three, four,/ One, two three four we bad!" (This was also in the early 80s.) Then the residents of the French House started chanting, "Un, deux, trois, quatre,/ Un, deux trois quatre nous mauvais!" This word-for-word translation somehow doesn't have the same feel, but it did lead to the useful expression "nous mauve" for people who are impressed with themselves. (Not that I know any.)

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Oct 97 - 04:23 AM

OK, so we've identified three basic melodies so far, I think:
Sound Off
The Jody (Duckworth) Chant
-and-
Piano concerto No. 5, "Emperor," by Ludwig Van Beethoven (Airborne Ranger)

I have to say, Jerry, that I never once thought of Beethoven in Baxic Training, but I guess I do see a relationship between "Airborne Ranger" and the beginning of the "Emperor" Concerto, the part that goes,

DAH deedle-dee-deDAH DAH DAH DAH!!-or-
I wanna be an AIR - BORNE RAN - GER!!!!

If you sang it with the exact Beethoven melody, maybe you could get a psychiatric discharge.....
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: gargoyle
Date: 05 Oct 97 - 11:40 PM

In southern Cal. early 60's, one of the sounds offs was...

"Left my gal in Pasa-dean - with 16 kids and bag of beans."

one Jody dealt with the "Puddle-Pirate Coastguard."

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Nonie Rider
Date: 07 Oct 97 - 05:47 PM

I wish I could nail down the scraps of the beer song; some standard tune, about having one keg of beer for the whole unit, and how that was a pity because any one of them could drink all of it, ending with:

Pass the BEER! To the REAR! Of the SQUADron!

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 30 Jun 98 - 02:52 PM

Recently at the Mystic Sea Music Fest. the Buckingham Lining Bar Gang show how they would straighten out track. They formed a line, of maybe 5 men between the 2 rails facing one rail, all in the same direction another 5 men on the outside track, facing the same way as the others, they'd all take their bars side them under the track, one man between each tie with a bar jimmying the track inches at a time. The songs they used were the same as these chants. The caller would sing the song first so every one would know what they were working to, the;

Ain't no use in writing home (all would lift on home)
Jody got your girl an gone (all would lift on gone)

the lifting would only be enough to move the track an inch or two at a time. The song "Lining Track" could be sung in this "Jody" style, if sung the way it's famous the movements mould have to happen durning the chours rather than durning the verse. What a performance, thought I'd share it. Barry

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Barbara
Date: 30 Jun 98 - 03:51 PM

My Dad, who was in WWII, used the 'Gingerbread' chant:
I LEFT my wife and forty-eight children
At home in bed in starving condition
With nothing but gingerbread LEFT * LEFT * LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT.
And, Nonie, if you're still around, the beer song goes:
Glorious, glorious,
One keg of beer just for the four of us
Glory be to God that there are no more of us
For one of us could drink it all alone
And then you sang Drink,(4x) Drank(4X) Drunk(4x) and a snore or a barf or whatever...
It could have been a marching song, it's got a strong 4/4 beat, but it just as easily could have been a drinking song, with chugging on the last part.
Blessings,
Barbara Seems like I remember this as part of a medeley, maybe of Jolly Bunch of Coconuts, or

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Brad
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 12:05 AM

Currently being in the Army, I can state that the term "Jody Call" is still in use, but "cadence" is the more common term. There are two basic types: marching (quicktime) and running (double time,) and they aren't generally interchangeable. The mentioned "I wanna be an Airborne Ranger" is a running cadence, as are most of the calls about Jody. Another common thread. "One...Two...Three and a quarter, I got a date with the General's daughter - or - wish I had some scotch and water. A different type of running cadence is used as soldiers become winded during a long run: the caller sings verses while the formation echos a sings a single phrase as separation. Example:

Woke up about a quarter to three! Hard work, work! Little girl it was you and me! Hard work, work! Woke up about a quarter to four! Hard work, work! With the First Sergeant at my door! Etc.

A good caller can adlib this type indefinitely, using common couplet strings from other cadences:

Put me in a barber's chair, spun me round I had no hair...

Nine to the front and six to the rear, that's the way we do it here...

