Cadence or Marching Songs

Subject: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: roxiesmama (inactive)
Date: 09 May 99 - 08:43 AM

Can anyone tell me where I might find some cadence (marching) songs. Thanks

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 09 May 99 - 09:44 AM

The DT has a couple--try a search for Jody

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Tucker
Date: 09 May 99 - 11:16 AM

Can't repeat all the ones I was taught but Jody was mentioned in many of them. Even the poor Eskimos were too

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Margo
Date: 09 May 99 - 12:02 PM

Hey R'smama. are you talking about something you can play and sing? Are there marching songs ala folk? The only thing comes to mind is John Phillip Souza.

Margarita

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 09 May 99 - 12:18 PM

"Sound Off" a marching, cadence song with various titles and lyrics...many made up extemporaneously. The best known, perhaps, is Mitch Miller's version done about 1955, coincedent withe the movie "Battle Cry" in which the song is appropriately featured.--John

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 May 99 - 03:17 PM

I always thought the best-known recording of "Sound Off" was the one done by Vaughn Monroe in the early 1950's. I've been trying to find that song on a CD for years, but it's not on any of the Vaughn Monroe collections I've found. Anybody know where I can find it?
-Joe Offer-

---

I found it - it's on a compilation called The Very Best of Vaughn Monroe. It was a difficult quest, because I wanted to find a song that had "Duckworth" and didn't have most of the songs that are on the other Vaughn Monroe compilation that I already had.
-Joe Offer, 26 Sept 04-

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From:
Date: 09 May 99 - 08:26 PM

As I indicated on the Jody thread a while back, even the Romans sang or chanted them. I once read a translation of a Roman jody wherein the soldiers complained of Scippio Africanus getting all the wine and pretty women, while they did all the fighting.

I've often if that song that starts off mentioning Lord Nelson is a true marching song, used by sailors on those occassions when they had to march to fight on land. Starts off "Lord Nelson had a remedy to cure your mal-de-mer", which is sometimes mondegreened into "moldy mare".:)

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Susan A-R
Date: 09 May 99 - 08:57 PM

Hmmm, does the moldy mare go with the hoarse weasel (I really can't spell, ah shucks!)

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From:
Date: 09 May 99 - 09:07 PM

"mal-de-mer" -- I think I got the spelling right. It means sea-sickness. I can't remember what His Lordship had advised as a cure -- probably the lash.

IIRC, the chorus also has a play on the word "oar" -- remember it would have been English sailors singing the song.

"Hoarse weasel" -- a mondegreen for the title of a nasty Nazi song, which seems to have a tune suitable for an Anglican hymn? (See previous thread on subject.)

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 09 May 99 - 09:10 PM

The song with mal-de-mer and Nelson in it is Marching Inland, a recent composition by Tom Lewis. In the DT.

If anyone has words to Jody chants, cadence calls etc., feelthy or not, please send them to me. (Or post 'em, if you're shy)

dick greenhaus

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From:
Date: 09 May 99 - 09:18 PM

Ah, so it isn't a new one. Thanks Dick.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Tucker
Date: 09 May 99 - 09:31 PM

C'mon, you folks have to know these!!! Let me try one innocent one to see if this is what someone wants.....GI beans and GI Gravy, Gee I wish I'd joined the Navy...Sound Off....Sound Off....Sound off 1-2...3-4, ain't no use in lookin' down, ain't no discharge on the ground... Count Cadance, Count Cadence Count Cadence count!Geez, combined with the damn mothballs mentioned in an earlier thread my mind is back to being 19 again......now if only my body was

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: roxiesmama (inactive)
Date: 09 May 99 - 10:47 PM

I have a grandson in Safe P. (State Jail) and he is the Cadence Caller and is wanting some new or old cadence calls. He has permission from the warden to get some new calls. He wrote to me asking if I might find some on the internet. So I came here hoping to find some for him. Many Thanks, Carolyn

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 09 May 99 - 11:51 PM

Joe this could be a win/win situation. You being of a certain age, I think, may remember that in the 1950s there could be simultaneous, multiple recordings (even hits) on the same song. Some I remember--not counting God-awful R&B covers by white folks--"Hey There", "Answer Me Oh My Love [Lord]" "Unchained Melody", "This Old House" and on and on and on. After I posted earlier, I recalled that Art Lund [perhaps] had also sung "Sound Off".

Subject: In The Early Morning Rain
From:
Date: 07 Jul 04 - 02:50 PM

I had a Drill that sang this one in basic, but I don't remember the whole thing ... anyone recognize?

(chorus)
In the early morning rain
with this weapon in my hand
I'm coming home today
From this war-torn land

(1st verse)
With a rifle in my arms
and a ruck sack on my back
I've carried forth this fight
but now I'm coming back


That's all I remember ... if you know the rest email me PLEASE ...

