Counting Cadence...

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: frogprince
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:13 PM

About all the marching us sailors did was in boot camp.

"Sailor, sailor, don't feel blue; my recruiter screwed me too; count off...

"Sailor, sailor, don't look down; there's no p***y on the ground...

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: GUEST,Christine and Brendan
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 09:42 PM

Did I do right, right?
Right for my country by golly I did a good job when I
Left, left,
Left my wife and 49 kids
In a starving condition without any gingerbread. (loop)

Brendan's grandpa taught him that. I'm not sure which war though.
WWI possibly...

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 01:34 AM

what navy song haves these lyrics.. 41, 2, 3 a 4 (chant) 41 your 1, a 1-2 1-2, hey 3 a 4 ho! 41,2 3, a 4.

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: GUEST,nitram578
Date: 14 Dec 06 - 11:16 PM

basic training (USAF) circa 1978

If I die in San Antone.
Won't you ship my body home.
In my casket I will lie.
Flush and grounded to the inspection side.
(then the count off)

As a CCT member.

I want to be an Airborne Ranger.
Live my life with thrills and danger.
With my chute so full and true.
So my body wont be blue.
(then the count off)


one that used to aggitate the officers.
to the tune of Camptown Ladies/Races.

Napalm sticks to little kids DOO DAH DOO DAH.
Napalm sticks to little kids all the Doo Dah day.
Watch 'em burn so bright.
Watch burn all night.
Napalm sticks to little kids all the Doo Dah night.
(insert Lt. Capt. etc instead of kids)


Then a long ditty to the Johnny Horton song 'Battle of New Orleans'

can't remeber it all but starts.

In nineteen hundred and seventy eight you know.
We all all to a trip to only a few can know.
We flew across that pond we've come to know so well.
Right into the very jaws of HELL.

(some lines ablout the Intel ((HAW!)) being screwed up and working with the French Foreign Legion. and then courus.

We fired our weapons and them F**kers kept a comin, right up to our line in the dark don't you know.

We fired our rifles and we fired our claymores right into the faces of 'em all.

we fired so much you couldn't hear nuthin but solid thunder don't you know.

they turned and ran back the way they had come.
down that jungle path to the Kologara hole.

sorry best I can remember been a long time and it goes on for about 10 minutes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: Celtaddict
Date: 03 Sep 04 - 09:56 AM

The Cadence Page

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By the way, I love it that a guest can hit "submit" before they are ready, and post a blank message, and still 'Catters will try to help and launch peripheral discussion.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: GUEST,Chris, that's all u need to know
Date: 03 Sep 04 - 03:17 AM

A cadence is a cadence, no matter what the pace. it's designed to boost the moral of the troops, and take their mind off the tedios task ahead of them. it varies from unit to unit, the speed at which they are sung, highland regiments(c scot r, cdn irish, seaforth) usually march to a p+d band (pipes and drums) so the pace is much slower. however, any regiment that has or uses a mil band (brass etc.) regularly, the pace is a little faster. the lyrics for certain tunes, Yellow Ribbon for example, vary from regiment to regiment. just small things, for example, in Yellow Ribbon (or Far Away as it is sometimes known) the lines where it places the soldiers specialty varies from platoon to platoon, regiment to regiment. in some it's "paratroop", in some it's "engineer" one of my buddies from the C Scot R told me a version where it's "highlander". recently i heard tell of some canadian cadets who changed it to "young cadet". now that my rambling is over, i hope i made some point, all a cadence is for is to boost moral. attached is Yellow Ribbon.

Around her neck, she wore a yellow ribbon
She wore a yellow ribbon in the merry month of May
And if you ask her why the hell she wore it
She wore it for her soldier who was far far away

(chorus)
Far away
Far away
She wore it for her soldier who was far far away

And in the spring she had a bouncing baby
She had a bouncing baby in merry month of May
And if you asked her why the hell she bore it
She bore it for her soldier who was far, far away

(chorus)

Around the town she pushed a baby carriage
She pushed it in the springtime in the month of May
And if you ask her why the hell she pushed it
She pushed it for her soldier who is far far away.

(chorus)

Behind the door her father keeps a shotgun
And he checks to see it's loaded every single day
And if you ask him why the the hell he keeps it
He'll tell its for her soldier who is far far away

(chorus)

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Mudlark
Date: 24 Aug 04 - 03:59 AM

Interesting about the straw/hay business. After reading over this thread I seem to remember that in my mother's version for the right foot "Hip by jingo" fit in there somewhere. Given the reference to "hay foot, slew foot" maybe this cadence count from Civil War. Interesting also, that only US type Americans count cadence while walking in formation. Seems like a natural to me, but then I was born here, so I guess it would.

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 23 Aug 04 - 03:47 PM

The hay foot strw foot does date to before the Civil War and was used to teach farm boys left from right if they didn't know. They might not have been able to read or know left from right but they all knew the difference between hay and straw.

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Gervase
Date: 23 Aug 04 - 06:27 AM

We Brits aren't into cadence counting either, but singing can sometimes break out. Some time ago I came across a lovely tale of a company marching up to the line in WWI singing at the tops of their voices and with the captain in the front leading the singing.
Unfortunately, just as they passed some red-tabbed staff officer he was launching into:
"..and he had large balls, balls as heavy as lead,
And with a dextrous twist of his muscular wrist,
He could swing 'em right over his head".
Needless to say, the captain got a right bollocking.

