Lyr Add: All the World is Desolation

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL THE WORLD IS DESOLATION
From: John M.
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 01:00 PM

Hello everyone,

Here is the song "All the World is Desolation" (mp3) as sung by Charlie Noble on Dec 9, 2004.  A version of this can be found in the DT (see here) but Charlie uses a different tune.   If you could help me identify the tune, I would greatly appreciate it.

ALL THE WORLD IS DESOLATION "

All the World is Desolation,
It is quiet as a tomb,
Sister's missed her menstruation,
Mother has a fallen womb;
Brother Dick has been deported,
For some secret sexual crime,
Sister Jill has been aborted,
For the forty-second time;
All the world is desolation,
Hardly anybody smiles,
And our only recreation,
Is cracking ice for Grampa's piles!

Note: A more common name for this song
is 'Life Presents A Dismal Picture' and it is
often sung to 'Deutschland Uber Alles' or
'Hark, the Herald Angels Sing'.

So do you sing this song to Charlie's tune?   If so when/where did you learn it?

If you know this song -- or any bawdy songs -- would you please consider doing a telephone interview with me for folkloristic purposes?   If you would like more information, you can send me an email me at [e-mail]

Any help is appreciated.

Sincerely,

John Mehlberg
~
My, mostly traditional, bawdy songs, toasts and recitations website: www.immortalia.com
~

• Field Recording - John Mehlberg Collection.
  • Digital Recording - Charlie Noble - 2004.12.09
    • All The World Is Desolation  Time: 0:40

Subject: RE: New Tune: 'All the World is Desolation'
From: Lighter
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 01:31 PM

Sounds to me like a close relative of "She was Poor but She Was Honest." (With a nod to - omigosh - "Rolling Home"?????)

Subject: RE: New Tune: 'All the World is Desolation'
From: Dead Horse
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 08:32 PM

In the army (UK) we used to sing this song to the tune of Silver Threads Among The Gold.

Subject: RE: New Tune: 'All the World is Desolation'
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 10:03 AM

There are certainly similarities with both "Silver Threads Among the Gold" as well as "She was Poor but She Was Honest." Of course when we were singing this song back in the early 1960's at my all-men's college, we were more concerned with entertaining ourselves while guzzling various fermented fluids.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble