<"Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire" - Trench Life.>

Do you really know this song, T?



No, T, wrong again! The book is a collection of SONGS contemporary to events. Admittedly there are plenty of jingoistic pieces in it, but these certainly weren't written by the rank and file. Try page 41 'The Young Recruit; or, Thirteen Pence a Day' if you can take reality.

v3 Come along, you gaubies, come and be drilled,
By a puppy of a sergeant that's not worth being killed,
You'll be made a corporal if you're a jolly cock;
Come and be a soldier, but be in by eight o'clock.

v5
Remember we are soldiers, the bravest of the brave,
Come and be a soldier, then you'll be a slave,
Come to Colonel White, my lads, but don't pretend to cry
For if you are not happy we can flog you till you die.

Multiple different versions printed in about 1850 and later. 8 other stanzas all on the same theme.

I think 'Arthur McBride' and 'McCaffery' already mentioned, the latter a true story. It will have its own thread.