The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #16016 Message #2002771
Posted By: Bob Bolton
20-Mar-07 - 11:48 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Tarpaulin Jacket
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
G'day Martin (aka aussiebloke),
I think you're right about the indiscriminate of any "dirty word" at that age ... although I'm fairly sure I did not learn my version until my early teens. The obvious tune has to be The Dying Stockman as this version sits squarely in the standard Dying Whoever descendant of the Tarpaulin Jacket of which we have many other examples, just in Australia.
My WW1 and WW2 distinctions don't rely on the use of "Kraut", which I think goes back at least to the 19th century (but I'll check in the OED ... when I get home!). The critical WW2 feature in your version nis the pairing of "... the Japs and the Germans ...", since the Japanese were on our side in the First World Stoush. My Grandfather served in both Wars ... and my Grandparents had Japanese Army and Navy officers as house guests in the late 1930s (automatically presumed ex post facto to have been "spies"!).
The other indication of my version's "post WW 1" dating is "... the League of all Nations ...", indicating a date around (or before) the breakup of The League of Nations that formed after WW 1 ... to prevent further global wars!