The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #159723 Message #3853035
Posted By: GUEST
29-Apr-17 - 01:53 PM
Thread Name: Songs of flying in First World War
Subject: RE: Songs of flying in First World War
I've found that 'The Dying Aviator' appears to be based on The Tarpaulin Jacket and its Australian version The Dying Stockman. I would not be surprised if it was initially written by an Australian in the RFC, though I expect that the Hotchkiss verse did originate with an American:
Oh had I the flight of the bronzewing
Far over the plains would I fly
Straight to the land of my childhood
And there I would lay down and die
(Which in turn seems to be based on a verse "If I had the wings of a turtledove", from Bound For Botany Bay.)
Then cut down a couple of saplings
Place one at my head and my toe
Carve on them crossed stockwhip and bridle
To show there's a stockman below
There's tea in the battered old billy
Place the pannikins all in a row
And drink to the stalwart old stockman
Who soon will be lying below.
I'm planning to record it shortly (this month is the centennial of the RFC's "Bloody April"). But I wonder if there was a chorus along the same lines as
Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket
And say a poor buffer lies low;
And six stalwart lancers shall carry me
Carry me with steps solemn, mournful and slow.
or
Wrap me up with my stockwhip and blanket,
And bury me deep down below
Where the dingoes and crows cannot find me
In the shade where the coolibahs grow
Like "Wrap me up in my leather flight jacket..." The verse that ends "And assemble the engine again" appears to have been used as the chorus.