Issued me a hand grenade, should have seen the mess I made...

Use to drive a Cadillac, now I hump it on my back...

A common marching cadence: Hey, Hey, Captain Ja-ack (soldiers echo) Meet me down by the railroad track. (echo) With that rifle in my hand (echo) I'm gonna be a shootin' man (echo)

Hey, Hey, Captain Ja-ack (echo) Meet me down by the railroad track (echo) With that bayonet in my hand (echo) I'm gonna be a stabbin' man (echo) ...a shootin' man (echo)

Etc.

As the Army becomes more politically correct, the cadences have become more tame, both sexually and with respect to violence. Most senior commanders either forbid or discourage singing cadences that refer to sex or are too gory (napalm sticks to kids). I know some pretty funny ones if anyone is interested, but won't bother unless there is a request.

Brad

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: JVZ
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 01:18 AM

It was generally called cadence back in the sixties also. Jody was a catch-all name for the guys back on the block who was dating your girl, working at your job, and/or generally living the life from which you had been so rudely removed.

However, much of the cadence of my era (and, I assume, others as well) was pulled from the popular music of the time. For example, a Vietnam cadence was done to the tune of "Poison Ivy"

They say there is a pla-ace
A-Way across the sea
That's where they wanna bury me-ee-ee-ee-ee.
In Vietna-ah-ah-ah-ah-ahm
Vietna-ah-ah-ah-ah-ahm
Late at night when your sleepin'
Charlie Kong comes a creepin'
All arou-ou-ou-ou-ound, Vietnam.

Also there was that Airborn ditty done to Bo Diddly's Bo Diddly

Bo Diddly, Bo Diddly, Have you heard?
I'm gonna jump from a big iron bird.
Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door,
Jump right out and count to four.
If that chute don't open wide,
I got another one by my side.
And if that spare don't open wide,
Guess I'm in for a hell of a ride.
Lay my arms across my chest,
Tell the girls I did my best.

There were probably others.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: toadfrog
Date: 18 May 01 - 11:45 PM

I was mustered out of the service just about 2 weeks Before the First Infantry Division went into Viet Nam. The version we sang included these verses, which supply the title to Tim O'Brien's
classic war novel:

If I die in a combat zone;
Box me up and send me home.
Bury me just six feet deep,
Put cross rifles at my feet.
Fold my arms across my chest,
And tell my mom I did my best.

Sound it off
One, two!
Hit it again
Three, four!
Bring 'er on down!
One two three four, one, two--three four.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: artbrooks
Date: 19 May 01 - 12:32 AM

As I recall, that one said (or maybe this was an alternative version):

If I die in the old drop zone, Box me up and send me home. Pin my wings upon my breast and bury me in the leaning rest.

Another one that I remember went as follows, and refered to those people popularly known as REMFs:

I want to be an Airborne Ranger...FINANCE! I want to live a life of danger...FINANCE! I want to play with the Army's money...FINANCE! I want to be a rich lieutenant...FINANCE!

This was also a running call, and the call leader "sang" the verse and the rest of the unit shouted the chorus.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: gnu
Date: 19 May 01 - 08:03 AM

Brad... I would love to hear some of the funny ones.

Well, this IS PI ( so read on at YOUR OWN RISQUE ) but since the ladies, ahem, in my university engineering classes wrote it and performed it at a smoker - yes, they attended smokers - here goes. I can only remember one verse...

We are the girls of engineering Tough as nails and not endearing We just love to take a licking Smells like fish and tastes like chicken

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Jeri
Date: 19 May 01 - 08:40 AM

I saw the comment above from Joe Offer (in '97) about "mixed company." I was in the Air Force, and except for basic training and technical school, we didn't sing much. The Army and Marines did, however. I was sent to an Army technical school in '81, along with a few Marines and Navy guys, and we marched everywhere - also did PT (physical training) in formation. Imagine us, jogging along in formation at 5:30AM with our Marine Viet Nam vet cadence caller, past the officers' housing, loudly singing songs with every four-letter word you can imagine.

He was told to tone it down. As a result, we sang a lot of verses including the word "bleep," and he added a few about officers sleeping late and generally (no pun intended) being wusses.

