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.