Thanx
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: mg
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 01:07 AM

Hambone hambone where you been
Round the world and back again

And they used to sing Oleana a lot too during the Vietnam war...such a great song, with such horrid lyrics for the most part.

mg

Subject: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 06:37 PM

hello
    this is ryan, i was wondering if you know titles of songs that is always being use in graduation? pls send reply to [e-mail]

Thank you!

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Barry T
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 08:25 PM

How 'bout Land of Hope and Glory...
http://www.contemplator.com/tunebook/england/hopeglry.htm

Gaudeamus Igitur is another, but I don't have a blue clicky at the moment.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 11:58 AM

Graduation? Not a song, but they always play Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance No. (whatever it is).

And when I was a kid, we sang (or rather, chanted):

Left
Left
Left my wife and forty five children
Home in the kitchen in starving condition
With nothing but gingerbread
Left
Left (et cetera, ad nauseam)

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: belter
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 06:23 PM

about 20 years ago the US army decided to clean up its act, and outlaw dirty cadences. this put an end to a lot of the tridition of millitary cadences. Maybee some old guys remember them, but they're no longer passed on.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: CET
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 07:10 PM

I'm glad to see this thread being revived. I recently had a practical lesson in the value of marching songs when I marched with my team in the Four Days Marches in Nijmegen, Holland. I was the lead singer for our team, and I found that a good song really does help you push through the pain. Some of my favourites were "Halo Infantry" (I have no idea what the Halo means) and "Mama, mama can't you see" and a French song "Mon pere n'avait que dix poulets". They had a powerful rythymn and were easy to sing loud. Some other good songs, like Barrett's Privateers, didn't work as well on the march because I was almost gasping for air at the end of a line.

The Canadian Army has a long tradition of pretty filthy marching songs too, but we were under strict orders not to sing anything really offensive. Not to worry, the Dutch units took care of that. They were always singing, mostly songs in English that they'd picked up from the Brits and Americans. I heard a lot of good singing from the Brits and Americans, but not the obscene stuff I remember from years ago.

For a folkie like me, it was fascinating to be part of an active folk process. We heard another Canadian team singing "Halo Infantry" towards the end of the third day. Their lead singer taught it to me, and said that he had heard an American team singing it a couple of years before.

Now that the subject has been brought up again, are their any recordings of Jodys or marching songs. I probably won't have a chance to do Nijmegen again, but if I do I'd like to learn some new songs.

Edmund

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: The Walrus
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 04:16 PM

It's amazing what one _can_ march to.
I recall that a few years ago, a batch of us (re-enactors) were in full kit, marching through Autuilles (a town on part of the Somme battlefield) to 'A little Bit of Cucumber', and marching down the country roads to "Serjeant Soloman Isaacstien" and a 'filk' version of "Doctor Shelly" (insulting one of our members), they all worked and they all helped the march.
If it has a simple rhythmn, can be adjusted to the marching empo and the lines are short enough to allow breathing, you csn march to it.

Walrus

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 06:54 PM

I asked for marching music in this thread and got lots of great songs.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: GUEST,Juan Phatt-B'Stard
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 08:55 PM

A very short, English marching tune was:

Tuppence I got for selling my clothes
Tuppence I got for my blanket
If ever I 'list (enlist) for (as) a soldier again
The Devil will be my sergeant (repeat ad nauseum)

'Tuppence' is two pennies

Must have been a d*mn short march

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: CET
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 06:02 PM

Thanks for that. The version I know of Devil Will be My Sergeant has the line "Forty I got for selling my coat", meaning lashes. I wish there were more verses.

That's an excellent site Mary. It doesn't seem to have exactly the stuff I was looking for, which was more in the line of marching chanteys for people who are exhausted and ready to give serious consideration to having their feet amputated. However, it was great fun listening to those old recordings.

Edmund

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: GUEST,hey
Date: 25 Sep 04 - 11:38 PM

does anyone no a marching song by the name of the flying fortress i had a guy once sing part of it to me and i would really like to find it.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: CET
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 07:10 AM

I will post a version that I know later today.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 12:02 PM

CET mentioned the marching song "Mama Mama can't you see". Can he {she?} or anyone else please post the words to that chant? Thanks.

Until I read that post I didn't connect the two "Mama, Mama can't you see" children's handclap rhymes that I had collected with army marching chants. Both rhymes start the same.

       Mama Mama can't you see
       what that's army done to me.

Then the rhymes change up. One continues with these words:

       It took away my MTV
       now I got to watch Barney
       Tic tac toe
       three in a row
       Barney got shot {killed} by GI Joe.
       Don't stop till your hands get hot
       Don't stop till your hand gets red.