While many songs and verses have been forgotton, there are loads of new ones. This isn't a dead tradition, and the songs are ripe for collecting. I've been places where I wished I had the time and equipment to collect songs, but it would have required me to run behind the guys carrying a tape recorder. I didn't feel that this was something that sounded like fun...

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 19 May 01 - 04:33 PM

Couth this ain't.

My own era has just about been covered. Just add

Bo Diddly, Bo Diddly, where you been,
Round the world and back again.

I think we got all the jody's too, but in case we missed any, I remember:

Ain't no use in lookin down;
Ain't no discharge on the ground. ----------------goin' home;
Jody's got your gal and gone. ----------------lookin' back;
Jody's got your Cadillac.

WW II era, to the tune of "Madamoiselle from Armentriers"

M. from A., parley vous? (x2) M. from A. has not been kissed for twenty years. (x2) Inky-dinky, parley vous.

Same pattern, with necessary repeats:

They say this is a mechanized war, par....
What in the Hell are we walking for?

The Second Lieutenant carries a pack, par ....
We hope to Hell it breaks his back.

There was also (RVN era) a long one to the tune of "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." The jump school version was

In her hair, she wore a yellow ribbon,
Wore it in the springtime and in the month of May.
And if you asked her why the Hell she wore it,
She wore it for her sweetheart who was far, far away. Far away! Far away!
She wore it for her sweetheart who was far, far away.

Around the block, she pushed the baby carriage, Pushed it in the springtime and in the month of May.
And if you asked her why the Hell she pushed it,
She pushed it for her sweetheart who was far, far away.

Something was subbed for "an in the month of May" to rhyme with "She wore it for her sweetheart in the airborne infantry."

A friend of mine came up with an old German one--old like from Bismarck days. Phonetically:

Zicke, Zacke, jup hei dee!
Schneidig ist die infantrie.

Free translation: "Ta-ra-ra boom-de-ay! The Infantry is snappy." Funny thing is there is a US Civ War song about a bugler that has a nonsense chorus including "Jup hei dee." I suspect that one of the Teutons who made up about 20% of der Union Army brought that from der old country. Ja.

Horton is a good source, but "military music" isn't coterminous with jody cadences.

CC

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Jeri
Date: 19 May 01 - 04:42 PM

Ain't no use to sit and hope
Jodie's smoked up all your dope

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Wotcha
Date: 19 May 01 - 06:57 PM

Hooah!
There are tapes of this stuff out there ... but the lyrics and tunes vary according to who happens to be leading the calls.
I've gotten away with a modern version of "Gassed Last Night" (you can work a cadence out of it) for the last 23 years ... now I am just waiting for an opportunity to do John Kanaka ...
Cheers,
Brian

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Jeri
Date: 19 May 01 - 08:20 PM

Wotcha, have you ever tried
"There she was, just a-walkin' down the street
Singin' doo-wah-ditty-ditty-dum-ditty-do"
a la Stripes? Always thought that one was made for marching.

Just remembered something that went something like:
Hey, ho, diddley-bop
I wish I was back on the block

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Hollowfox
Date: 21 May 01 - 10:41 AM

No surprise, there's also a book out; I found it when I should have been looking up something else, of course. It's: "Cadences: the jody call book, no.1" edited by Sandee Shaffer Johnson. Canton, Ohio: Daring Press, 1983. ISBN 0938936115 It's probably out of print, but the ISBN sometimes helps in getting interlibrary loans. I remember it being a good book on the subject.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 21 May 01 - 03:42 PM

Gee, I must be the very Jody they all sing about.
Anyway, the only one I remember that had my name in it was from basic training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Tex in the winter of 1947-48, and it went.....

You had a good home and you left...YOU'RE RIGHT
You want to go home but you can't.....YOU'RE RIGHT
JODY was there when you left.....YOU'RE RIGHT
JODY was there when you left.....YOU'RE RIGHT
Aint no sense in goin' home, JODY's got you're gal and gone
Hip oh hop oh wring out the mop
Oh left oh right oh left.

Joe Offer: I have the sheet music for Vaughn Monroe's version of "Sound off", do you want it?

The Armed Forces were still segregated in 1947 Integration by executive order of (God Bless Him) Harry Truman came later. I suppose that what I'm going to relate now went with segregation. (I'll still take integration anyday)

Whenever we were drilling in the same general area as the Black troops were, our drill instructor would give us a break so we could watch learn and listen. I don't suppose this is "Politcally correct" to relate this, but it is nevertheless true that the Black troops were one hell of a lot better at close order drill than the rest of us were, and the 4 part harmonies they sang were,to say the least, beautiful to the ear. One song sticks in my mind, and I guess there were hundreds of verses to this thing. It is basically, the song, "Raise a Ruckus Tonight" with verses that you won't find in any published version of this song. Here're two examples

The lines that are typed like this were sung solo by the drill instructor and the lines ALL IN CAPS WERE SUNG IN 4 PART HARMONY BY THE ENTIRE FLIGHT.

I got a gal in San Antone RAISE A RUCKUS TONIGHT
She don't like to sleep alone RAISE A RUCKUS TONIGHT
Oh won't you COME ALONG, LITTLE CHILLUN COME ALONG
(Bass solo) Oh, Lordy, WHILE THE MOON IS SHININ' BRIGHT
(Bass solo)Shinin' bri i i ight GET ON BOARD DOWN THAT RIVER ROAD
(Bass solo) we're gonna RAISE A RUCKUS TONIGHT

(D.I. solo) I got a gal in do-wa-diddy. RAISE A RUCKUS TONIGHT
She's got freckles on her tittyRAISE A RUCKUS TONIGHT. ETC. ETC. ETC.

a fond memory, but a very small price to pay for integration.

Jody Gibson

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 21 May 01 - 03:48 PM

It occurs to me that "Paddy Lay Back" the capstan chantey, would be a dandy marching song for navy boot camp.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 22 May 01 - 12:48 AM

The Firesign Theatre did a satirical Jody song. "You ain't got no friends on the Left (Your Right!)..." Something like that. CarolC, where are you to fill in the blanks here?

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Banjer
Date: 22 May 01 - 06:20 AM

When we would be marching past the barracks of another unit during basic our DI would usually initiate a cadence not at all complimetary to them.

If I had a low IQ I could be in Signal too!
Sound off, one, two, cadence count
One,...two,...three,...four
One, two, three four.

The word signal (indicating signal corps) would be replaced with whatever the units specialty was. We ahd Airborne, MP's and Vehicle Maintenance barracks in our area and no one escaped the cadence 'salutes'. Not to turn this into anything racial, but I always enjoyed when our black Di's would lead us because they had a much better rhythm and usually a better quality voice, which made keeping in time much easier. Let's face it, they's good!!

All kidding aside, some of the most important lessons we learned in basic were taught to us by some of those black Drill Instructors. It is hard to measure or imagine how many GI's lives were saved by the lessons taught from their firsthand experiences in combat situations. I have always admired those guys. With Memorial Day drawing near, it would do us all good to remember they invaluable service they provided.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: LR Mole
Date: 22 May 01 - 12:34 PM

Firesign Theatre thing ended with, on descending notes: "hound dog, tree frog, coon town...asswipe!" Densely layered stuff, in there.
Bruce Dern character calls the Jon Voight character a "f--ing Jody f--k" in his what-did-I-come-back-for scene in "Coming Home". I was, I think, the only non-vet in the theatre who noticed it when the thing showed. Boy, Jane Fonda has a few things to answer for, hmm?

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: mousethief
Date: 22 May 01 - 12:47 PM

I have a book of jodies at home which was given to me when I was in NROTC at the University of Washington in the early 1980's. PM me if you're interested in having me look at what's there and report back to you.

Here's one I learned from my ex-wife (not sure where she learned it, but both her father and mother were in the Marine Corps, her father in WW2):

I don't know but I've been told
Naked people ain't got no clothes
If they tried to put them on
Naked people would all be gone
Sound off (etc.)

