BROWNED OFF
(Ewan MacColl)

I used to be a civvie, chum, as decent as can be;
I used to think a working lad had a man’s right to be free.
And then one day they made a lousy soldier out of me
And told me I had got to save democracy.

Chorus:
O, I was browned off, browned off, browned off as can be;
Browned off, browned off, an easy mark, that’s me.
But when this war is over and again I’m free,
There’ll be no more trips around the world for me.

They stuck me in a convict suit, they made me cut my hair,
They took my civvie shoes away, they gave me another pair.
Instead of grub they gave me slush and plenty of fresh air And that was all to help to save democracy.

Chorus

Now, every day I’m on parade long before the dawn,
And every day I curse the ruddy day that I was born.
For I am just a browned-off soldier, anyone can see—
They browned me off to help to save democracy.

Chorus

The medical inspection, boys, is just a bleedin’ farce—
He gropes around your penis and he noses up your arse.
For even a private’s privates, boys, enjoy no privacy—
You sacrifice all that to save democracy.

Chorus

The colonel kicks the major, then the major has a go,
He kicks the poor old captain who then kicks the N.C.O.
And as the kicks get harder, the poor private you can see
Gets kicked to bloody hell to save democracy.

Chorus


Notes:
BROWNED OFF (1940—1945)
When Ewan was in the army he wrote quite a number of what were, at that time, incendiary pieces. Joan Littlewood writes: “. . the Medical Officer resented the entertainment. ‘Write another song about me, Miller, and I’ll give you an injection in a place you will never forget.’”
(Joan’s Book, Joan Littlewood’s Peculiar History as She Tells It, Methuen, 1994)


Source: The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook Oak Publications, 2001, page 298