Edmund posted this Canadian version quite some time ago. It was nice to have a Canadian army officer here at Mudcat. We miss you, Edmund. Rest in peace.

Thread #10803   Message #1981391
Posted By: CET
27-Feb-07 - 10:12 PM
Thread Name: Cadence or Marching Songs
Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs

Guest:

That's definitely a Canadian army song, but the correct title is "Old King Cole". I first heard when I was in Army Cadets years ago. It goes like this:

Old King Cole was a (merry old soul)(or horny ass hole)
And a merry old soul was he
And he called for his pipe in the middle of the night (in the first that I first heard it was "he called for his wife")
And he called for his privates three.

Beer, beer, beer said the privates,
Merry men are we
There's none so fair as can compare
To (insert name of unit or other group that rhymes with we, e.g. Bravo Company)

The song then builds, adding a rank each time, always ending up with beer, beer, beer said the privates. There are various versions. One that comes to mind right now is:

Left, right, left, right, left said the corporals
Move to the right in threes said the sergeants
Put that man on charge said the warrants
What shall we do now? said the louies
We do all the work said the captains
We want six weeks leave said the majors
Bring us in more wine said the colonels
Where the hell's my car, said the generals

Edmund