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: GUEST,Sabourin
Date: 22 Aug 04 - 08:44 PM

I had a job but i LEFT,
a LEFT RIGHT LEFT,
I LEFT my fork,
I LEFT my spoon,
I LEFT the girl i use'ta (LEFT Foot bangs on the ground hard)
I LEFT RIGHT LEFT

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 08:14 PM

Ain't no use in goin' home
Jody* got your girl and gone
Sound off 1 2
Sound off 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2....3-4!

I was at Fort Dix NJ for basic training in Nov/Dec 1972. Each of our drill instructors had his own individual approach to counting cadence; the best of the bunch, SSGT Williams, used to sing his 4/4 reinterpretation of the Temptations' "Poppa Was A Rolling Stone." *Almost* made the whole exercise bearable!

* "Jody" is the mythical civilian who is scoring with your girlfriend/wife while you're away in the service. I'm sure that this is explained and explored in detail in the "jody" threads mentioned above. I'm amazed and amused to learn that the Canadian military refers to the cadence chanting of their US couterparts as "jodying."

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: GUEST,Me
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 06:07 PM

Not the same one, not along the same lines, but this is one I have heard and like.

In the field there was a Korean,
He was standing there a peein'
Lock and load one round, the Korean hits the ground.

In the snow there was a Commie,
He was crying for his mommy
Lock and load one round, the Commie hits the ground.

There is another verse but it is about killing a baby, I am leaving that out.

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: GUEST,Charmion at work
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 04:11 PM

Now, this is a *really* American thread ...

Canadian soldiers don't count cadence, which our army scornfully calls "jodying"; they sing loudly and far from any known key. Repertoire ranges from venerable traditional songs to silly novelty numbers from the 1940s. I'll never forget doubling along frozen roads gasping "The Red Red Robin Goes Bob, Bob Bobbin' Along" in the company of 29 fellow sufferers of basic training ...

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Susan of DT
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 09:13 AM

Left, left, left my wife and 48 kids
Right, right, right in the middle sof the kitchen floor

look up jodies and jody

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 09:04 AM

LEFT
LEFT
LEFT RIGHT LEFT
I LEFT my wife and
49 children
in starving conditions
without any gingerbread
Did I do RIGHT
RIGHT
RIGHT
LEFT
RIGHT

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: artbrooks
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 08:57 AM

One of the ones we marched to was similar to Rapaire's, but added these lines in the middle:

You had a good wife
And forty-nine kids
But then by God
You Left [pause]
You Right!

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 08:51 AM

One of several we marched to back in the '60s went

You had a good home but you LEFT
(You're RIGHT)
You had a good home but you LEFT
(You're RIGHT)
Sound off
1, 2
Sound off
3, 4
Bring it on down
1, 2, 3, 4
(shouted) 1, 2

with the left foot hitting the ground on the odd numbers. Marching starts, of course, on the left foot.

My GG Aunt said that her father used to sing "Hay foot, Straw foot, Any foot at all..." from his Civil War days. And THAT goes back to the Revolutionary War, when hay was tied to the left foot and straw to the right so that the soldiers could tell their right from their left -- or so the story goes.

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: GUEST,KB
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 06:15 AM

My Grandad always used "Left, Left, I had-a-good-job but I Left" - we used to march to it all the time as kids on the Sunday afternoon walks. He, on the other hand, marched to it for real in WW1.

Kris

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: fat B****rd
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 03:14 AM

I seem to recall a Bob Hope film where he was in charge of Boy Scouts and called cadence

Hip Hip
I wouldn't be here if I was
Hip....

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Mudlark
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 02:35 AM

Hmmmm....I'd love to see a bunch of rubes marching to that!

Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Amos
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 06:19 PM

The version I learned, similar:

LEFT
I LEFT
O hadda good home but I LEFT
I LEFT my wife and seventeen children in starving condition with nothing but gingerbread
LEFT
I LEFT
(repeat ad nauseam).

:>)


A

Subject: Counting Cadence...
From: Mudlark
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 06:16 PM

I've heard some ribald army dittys along this line, but I'm trying to remember one my mother taught me...I think she said it came from WW1. I've reconstructed as much as I can remember but it bothers me that the left foot is shorter than the right one, so to speak. Does this ring a bell with anybody?

Left....left....
LEFT my wife and
FOURteen children
OLD gray man in a
PEANUT stand, i
THINK I did
Left....left....

aaaaannndddd...

Right....right...
RIGHT from the oountry
HAY foot slew foot
Right....right...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Feb 03 - 07:30 PM

As MMario said; look for jodys or jodies.........

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: GUEST,mark
Date: 03 Feb 03 - 06:43 PM

I just became a recruit at the Massachusetts Fire Fighting Academy and we were looking to make some cadence's. looking for any web pages to help in our search. we mostly need it for our tower climbs. any help or suggestions would be appreciated. thank you, mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 07:43 PM

Yeah, you're right...my brain was obviously marching at half-time.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: Snuffy
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 07:25 PM

IIRC 60 is a slow-march. We used to drill to 90 in the Artillery, but the infantry did 120 and the Light Infantry regiments were 150 (or was it 180?)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: mack/misophist
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 11:28 AM

60 beats per minute is the Danny Deever, used at funerals and executions.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 05:21 PM

Guest: What cadence are you looking for? It varies depending on the step. For example a quick step would obviously be livelier than a funeral pace (But you don't call cadences at a funeral pace either.0 I might be able to help if I know what the question is. Kindest regards, Neil

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: artbrooks
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 04:56 PM

Generally 60 steps per minute.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: military cadence
From: MMario
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 03:40 PM

And what might your question be? various cadence calls have been discussed in the forum before.

some here

try a search for "jody" in the supersearch box on the main forum page.

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Messages from multiple threads combined. Watch the message titles to tell which message comes from which thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: military cadence
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 03:29 PM