Songs You Learned in the Service?

Subject: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Deckman
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 01:07 AM

It's been a while since I contributed much. (been busy with family affairs). I had a thought today, and I'm posing it as new thread! When you were in the service, as I was in the U.S. Army circa 1955 - 1963, did you learn many songs from your buddies. I know I sure did ...Oh, there was a little drummerAnd he loved a one eyed cookSo, does this question bring up any good memories of service songs, service friends, service times? Looking forward to a chuckle or two ... CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Deckman
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 01:13 AM

Sorry about that ... it's been a long day!

Oh, there was a little drummer
And he loved a one eyed cook

There, I hope that's better, Bob

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 01:20 AM

My brother learned a lot of German drinking songs!

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 01:24 AM

And ONE of those German songs is.....????

Please, continue Ms. Laughing

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Deckman
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 01:34 AM

One of the reasons that I thought this topic might prove interesting is because of the service experience itself. By that, I mean, the forced comming together of thousands of strangers, who had to learn to live (and fight) together. My Army (medic) experience had a profound effect on me. I often wonder about where some of my service friends are. My reference to the song in my first posting relates to a new friend I made. He was native New York. We were stationed in Texas. We had Sundays free. We'd take our guitars and go to the local zoo. Our goal was to sing songs ... pick up girls ... get in trouble ... etc. (I learned a LOT of songs). CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Deckman
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 01:44 AM

Hi Kat ... nice to hear from you. CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: GUEST,T-boy
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 08:29 AM

Never was in the army. But I learned a few good ones in the Boy Scouts.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: artbrooks
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 09:05 AM

^^
My husband's a lifer, a lifer, a lifer
And a mighty fine lifer is he
All day he does nothing, does nothing, does nothing
And at night he does nothing to me!

Drink a little bit
Fuck a little bit
And follow the Cav, follow the Cav, follow the Cav
Drink a little bit
Fuck a little bit
And follow the Cav
And join in our happy song.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: MMario
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 09:12 AM

my BIL frequently attempts to sing a song he learned in the Marines -

"Well we were playing football,
in Old St. Peter's yard
with Jesus playing quarterback
and Moses playing guard

at about that time the dogs usually start howling too loud to hear anything else.

i've never been able to find the rest of the lyrics.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 11:36 AM

Great Song ART!!

What is the tune- (Did You Ever See a Lassy?)

I will make use of it this immediate weekend. THANK YOU.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 11:46 AM

"CHARLOTTE THE HARLOT"

Tune rather resembles the "B" part of "Sweet Betsy From Pike", in 6/8 if i'm not mistaken:

Chorus:

OOOOOoh Chalotte the Harlot, the girl we adore;
the pride of the prarie, the Cowpuncher's whore -
She's dirty, she's ugly; she'll piss in the street,
And whenever we find her, she is always in heat!

Well Charlotte went walkin' in the desert one day;
without any clothes on, just makin' her way;
when a rattlesnake spied her, mistook for his den,
with one mighty leap, he flung himself in!
Now Charlotte the Harlot, by Denver's bright lights,
has the only vagina that rattles and bites!
(Cho.)

Well a Cowpoke come a- clippetty-cloppin' along;
His feet in the stirrups, his hand on his "dong";
He spied sweet Charlotte a-comin' his way,
and the sight he'll remember till his dyin' day!
Well he quickly dismounted from his trusty old nag,
and dug out a revolver from his left saddlebag;
He drew a fine bead on the rattlesnake's head,
But when the smoke cleared away - pore Charlotte lay DAIED!
(Cho.)

Well the funeral procession was 90 miles long;
every Cowpoke in the County was a-ridin' along;
and as they travelled, this chorus they sang,
'till the mesas and the canyons all echoed and rang:
(Chorus, with gusto!)

I generally avoid singing this one in genteel company, and very seldom at all since embracing the life of a Christian some decades ago. Or attempting to, anyway.
I think the fellow I learned it from was from Texas, back over in South Korea sometime in 1968. How old it is, I have no idea.
It sounded real good in those communal showers, as i recall.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: beadie
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 12:23 PM

In the Air Force during the sixties, we still had a few aircrews around who remembered the reciprocal (propeller-driven) days of combat airplanes. They all seemed to be more enthusiastic in their songs than the younger (jet age) pilots.

