A quick search for the Phillipines Song turned up this and its source. Bolos were not ties but locally manufactured machetes with which the locals did severe damage to opposing troops. The Moros, especially, did lots of damage this way as they frequently went into battle hopped up on hashish and with bamboo wrappings around their arms and legs to turn bullets, suprisingly effectively, and prevent wounds from gushing blood; which lead to the adoption of the Colt 45 calibre Automatic Pistol, since the then issued 38 calibre revolvers did not have enough stopping power to down an attacking Moro high on whatever he could devise in his camp.


In the days of dopey dreams -- happy, peaceful Philippines,
When the bolomen were busy all night long,
When ladrones would steal and lie, and Americanos die,
Then you heard the soldiers sing this evening song:

And then the bulls and their guests rhythmically banged their fists on the tables during each rendition of the chorus:

Damn, damn, damn the insurrectos!
Cross-eyed kakiac ladrones!
Underneath the starry flag, civilize 'em with a Krag,
And return us to our own beloved homes.

The chorus originally began: Damn, damn, damn the Filipinos! The US soldiers chanted the second line's surviving racial slur about Filipinos as "khaki-colored thieves" while marching through the jungle. Some accounts say that, as the Americans marched and sang, some of them carried ears they had lopped off the Filipinos' heads and kept as souvenirs. ...

(Ian Urbina is a journalist based at the Middle East Research and Information Project in Washington, DC.)

[The full text is available at .] *****