{Then girls and boys do fast hand clap routine}

The other version says:

It made me clean the living room.
It made me clean the bathroom.
It said Michael Jackson is a fag.
Put him in a garbage bag.
Tick tac toe
three in a row.
Tickle yourself!
--
{Both collected from African American girls and boys, Pittsburgh, Pa area, 1999, 2000}

Has anyone else heard rhymes like these used by children?

What these rhymes say about the children's values and "political" views is a whole 'nother story...

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: CET
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 12:10 PM

I have "Mama, mama can't you see" on my computer at work and I will post it tomorrow. It's in the official songbook for the Canadian Nijmegen contingent.

Here's the version of the Flying Boxcar that I remember, although I know it as "Our Sergeant Major":

They took the Flying Boxcar up to 40,000 feet,
They took the Flying Boxcar up to 40,000 feet,
They took the Flying Boxcar up to 40,000 feet,
And he ain't gonna jump no more

Subject: Lyr Add: MAMA MAMA CAN'T YOU SEE (marching song)
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 02:40 PM

Here is "Mama, mama can't you see". Needless to say, there are plenty of variants. Sorry for the delay.

MAMA MAMA CAN'T YOU SEE

Mama Mama can't you see
What this road is doing to me
Mama Mama can't you see
What this road is doing to me

Chorus is a chant of the tune
(Whoa whoa), (Yay yay) or (Da da dada)

Mama Mama can't you see
What these boots are doing to me

Mama mama can't you see
Both my feet were blister free


Mama mama don't you care
I've got sweaty underwear.

Joined the army to get in shape
But all I do is hurry and wait

They put me in a barber's chair
Shaved my head 'til it was bare.

Use to wear designer jeans
Now I'm dressed in jungle greens

Thought I'd get to get to have some fun
But all I do is shoot my gun

They took away my life of fun
Now all I do is shoot my gun (Or, Now I don't even shoot my gun)

They took away my gin and rum
Now I'm up before the sun

Used to drive a Chevrolet
Now I'm marching all the way

Used to drive a Cadillac
Now I pack it on my back

They took away my set of wheels
Now I've blisters on my heels.

I used to date a beauty queen
Now I hump my M.16

Up in the morning much too soon
We're still marching after noon.

Keep on looking straight ahead
To a warm and cozy bed.

Dressed in Green and looking mean
We ought to be in the marines

Standing tall and looking good
We ought to be in Hollywood

Ain't no use in looking down
There is no discharge on the ground.

Ain't no use in going slow
There are many miles to go

Ain't no point in going fast
We shall never be the last

**** ****(Someone's name) Don't be blue
Frankenstein was ugly too

**** ****(Someone's name) is looking green
We all pissed in his/her canteen.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 02:49 PM

Guest,

Thanks for the words to this rhyme.

The children's rhymes I've collected and some of the verses of this military cadence have close similarities, particularly the beginning two lines and the lines "they took away my MTV"=kid's version and "they took away my gun/wheels.."= military version.

The folk tradition is alive and well!

{You may want to see the Jody's children's thread if you have not already done so.}

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: GUEST,Edmund
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 02:54 PM

Er, that was me signing on as guest. I also see that I didn't actually post the lyrics to "Our Sergeant Major" as I thought I did. Here goes:

1. Our Sergeant-Major jumped from 40,000 feet (3X)
And he ain't gonna jump no more

CHORUS:

And the Lord said,
Glory, glory what a hell of a way to die,
Glory, glory what a hell of a way to die,
Glory, glory what a hell of a way to die,
When your balls hang lower than your paratrooper boots (Or repeat "And he ain't gonna jump no more" if you want to be more polite)

2. He was the last to leave the plane, the first to hit the ground (3X)
And he ain't gonna jump no more

CHORUS

3. He landed on the runway like a little blob of shit (or "like a blob of strawberry jam) (3X)
And he ain't gonna jump no more

CHORUS

4. They scraped him off the runway with a little silver spoon (3X)
And he ain't gonna jump no more

CHORUS

5. They put him in a matchbox and they sent him home to Mom (3X)
And he ain't gonna jump no more

CHORUS

6. They put him on the mantelpiece for everyone to see (3X)
And he ain't gonna jump no more

CHORUS

7. Now he is a soldier in the Army of the Lord (3X)
And he ain't gonna jump no more
(I learned this last verse from a British unit at the Nijmegen Marches this summer)

Edmund

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: PoppaGator
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 03:00 PM

Funny how there are so often two threads running on the same subject (e.g., this and "Jody's children," two current threads on tips for guitar beginnners, etc.).

Guest's long set of verses to "Mama Mama Can't You See," 2 or 3 posts above, is great. I had forgotten one of my favorite couplets: "Ain't no use in lookin' down / Ain't no discharge on the ground."