Alex

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: mousethief
Date: 22 May 01 - 12:53 PM

Wrote this one myself whilst in Sea Scouts. Note that you have to syncopate the beat in the middle or you end up shouting the wrong foot.

The boat took off with me on the dock YOUR LEFT! YOUR LEFT!
Ninety-nine miles is a long way to walk YOUR RIGHT! YOUR RIGHT!

Alex

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: LR Mole
Date: 22 May 01 - 12:56 PM

Forgot this: don't know if the melody was around, but the 20th Maine used to say "
Now I lay me down to sleep
In mud that's twenty fathoms deep
If I should die before I wake
Just dig me up with an oyster rake
So says a book I read about the Unpleasantness.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Jeri
Date: 22 May 01 - 05:54 PM

Anybody else think the tune to Sound Off sounds like Hogeye Man?

We had a whole bunch of verses our cadence caller had made up just to harrass the officers we parked next to in PT. We'd make sure to get there after them, so they'd have to listen. (Not "legal" to sing when you aren't marching.) They did eventually get even, but it was still a lot of fun.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 11:48 AM

I knew an Army Sargeant once, he'd be about 100 if he were alive today, who claimed that Jody was a black DI from the turn of the century. He was something of a historian so he might be right.

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: SDShad
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 12:03 PM

When my sister was at training camp for ROTC officer candidates, she told me they occasionally used The Who's "Magic Bus" as a running Jody. Creative bunch. Got some funny looks from older officers, though....

Chris

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 12:10 PM

I had a talking one I used to do - it was more of a sermon done in cadence routine. And it was made up all the way. It had to do with God loving the Grunts because God is into puzzles and the Grunts send him lots of those. Sort of a Talkin Blues routine. We loved it and the officers struggled!! Much to our delight.

Then we did "Old King Cole was a merry old soul, And a merry old soul was he (troops echoed this)
He called for his pipe, And he called for his bowl, And he called for his Private's three.(troops echoed this)
Beer - beer - beer yelled the privates
Merry men are we
We'll drink the beer
and make with cheer
On a three day liberty." (If the unit knew the call this part was sung with the Drill Instructor - Otherwise it was an echo).

This went on up to a General if you wanted.

As a former Marine I can also tell you that the melodic cadence calls of The Marines are the very best ever devised. I can still do them and they are just plain fun. No way to spell what comes out.

Haven't thought about some of this for a while - Kewl

Steve

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: MMario
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 12:13 PM

interesting story

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 06:11 PM

We picked up one of these, some of which has appeared above.
Airborne airborne all the way,
Airborne airborne night and day.

Hey there brother have you heard,,br. We're gonna jump from an iron bird,
C130 on the strip,
Ready to take us on a one way trip.

Airborne.
All the way,
Airborne,
Easy
Airborne Airborne all the way
Airborne airborne night and day

Red light on stand at the door,
Green light jump count up to 4
Red on
Green on
Wheres the new guy,
New guys fainted
He aint airborne
All the way,
Airborne etc

If my chute dont open wide,
I got another one by my side,
And if that chute dont open wide,
Gonna spread my body on the countryside

Air borne
All the way etc

If I should fall on the battle zone,
Box me up and send me home,
Pin my wings upon my chest,
Tell my girl I done my best.

Airborne All the way etc.

I earned and still wear US wings.
All the way,
Keith

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: GUEST,Wotcha
Date: 12 Jan 02 - 10:12 AM

Airborne!
Hooah!
Cheers,
Brian

Subject: RE: Military Jodies?
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 12 Jan 02 - 11:09 AM

Jody's were "discouraged" in my coompany in Basic Training. Occasionally we'd get to hear other companies singing out. In Advanced Training I heard many more. The concept of taking some popular song and using it as a Jody was certainly alive and well. I remember

The prettiest girl, THE PRETTIEST GIRL

I ever saw, I EVER SAW.

Was sippin' so-....

Da through a straw. ....

THE PRETTIEST GIRL I EVER SAW, WAS SIPPIN' SODA THROUGH A STRAW.

This pattern was followed to the end of the song. Also "When the Saints Go Marchin' In" was done in this call and response style.

Roger in Baltimore