One ditty that I recall was alternatively called either "Itazuke Tower" or "Air Force 801." A song about a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot, it was sung to the tune of "Wabash Cannonball." It had been recorded by Oscar Brand in a somewhat cleansed version and that lyric is now, I think, available on the digitrad db.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Dead Horse
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 01:29 PM

The Brits too were often to be heard singing rather raunchy ditties while out on the town, and it is to be hoped that the locals knowlege of hinglish was limited.
Old KIng Cole
Three British officers crossed the line
An engineer told me before he died
Wait for the wagon
Zulu warrior
.....and several clean, but anti-british songs were popular. Mostly Irish rebel songs, of course! Poking fun at others might be considered bad form by some, but poking fun at ourselves was definately *good stuff*.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: artbrooks
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 04:09 PM

Gargoyle, there is a midi link in the DT under "Follow the Band", which is a non-military version, but it doesn't work. Oscar Brand may have recorded this as well, but I remember singing it in a club in Da Nang. Other verses I remember are (in abbreviated version):

...A sergeant....kicks butt

...A looie...screws up

...A captain...licks ass

...A major...makes plans

...A colonel...dicks off

...A warrent...does everything

I suspect that this particular version was put together by the WOPAs (Warrent Officer Protective Association), an officially non-existant organization with about as much clout in the Army as the WPPA (West Point Protective Association).

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 04:20 PM

Ilearned severalwhen I was in the Navy (1974-1991) most of them were quite raunchy. Including Never let your ballocks dangle in the dust (Pete Box, Armourer RN) The Bicycle Song (AD1 Tony Meeks, VA-86, USN)And some I can actually sing in public without having the Moral Majority outside the door with pitchforks and torches. Neil

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Morticia
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 06:51 PM

well, as an army 'brat' I learned loads...mostly those my parents would be horrified to know I know.....like:

Our Sergeant Major jumped from 50 thousand feet
or
The Quarter Masters Stores
or
Bloody Orkney
or
Don't be angry with me,Sergeant

words for all of the above on aplication

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 06:56 PM

Pick your era. We have songs listed under @WWI, @WWII, @Korea and @Vietnam, as well as @army, @navy, @air.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: artbrooks
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 06:57 PM

Morticia, is "Quartermaster Stores" the one that goes" "its beer, beer, beer, that makes you feel so queer" and goes on for ninety-eleven verses?

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Gareth
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 07:14 PM

I have never had the honour of serving in Her Majestie's forces - but I learn't a few from my father and his butties over the years, mainly through listening at the Rugby Club, and elewhere. I regret, oh how I regret, not taking the words down.

They ranged from the A25 song (DT)(Thank you 'Uncle Tony' an ex Swordfish Pilot - who survived the HMS Victorious strike on the 'Bismark') To various parodies learn't from my father, Army . And various highly obscean ditties from the Royal Navy.

I fear that as that geneation pass on the words may be lost. It would be a pity, for the folk legacy is part of thier memorial.

And we are lesser people for letting this part of their memory, and acheivements, fade.

My mother spent part of 1943 & 1944 as a Land Girl in East Anglia. I must tap her memories as to what the 8th USAAF sang in the pubs.

Gareth

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 27 Jun 02 - 09:54 PM

Morticia;
"Don't be angry with me,Sergeant" sounds like a hoot; if the lyrics are too raunchy - which I rather doubt, seeing as mine is still up here - on the forum, i'd appreciate a PM with 'em.
Is it set to a familiar tune?

It is strongly speculated that a lot of Soldier's songs from about every war are lost, as nobody wrote any of them down (for good reason, we suppose)and were reluctant to sing them at home with the Family about. As irreverent as most of the few surviving examples tend to be, a lot of them were really funny. This probably went for lots of predominently male working groups besides the Military; Cowboys, Loggers, Sailors, Railroad laborers and the like. It would be interesting to collect some CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps, formed between the Depression and WW-II) songs, but I've never heard of any existing.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: NH Dave
Date: 28 Jun 02 - 09:19 PM

