The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #31970 Message #3582475
Posted By: Jim Dixon
07-Dec-13 - 09:54 PM
Thread Name: WWI Trench songs
Subject: Lyr Add: ODE TO TICKLER
I suppose this is the song that The Walrus referred to as "Jam for Tea."
Lyrics and footnotes copied from Tommy's Tunes by F. T. Nettleingham (London: E. Macdonald, 1917), page 27:
ODE TO TICKLER.* Tune: "Sweet Genevieve."
Oh, jam for tea! Oh, jam for tea, I'm jolly sure it don't suit me; I've tried for years, and now in tears, I'll sing it to you mournfully.
Oh, jam for tea! Oh, jam for tea! The world knows how you've tortured me; I've frills and squills, you've made me bills, And filled the dentists' empty tills.
Oh, jam for tea! Oh, jam for tea! Fried bully** and Maconochie;*** But when we get back to Blighte-e-e-e.... We will have ham and lamb for tea.
* Jam maker to the Army. ** Bully beef—otherwise corned beef. *** The maker's name: a tinned food issued to Tommy, consisting usually of tinned tomatoes, haricots, potatoes, some sort of meat, usually fat, and some shiny stuff that might be gravy or jelly.