Last Aug. 21 I posted the following to another thread:

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

The "breakthrough" here is that a chunk of the distinctive "Bless 'em All" tune goes back to the 1880s. This could explain why the Chelsea pensioners placed the song in the 19th C.

I'm very curious as to why Godfrey didn't publish his song in 1917, what the lyrics actually were, and why, as GUEST Barry observes at his website, Godfrey's name "never appears" as a co-author.

If Fred Godfrey really was the genius behind "Bless 'em All," he deserves credit, but given the wispiness of the evidence, documentation of Godfrey's lyrics is crucial. And is there any documentary proof that the song was sung "underground" for 22 years from 1918 - 1940 ?

The situation is even more curious since there seems to be no doubt whatever that Godfrey wrote - and was credited with - the other songs listed at the website, none of which became as big a hit as "Bless 'em All" !

What were those 1917 lyrics ?