Some of the songs from Viet Nam were written and collected by Dick Jonas, an F-4 pilot in Thailand in the mid 60's. Last I knew he had a web site called Erosonic.com where he sells CDs of the songs he sang, wrote, or adapted from older WWI, WWII, Korea & later conflicts. Thus Wabash Cannonball, tune at least, became the sad story of a young pilot flying neer Teeterboro Tower, in NJ, which became Itazuki Tower during Korea, and Ubon Tower during Viet Nam. All cite the plite of an inexperienced airman running out of fuel, airspeed, ideas, and useful help from the ground; at the same time. The versions I know are fairly tame, as military songs go. A group of Viet Nam vets, including Dick Jonas, released a CD called In Country, which includes many of the songs in the Digital Tradition database. Most of these songs have been sanitized, or selected for less ribald verses, but you can find other songs on the SUNYBufalo web site courtesy of Lydia Fish, a young doctoral candidate who spent some time singing to the troops, and collected many songs from there. A search on her name might yield results

Since the Navy spent long periods of time at sea, in what was then almost a one-sex service; their songs tended to deal with the problems of getting a bit, when ashore with 6,000 other Navy buddies, in a small port. By the same token, Oriental port towns like Sasebo, Japan, Olongapo, PI, and others figured prominently in takes of woe or sexual triumph, in pre-Tailhook days. The last I knew, Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major was still available on Amazon.com or similar sites, and this has lots of British and Commonwealth songs of WWII. Aditionally a search for "Swordfish", "Harrier", or similar might yield some Fleet Air Arm songs on the net.

These are not necessarily nice songs, but they were what we sang late at night, in the beer tents, to keep ourselves entertained or from going crazy - If you can sign about it or laugh about it, you msy still be able to cope with it. Dave

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 29 Jun 02 - 06:30 AM

This was sung at smokers in my old firm. There is an authentic german song but I don't have it.
Falschirmjaeger Song

There's blood on the parachutes that cover,
The falschirmjaeger who to Crete came from the sky,
A young lad of 18 years lay dyeing,
His comerades heard him say his last goodbye

(ch) Farewell my fatherland, please tell my mother that,
She must not cry, for though her only son,
A falschirmjaeger I am proud to die.
Farewell my company, I hope you hold this island,
Raised from hell, how I wish I could be there,
With my falschirmjaeger friends I love so well.

Last night as we waited for our orders,
To jump in foreign lands behind the English lines,
Asleep on the ground beside his aircraft,
Each falscirmjaeger saw his death a thousand times.

Ch.

They call us the warriors from heaven,
Even the Waffen SS show respect for us.
Although our airborne mission was victorious.

(ch)

Aint gonna jump no more,
Keith.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 29 Jun 02 - 06:34 AM

Line 3 of last verse abducted by aliens!?

Now Crete is a paratroopers' graveyard.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Banjer
Date: 29 Jun 02 - 08:30 PM

Having some bouts with CRS here of late I can only remember snippets of some songs. One that tells of Ringo, a dog owned by one Peter Murphy, is probably my best remembered tidbit:

Peter Murphy had a dog, Ringo was his name,
Everywhere that dog would go he'd bring poor Peter shame.
He crapped one day in the General's yard, right out on the grass,
When the General stepped in it, he chewed poor Peter's.....,
Ask me how he handled it, all that I will say,
Is Peter don't remember much, but he recalls THAT day!

There are many more choruses where Ringo sniffs up the dress of a WAC officer and many other transgressions. The neat thing is there are no real dirty cuss words. Every tim a word would be expected the next verse starts out with the same syllable and goes into another line.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jun 02 - 08:50 PM

HeyaRoope, sorry I didn't get back to you.

Gargoyle, I have had to write to my brother to ask him, as he doesn't have a phone. As soon as I hear back from him, I will post them. He was stationed in Bavaria and was the "Duke of Coburg" for Oktoberfest one year.

kat

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From:
Date: 29 Jun 02 - 09:57 PM

During the 60's & 70's we had an oil tanker in the Australian Navy called the HMAS Supply. Their ditty went;Supply put the flavour back in diesolene,
The colour is terrific and the flash-point is high,
Oh Supply's diesolene - its a bewdy.

Bewdy - Aussie slang for beauty ( beautiful ), something that's really good.

JG/FME

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From:
Date: 29 Jun 02 - 10:04 PM

How come the first line disappeared? It should be;

Who put the flavour back in diesolene?
Supply put the flavour back in diesolene,
The colour is terrific and the flash-point is high,
Oh Supply's diesolene - its a bewdy.

