RALPH McGILL
They Were Singing,
And at 6 A.M., Too

UNIVERISTY OF MIAMI-(By Mail)--
Later on I learned it was 6 o'clock. At the time
I knew only that it was dark and that a terrific
burst of singing by several hundred voices
was coming up beneath my window.

I sat up, listening. The voices rang clearly:

"Oh, Dirty Lil, Dirty Lil,
From up on Garbage Hill,
Never took a bath and she never will.
Tra, la-tra, la la,
There never was a girl like Dirty Lil."

They finished the song and sergeant's voice (all sergeants'
voices sound alike) began shouting the cadence:

"Hup, tup, thrup, foah!
"Hup, up, thrup, foah!"

By this time another company was well in sound of hearing and
down the road I could hear still another.

They gave me "Roll Out the Barrel," but the ext one was more
Versatile:

"Oh, there are Rotterdam Dutch
And the Amsterdam Dutch . . .
.........................!!!
Oh, the Lord made the Irish,
He didn't make much,
But they're a whole lot better
Than the blank blank Dutch."

There were many ore songs: "Tipperary," "Smiles," "Underneath
the Bamboo Tree," "Lulu," One Keg of Beer for the Four of Us,"
"Put a Nickel on the Drum," and so on.

Only once did I hear one of the war songs of this war. That
was the marching song of the Royal Air Force, "I've Got Sixpence
to Spend and Sixpence to Lend."

So far, I judge, no one has written a song the men like to sing
except some of their own coposers. I have not yet had time to
do any research on "Dirty Lil From Garbage Hill." Whether she
be new or has long been celebrated in song I do not know. They
like Dirty Lil.

April 13, 1944. "They Were Singing, And at 6 A.M., Too", Atlanta Constitution. Expurgation in the original.


See online here: https://archive.org/details/per_atlanta-constitution_1944-04-13_76_304/page/n7/mode/1up?q=%22up+on+garbage+hill%22