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lyr & origin; payday in the army |
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Subject: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: GUEST,Richie Date: 12 Aug 09 - 11:53 AM One version of Soldier's Joy is called Payday in the Army. I can see that there are versions of the song that seem to evolve into "Gee mom I want to Come Home." Does anyone have the lyrics to "Payday in the Army" under that title? Any info on hte origin? I've found several versions that scan the Soldier's Joy melody but I don't know if the "Gee Mom I want to Come Home" is now a different melody. The fiddler's companion lists "Love Somebody" as a different but related song to Soldier's Joy. Kuntz has "Love Somebody" as based on "My Love is But A Lassie Yet." I thought they were the same melody. What is the distinction? Any help is welcome, Richie |
Subject: Lyr Add: GEE MOM I WANNA GO HOME From: GUEST Date: 12 Aug 09 - 12:08 PM Lyr add: Gee, Mom, I Wanna Go Home The coffee that they give us they say is very fine It's good for cuts and bruises, and tastes like iodine, I don't want no more of Army life, Gee, Mom, I want to go home. The Army cots they give us they say are very fine, They're not for beauty resting, but straightening of the spine, I don't want no more of Army life, Gee, Mom, I want to go home. The zoot suits that they give us they say are mighty fine, You keep right on marching, and they move along behind, I don't want no more of Army life, Gee, Mom, I want to go home. The airplanes that they give us they say are mighty fine, The darn things can't shoot stages, they will not hit the line, I don't want no more of Army life, Gee, Mom, I want to go home. The quizzes that they give us, they say are mighty fine, We never know the answers, we're mixed up all the time, I don't want no more of Army life, Gee, Mom, I want to go home. The chicken that they serve us they say is mighty fine, One fell off the table and killed a friend of mine, I don't want no more of Army life, Gee, Mom, I want to go home. The typhoid shots they give us will make us all immune, They stick a needle in us and knock us out 'till June, I don't want no more of Army life, Gee, Mom, I want to go home. But Momma, dear, the truth is, we know it's mighty fine, We love it all, no kidding, we think it is subline, We still want some more of Army life, No, Mom, we're not coming home! Above is a version of "Gee Mom" that would fit the Soldier's Joy melody. Apparently the song Payday in the Army during WWII included this line: "Twenty-One Dollars a Day, Once a Month" Richie |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Songbob Date: 12 Aug 09 - 12:37 PM I'm having real trouble scanning the words above to any version of "Soldier's Joy." I can sort of see doing the first line of each verse to the whole A part of the tune, and the repeat of A would be the second line of the verse, but the "I don't want no more ..." just doesn't come close to the B part of "Soldier's Joy." Not the way I play it, for sure. I'd say that whatever "Payday" song fits "Soldier's Joy" isn't the same song as "I Don't Want No More Army Life." I have heard people say that "Soldier's Joy" -- the real "joy" -- is payday itself, but not in reference to a song. Bob |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: GUEST Date: 12 Aug 09 - 12:55 PM Hi, I was only using the the A part: Love somebody/ yes I do The coffee thay give us/ they say is mighty fine It's a stretch, but I assume: Twenty-One Dollars a Day/ Once a Month is a similar melody. The melody is usually quarter notes so adding more melody notes is easily done. Here's the first two verses of Michelle Shocked's version: Shaking hands and fingers that do tremble Soldier's Joy has been a bitter pill Though in battle, a brave man I resemble Alone I am a coward without will Pierce McGee from the great State of Missouri To the Show-Me-State militia I belong And to judge from the pride on the Confederate side I'd say five hundred thousand rebels can't be wrong Does that scan? Richie |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: GUEST Date: 12 Aug 09 - 12:58 PM Jimmie Driftwood's lyrics for Soldier's Joy start off like this: Some Continental soldiers on the bivouac Were playing stud poker in a mountain shack But every vigilante threw down his hand When the captain of the guard gave a sharp command Richie |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Peace Date: 12 Aug 09 - 01:04 PM Richei, article here you may wish to read. http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:HxlaRgVm0P8J:oldbluebus.blogspot.com/2008/02/most-popular-fiddle-tune.html+%22payday+in+the |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: GUEST Date: 12 Aug 09 - 02:47 PM Hi Peace, Thanks. There is some fairly extensive info about this in the Fiddler's Companion by Andrew Kuntz. Some of the info is repeated in the article you mentioned. "Love Somebody" seems to be, in general, separated from Soldier's Joy. Love Somebody is traced back to "My Love is But a Lassie Yet." Meade makes the distintion as well. He lists Love Somebody under a different heading from Soldier's Joy. I think the melodies are nearly identical but there must be some difference. Several authors say they are the same tune but maybe they just don't know. I assume there are lyrics for Payday in the Army, since it is mentioned as a popular army song. Anyone? Richie |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: GUEST,Bob Coltman Date: 12 Aug 09 - 02:56 PM I have never seen or heard any lyrics to "Payday in the Army." The Fiddler's Companion entry makes clear that is simply an alternate name for the "Soldiers Joy" melody. QUOTE: *** PAYDAY IN THE ARMY. AKA and see "Soldier's Joy [1]." American, Reel. USA, southwestern Pa. D Major. Standard tuning. ABB. A local, though uncommon, Pennsylvania title for the ubiquitous melody known usually as "Soldier's Joy." See note for "Soldier's Joy." Source for notated version: Marion Yoders (fifer and fiddler from Greene County, Pa.) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 332S, pg. 310. http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/PAR_PAY.htm#PAYDAY_IN_THE_ARMY *** I never heard anyone try to sing the words I know as "Gee, But I Want to Go Home" to the tune of "Soldiers Joy/Love Somebody." They sure don't fit, not even close. Sounds mistaken to me. A simple ABC of the usual (and only, as far as I know) tune to "Gee But I Want to Go Home", key of C: .G C C C C C D, C C .B .B .A# .B The coffee that they give us, they say is mighty fine, D D D C# E D, D D C C D E, D, Good for cuts and bruises, it tastes like iodine, oh, Cho: .A C D C C .A .G C E I don't want no more of army life, E G E F E D C Gee but I wanta go home. "Soldier's Joy", a traditional fiddle tune, has never had any traditional words. (Those modern lyrics by Jimmy Driftwood are fun, though not traditional.) "Love Somebody" is a courting song that uses the tune of "Soldier's Joy," and actually uses both the A and B parts of the tune. However, the two are not otherwise related: Love somebody, yes I do, Love somebody true, Love somebody, yes I do, Love somebody, but I won't tell who. Eyes are blue, cheeks are red (3) Lips as sweet as good cornbread. I am my mama's darlin' chile ... etc. I see claims here and there that "Rock the Cradle Lucy" goes to the same tune, but the song I know by that name has a different tune. Sometimes I think people get all tied up trying to find similarities between dissimilar pieces of music. Bob |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Peace Date: 12 Aug 09 - 03:05 PM Re "Payday in the Army" and lyrics: Most of the sites I went to show it as a melody. Did not see any that gave lyrics for it. |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Peace Date: 12 Aug 09 - 03:10 PM Just found this: Soldier's Joy "Soldier's Joy" appeared in sheet music and dance instruction manuals on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 18 th century. According to Wayne Erbsen, it might have descended from an English tune called "The King's Head." He relates the story that a condemned man won a reprieve by playing the tune for the king. "Soldier's Joy" enjoyed great popularity during the Civil War. Also known as "Payday in the Army," "Love Somebody" or "Sweet Sixteen," it was beloved by soldiers of both the South and the North. It was probably former Confederate soldiers, making up a large part of the first generation of cowboys, who brought the tune to the West. On October 29, 1929, in Atlanta, the Skillet Lickers made the first recording of "Soldier's Joy" with Gid Tanner and Clayton McMichen playing fiddles, accompanied by Riley Puckett on guitar and Fate Norris on banjo. |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Songbob Date: 12 Aug 09 - 03:10 PM Sometimes I think people get all tied up trying to find similarities between dissimilar pieces of music. My sentiments, exactly. I surely couldn't get the text to scan. And even the "Love Somebody" lyrics fit the "flattened" version of the tune better than the shall we say "arpeggiated" version. I think of the tune to "Soldier's Joy" as (using degrees in the scale instead of letter notes): (6)_5_3_1_3_5_3_1_3_5_8_8, etc. When I sing "Love Somebody," I sing it (6)5___3___1___3___5___8_8 (not sure how to show this, but essentially, it's half the number of notes) I think of this "flattened" tune as the American or Appalachian version, and the arpeggiated version as the Irish/Scots or even "Colonial" version. I think of it, then, as the older one, and hard to sing to, also. Bob Clayton |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Peace Date: 12 Aug 09 - 03:13 PM My last post is from here. |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Richie Date: 12 Aug 09 - 03:40 PM Hi, As usual I try to connect dots that maybe can't be connected but sometimes there is something more. "Twenty-One Dollars a Day, Once a Month," a song about paydays in the army, apparently is not the the Soldier's Joy song nor is: When the war is over, we'll enlist again (3x) Like hell we will, we will. Someone just made the title up, "Payday in the Army" and there were no lyrics to it. Why did they name it Payday in the Army? Twenty-One Dollars a Day, Once a Month Twenty-One Dollars a Day, Once a Month Twenty-One Dollars a Day, Once a Month Payday in the Army So is "My Love Is but a Lassie Yet" the same melody? Richie |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Richie Date: 12 Aug 09 - 05:33 PM Meade has five listings of "Love Somebody" under "Too Young To Marry" which is #6 under his reel section. Along with "Love Somebody" Meade lists "My Love is But A Lassie." Under Soldier's Joy #2 in the reel section, Meade lists only one version titled Love Somebody. If, in fact, they are the same melody, why did Meade list them under different headings? Richie |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Peace Date: 12 Aug 09 - 06:37 PM The melodies seem NOT to be all the same. |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Richie Date: 12 Aug 09 - 06:42 PM Can assume that Love Somebody is usually a different melody than Soldier's Joy and related to My Love Is But A Lassie Yet, a similar melody? |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Lighter Date: 13 Aug 09 - 11:47 AM Maybe somebody mischievously called it "Payday in the Army" because payday is a kind of "soldier's joy." |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Richie Date: 13 Aug 09 - 12:36 PM Gee, But I Want to Go Home has been recorded by Leadbelly and clearly is a different song. Richie |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Jim Dixon Date: 14 Aug 09 - 06:53 PM From Winged Victory by Moss Hart, (New York: Random House, 1943) Act 1, Scene 2: The biscuits in the Army they say are mighty fine. One rolled off the table and killed a pal of mine. Oh, I don't want no more of Army life. Gee, Mom, I want to go home! The chicken in the Army they say is mighty fine. One jumped off the table and started marching time.... Payday in the Army they say is mighty fine. They give you fifty dollars and fine you forty-nine.... Furloughs in the Army they say are mighty fine. They put it down on paper, but where the hell is mine?... The coffee in the Army they say is mighty fine. It's good for cuts and bruises and tastes like iodine.... |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Ref Date: 14 Aug 09 - 08:04 PM Read "From Here To Eternity" for The Re-enlistment Blues. |
Subject: RE: lyr & origin; payday in the army From: Lighter Date: 28 Jan 18 - 01:11 PM Can someone post the Pennsylvania version of "Soldier's Joy" that's called "Payday in the Army"? The title seems to be unique to that version. |
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