Lyr Req: Navy Gets the Gravy...Army Gets the Beans

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Navy Gets the Gravy...Army Gets the Beans
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 17 Aug 15 - 08:18 PM

And, some time later,
Film clip of the song
I don't know how to remove the pop-up ad that comes on first, but the video should be fast behind it.

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Navy Gets the Gravy...Army Gets the Beans
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Dec 14 - 11:36 PM

The navy gets the gravy and the army gets the beans... And the air force gets the ice cream! PAPA SAYS;-)

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: GUEST,J C
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 03:10 PM

Where I come from Beanz meanz fartz

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 11:21 AM

I only watched the DVD to get the song, as it was an outstanding query here. Once I had the words I stopped. And, as I stated, it was the first number in the film

CHEERS
Nigel

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 08:40 AM

Sorry. I was too young to know.

John

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 06:10 AM

There was a story line in any of their movies?

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 02:40 AM

I seem vaguely to recall that the number was done in the movie with a full dance troupe (in khaki of course) for backup. The rhythm was sort of a slow march time (so that the dancers could "parade" in the background). The tune is only vaguely recalled, but was pretty monotone.

In the late 50s or early 60s I heard fragments of the original lyric as a "marching cadence" by some Army units at Fts Belvoir & Aberdeen, and Camp A.P.Hill. There were a few additional "rude(?) lyrics," but the only fragment I recall was a tag-line:

"If you can't find a WAC
Find a Marine."

("Marine" surely only to rhyme with "bean" with no hidden, suggestive, or derogatory inuendo to be taken.)

The cadence(s) included additional fragments making reference to the Air Force and relatively "posh" conditions in contrast to Army life.

The same, or very similar, fragments appeared with numerous other "cadences" - at least until the General's wife complained...

Strangely, I can't really recall a "plot" for the movie. Of course I was probably only about 9 or 10 when I saw it, so maybe I just didn't get the "mature story line." Martin & Lewis movies were like that.

John

Subject: Lyr Add: NAVY GETS THE GRAVY BUT THE ARMY GETS...
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 05 Mar 06 - 08:50 PM

Joe correctly identified the film (the first pairing Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis). I've just found a DVD copy in my local hypermarket. So I've also sat down to transcribe.
As the song is Jerry Lewis (opening number of the film) it includes quite a bit of silliness. So first the main verses and 'inserts'

THE NAVY GETS THE GRAVY BUT THE ARMY GETS THE BEANS
Music: Jerry Livingston, Lyricist: Mack David

In the Navy they get steak,
Caviar and whipped cream cake,
They have fancy cooks who know what 'cooking' means.
In the Army we get 'mess',
And it really is a mess.
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy
But the Army gets the beans
(beans beans beans beans beans beans beans)

Send a salami to your boy in the Army,
Yes the Navy gets the gravy but the Army gets the beans
Beans (*16) Nothing but beans

Navy service is ideal
Printed menus ev'ry meal.
And they decorate your plate with parsley green.
In the Army we get chow
That you wouldn't feed a chow.
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy
But the Army gets the beans
(beans beans beans beans beans beans beans)

Send a boloney to some skinny & bony
Yes the Navy gets the gravy but the Army gets the beans
Beans (*16) Nothing but beans

(different tune, silly voice, Jerry Lewis)
Oh I was born at the age of three as smart as I could be.
So I retained the great mentality to dish out all the
Beans (*8)

Oh it seems bell bottomed pants
Are conducive to romance.
They are wined and dined and loved by movie queens.
But you wear a khaki* frame and you get a wacky dame
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy
But the Army gets the beans
(beans beans beans beans beans beans beans)

I hit the jackpot, but it's always a crackpot.
Yes the Navy gets the gravy but the Army gets the beans
Beans (*16) Nothing but beans

(Operatic style)
Did you know that the Navy gets all of the gravy
Did you know that the Army gets all of the beans
Oh a soldier's a coward if he doesn't lick the platter clean.
Oh a soldier's a coward if he leaves a solitary bean
(silly voice)
You can grab a Marine and you show him a bean.
He says "what does it mean that I never have seen"
So you grab a civilian, they're one in a million,
That can identify; so I say to you "Why
Do we got to have beans"

*pronounced here as 'cacky' not as 'car key'

Anyone want to learn it, or transcribe the music (I don't know ABC) PM me and I'll send the DVD (or arrange to phone me with a recorder handy & I'll sing it down the phone!)

Anybody fancy singing it, I've put the sections which stick to the tune in bold

CHEERS

Nigel

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: pastorpest
Date: 17 Mar 03 - 10:59 AM

Thanks to Nigel and Joe for the help! Anyone who can add information or point me finding the music would be greatly appreciated.

John B

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 16 Mar 03 - 10:57 AM

Refresh in the hope that someone can expand on the set of words above.

Nigel

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 05:37 PM

The Navy Gets the Gravy, But the Army Gets the Beans
                Copyright Date: 1950
                Composer: Jerry Livingston
                Lyricist: Mack David
                Performer: Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis with Polly Bergen
                Illustrator:
                Publisher: Paramount Music Corporation

Apparently there's a copy in the Alvah Sulloway collection in the University of New Hampshire Library

Too far and too wet for me to walk. Anyone's hometown ?

Nigel

Subject: RE: Req:The few get the gravy & the army get the beans
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 05:20 PM

From memory (partial only)

In the Navy they get steak,
Caviar and whipped cream cake,
They have fancy cooks who know what 'cooking' means.
In the Army we get 'mess',
And it really is a mess.
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy
But the Army gets the beans
(beans beans beans beans beans beans beans)

Send a salami to a boy in the Army...

Sorry, I said it was only partial!

Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The few get the gravy and the army get
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 04:43 PM

Hmmm. I find a song called the "The Navy Gets the Gravy But the Army Gets the Beans." It was in a Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis movie called At War with the Army.
Music: Jerry Livingston, Lyricist: Mack David, published in 1950. I can't find the lyrics.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Req: The few get the gravy and the army get
From: pastorpest
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 04:36 PM

A friend who is a music therapist has a new job in a residence for Canadian WWII veterans. He is looking for a song that one resident requested. All my friend has is this fragment of lyric: "The few get the gravy but the army gets the beans." Getting the whole lyric would be appreciated and getting the music as well would be beyond words.
Thank you.