I was surprised, however, to see the word "gun" appear in several places. When I was in US Army Basic Training, you could catch some serious hell for using that word -- the correct terminology was "weapon."

But then, "weapon" doesn't rhyme nearly as easily as "gun"!

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Oct 04 - 10:16 AM

This comment is in tune with the rainy weather we're having in Pittsburgh today:

It just occurred to me that the cadence refrain "he ain't gonna jump no more" sounds very much like the African American antebellum dance song refrains "Ain't gonna {gwine} rain no more" and "Ain't gonna work no more."

Has anyone else written about this similarity?

I see that there is a thread for "Ain't gonna rain no more". I will post this observation there also.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Chris Green
Date: 02 Oct 04 - 11:33 AM

Not sure if they're technically marching songs but have a look anyway!

Babylon is Fallen - Parliamentarian song from the English Civil War.

Garryowen - the march of the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn

High Germany - 18th century English song

All of them have midi files of the tune.

Hope that helps!

Chris

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Oct 04 - 12:19 PM

"Weapon" is fairly recent Army usage. A gun was a gun in WW2 drills.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Lighter
Date: 02 Oct 04 - 06:15 PM

Q: No "This is my rifle, this is my gun..." rhyme in basic?   What kind of chicken outfit were you in? ;)

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Chris Green
Date: 03 Oct 04 - 08:32 AM

Of course there's all the WW1 marching songs too - "Tipperary", "Pack Up Your troubles In Your Old Kit Bag", "Hush, Here Comes a Whizz-Bang" etc.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Lighter
Date: 03 Oct 04 - 08:24 PM

Am I right in guessing that "Tuppence I got for selling my clothes" is sung to the 18th century tune, "Here's to the Maiden of Bashful Fifteen"?

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Oct 04 - 08:43 PM

This is my rifle
This is my gun
This is for fighting
This is for fun.

....but I think the term "weapon" instead of "rifle" is an innovation of the Vietnam War. Gunlore in the Military will give more information.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Lighter
Date: 03 Oct 04 - 08:48 PM

Great reference, Joe.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: GUEST,edje Royal Netherlands Army
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 03:56 PM

you didn't knew what halo infantry ment? well , it's not halo but : Hail oh hail oh infantry.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: The Walrus
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 07:13 PM

Lighter,

"..."Tuppence I got for selling my clothes"..." (more usually "Fifty I got for selling my coat" - a reference to lashes awarded by a Commanding Officer) is sung to the traditional tune "The Rogues' March", traditionally played when the prisoner is marched out to punishment or in 'Drumming out' someone considered undesirable for service.

"Fifty I got for selling my coat,
"Fifty for selling my blanket,
"If ever I 'list for a soldier again,
"The Devil shill be my sergeant.
"Poor old soldier,
"Poor old soldier,
"Fifty I got for selling my coat,
"Fifty for selling my blanket,
"If ever I 'list for a soldier again,
"The Devil shill be my sergeant."

Any use?

Walrus.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 09:12 PM

Yes, Walrus ! Thanks mucho ! The old U.S. "Rogue's March" went to a shorter variant of that :

Poor old soldier !
Poor old soldier !
He'll be tarred and feathered and sent to Hell,
Because he would not soldier well.

The music of the third and fourth lines rather resemble "Here's to the Maiden." Could easily be coincidental.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Snuffy
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 08:34 AM

Words and tune in this thread: Lyr Req: John Tams singing

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 01:58 PM

Guest edje of the Royal Netherlands Army:

In my olive-drab experience, "halo" in the infantry context is an acronym for "high altitude, low opening", and refers to a kind of free-fall parachute descent.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: Lighter
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 09:59 PM

Thanks, Snuffy.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: dermod in salisbury
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 04:37 AM

I did the Nijmegen marches many years ago as a territorial soldier. My recollection is that the Germans had the best marching songs, and everyone seemed to know the words. By comparison, we were a poor lot. But one song worked fantastically for us and had the watchers on the road sides laughing. The Hokey Cokey, complete with turnabouts on the march.

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 12:49 AM

does anyone recognize the tune below? my grandma was asking about it, she used to hear it on the radio all the time during the war while she was in england. below is what she remembers of it. a name, artist, anything will be a help.   thanks

Canadian Marching Song:

We're on our way
We're on our way
We're on our way to Berchtesgaden
And every day, every day is one day nearer
When we get there you will hear us
Singing hey-di ho-di hey
When we get there
You can betcha
We'll have Hitler on a stretcher
Singing hey hey hey
We're on our way

Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
From:
Date: 17 May 06 - 04:56 PM

At the beginning of the show 'THE UNIT' THEY SAY/SING A SONG ON EACH SHOW. I HAVE TRIED TO PICK UP ON THE WORDS BUT I CAN'T.

DOES ANYONE OUT THERE KNOW???