JG/FME

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Kaleea
Date: 30 Jun 02 - 01:14 AM

While my ex was in the Army, we performed music freqently at the nearby chapel. When we went to South Korea, I learned marvelous songs from singing with a local Korean city choir, and also from the radio & TV. My favs were the beautiful folk songs. During the service years, I also learned polkas while playing in a Polska Band. There are some which became favorites, and possibly my all-time fav is "The No Beer in Heaven Polka." It was all the more funny inasmuch as I never cared for beer whatsoever! I once had a retriever that would get up & dance & bark to that polka! And then I am quite partial to "Tiny Bubbles"--(Don Ho's words are a bit different, but he knows this parody too!): (everybody sing!) Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles) In my beer (in my beer) Make me feel happy (make me feel happy) Make me feel wierd (make me feel wierd) . . . I must admit, though, that the old song by Homer & Jethro about being in the Army was one of the best! ". . . and now I wonder who the heck is spending my allotment check?!"

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 01 Jul 02 - 12:01 AM

Consult the "Rugby Song" thread.

It is a collection compiled from the Camp Pendelton Marine Base.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 01 Jul 02 - 11:16 AM

I've always been interested in RAF and Fleet Air Arm songs. The A25 song from the FAR is in the DT as already mentioned - if you don't already know it look it up.

There were large numbers of RAF songs - one which I'm looking for is often called "The ballad of Mr Richard Suppards" - each verse ends with his initial and surname ie "He flew his plane - R Suppards" (hint: in England we say Arse not Ass).

I have this version of a well-known RAF song (to the tune of "John Browns Body").

Our flight sargeant wants a rope around his neck (x3)
Chorus:
But he ain't goin' to jump no more.
Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die (x3)
And he ain't going to jump no more.

A WAF down at dispersal, tied a love-knot in his cord.

He jumped without a parachute at twenty thousand feet.

The scraped him off the tarmac like a lump of strawbery jam.

They sent him home to mother on a piece of four by two.

She keeps him on the mantlepiece beside his DFC.

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 01 Jul 02 - 03:32 PM

There are proper verses to that song
Is every body happy said the sergeant looking up
The para boldly answered yes and then they hooked him up,
he jumped into the lipstream and he twisted 20 times,
And he aint...

Glory glory..
The rigging lines wrapped around his neck,,br> The D rings cracked his dome,
The lift webbs tied themselves in knots
Around each skinny bone,
The cannopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground,
And..

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps went running wild,
The medics they all clapped their hands, rolled up their sleeves and smiled,
For it had been a week or more since the last 'chute had failed,
And....

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: artbrooks
Date: 01 Jul 02 - 07:25 PM

Gory, gory, paratrooper
Gory, gory, paratrooper
Gory, gory, paratrooper
And he ain't gonna jump no more

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 02 Jul 02 - 02:13 AM

Just remembered the last versr.

He hit the ground, the sound was splat, the blood went spurting high,
His mates were sadly heard to say, Lord what a way to die,
They wrapped him up all in his chute and poured him from his boots,
And he .....

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: NH Dave
Date: 02 Jul 02 - 08:59 PM

Further to my last comments, this URL, http://www.countryjoe.com/warsongs.htm has a discography of music of the Viet Nam War.

Also, do a search on "In Country"+ "Dick Jonas" and you'll get a lot more disks and songs. One site is even from Denmark!

Dave

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: NH Dave
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 02:09 PM

Here's a site for some of Dick Jonas' songs about the 8th Tac Fighter Wing, of Ubon Thailand.

http://www.js-net.com/~phantom/songs.htm

Dave

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: SaulBro
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 06:15 PM

I am one of the Vietnam vet artists on the "In Country: Folk Songs of Americans in the Vietnam War" Flying Fish CD that NH Dave mentions above. These are songs by a bunch of us that were either written or learned by us while over there. For more info, check out Dr. Lydia Fish "Vietnam Veterans Oral History & Folklore Archive" site at .

Saul Broudy

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: SaulBro
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 06:20 PM

That's http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/fishlm/folksongs

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Banjer
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 06:41 PM

JUNGLE BELLS

Dashing through the mud, in a jeep that should be junk,
Oe'r the roads we go, half of us are drunk,
Wheels on dirt roads bounce, making asses sore
Lord I'd sooner go to hell than finish out this tour,

Jungle bells, mortar shells, VC in the grass
Take your Merry Christmas cheer and shove it up you ass!


There is more, but memory doesn't serve me too well today!

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: GUEST,Lydia Fish
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 05:15 PM

For more information than you ever wanted to have about services songs, check out my website at http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/fishlm/folksongs. For a list of commercially available recordings of this material, try http:/faculty.buffalostate.edu/fishlm/folksongs/sources.htm.

I will be adding a page of links to other websites dealing with services songs as soon I finish with summer school.

Lydia Fish

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 07:12 PM

One a good friend of mine snag a very brief portion of to the tune of moving on and Bill Mauldin publicized when he re-released his book "Up Front" THe MacNamara Line is a hundred miles long/ It's completely surrounded by Viet Cong? I'm Moving on.. My time is done

I for get the rest but if there is a copy out there let me know. Kindest regards, Neil

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 12:32 PM

I didn't LEARN this in the army. I wrote it, during basic training.

Of course in basic training we felt much put upon, and especially in the matter of food. One of the grievances was ONE slice of bread being allowed per meal, and ONE small carton of milk. That being said, I wrote this, to the tune of "The Wild Goose" which Frankie Laine had made so popular:

Last night I heard a sparrow call
That starved to death in our mess hall.
He heaved a sigh, these words he said:
"I can't live on one piece of bread!"

CHO:
My heart cried when the sparrow died
The cook said, "We will serve him fried."
"Good little bird," the boys all say,
We finished him off at noon today!

I must warn next cycle through
"My heart sure does bleed for you.
"First two weeks they'll feed you well,
"From then on 'twill taste like hell!"

CHO:
My heart cried when the sparrow died
The cook said, "We will serve him fried."
"Good little bird," the boys all say,
We finished him off at noon today!

Sorry for the thread creep.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 03:23 PM

DAve; That is truly a great song! Hope you record it somertime! Neil

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 07:35 PM

Here's one I DID learn in the army: "The words" to mess call:

Soupy, soupy, soupy, without a single bean
Bacon, bacon, bacon, without a streak of lean
Coffee, coffee, coffee, the weakest ever seen!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 11:56 AM

Subject: RE: SONGS YOU LEARNED IN THE SERVICE?
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:37 PM

Up in the morning to the rising sun
Gonna run all day till the running's done
Ho Chi Min is a son of a bitch
Got the blue ball crabs and the seven years itch

I love working for Uncle Sam, Let's me know just who I am
If I die in the combat zone, box me up and ship me home
Lay my medals upon my chest, tell my mamma I done my best

Subject: RE: Songs You Learned in the Service?
From: GUEST,Allan S.
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 11:00 AM

A take off of the Dark Town Strutters Ball Called "The mother f-----s Ball

Subject: RE: Songs You Learned in the Service?
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 03:32 PM

Let's see it then. Allan S.

Subject: RE: Songs You Learned in the Service?
From: GUEST,Jacqued
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 03:47 PM

For those interested in many, many songs about the Rodney (RN)and most of them unPC! try Cyril Tawney's "Grey Funnel Lines - Traditional Song and Verse of The Royal Navy 1900-1970".   Published by Routledge and Kegan, London ISBN 0-7102-1270-4.


A treasure house.

Subject: RE: Songs You Learned in the Service?
From: Fred (Beetle) Bailey
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:05 PM

Winter 1965 -- a drafty barrack in Ft.Polk, Lousiana -- we were a bunch of brand new draftees, quietly fumbling with our gear and finding our bunks after a long day of sheer hell -- a guy from Iowa(?) came prancing down the aisle from the showers -- stark naked and singing

"Nothing would be finer
Than to be in her vagina
In the mor-r-r-n-ing"

Ya' know, not even the Pentagon could figure out a way to pay for a morale booster like that!

Subject: RE: Songs You Learned in the Service?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 07:36 PM

I never made it into the service. The closest I ever came was staying in the barracks at Camp Darby in Northern Italy, where my Draft Board had sent me from my Peace Corps assignment in Ethiopia in 1967 to determine if I were healthy enough for cannon fodder. I spent a pleasant evening at their command center leading Pete Seeger songs with the resident GI's, and happily next morning my amoebic dysintary was confirmed as chronic and I was deferred from further consideration.

Maybe I should write a song about this experience!

Arlo did quite well with his.

Charley Noble