Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'

Subject: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: GUEST,John Ings
Date: 02 Jul 04 - 11:48 AM

I've been trying to find the text (lyric?) to a music-hall turn that is probably from WW2 but could possibly be from the 1914-18 era. It is delivered in sad and mournful tones by a poor shuffling little wight in black coveralls who is presumably an engine-room denizen of low degree. He sings (recites?) a long list of the miseries he suffers as a lowly sailor, punctuating his sorrowful tale with an earnest assertion that "You get used to it..." every so often. It was much appreciated by the troops being entertained by the roving shows provided for their entertainment, since they were undergoing many of the recited privations themselves.

I don't know if this was a generic piece or the property of a particular artist. Does anyone have any idea where details could be found? Googling hasn't helped much.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: Sorcha
Date: 02 Jul 04 - 02:49 PM

No luck. Any more clues?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: GUEST,John Ings
Date: 02 Jul 04 - 07:36 PM

>No luck. Any more clues?

I've been trying to think where I saw this bit but I can't remember.
I can't even remember clearly whether it was sung or recited.
It would be either a scene from a 40s or 50s black and white movie
about wartime England or a TV documentary about the same mileu.
Just this lone sad-sack up on a stage under a spotlight in front
of an audience of appreciative servicemen.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: RangerSteve
Date: 03 Jul 04 - 05:46 AM

I thought the title sounded familiar, but it took a while for me to figure out where I heard it. Am I right in assuming you're from the UK? Because the version I have is by Wilf Carter and it was rewritten to fit the US soldiers experiences in WWII.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: Flash Company
Date: 03 Jul 04 - 06:59 AM

You'll get used to it,
You'll get used to it,
You may not like this song but you,ll get used to it!

Thats all I remember I'm afraid, sung by someone like Reg Dixon around the end of WW2.

FC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 09:24 PM

Wilf Carter (a.k.a. Montana Slim) recorded YOU'LL GET USED TO IT. It's attributed to "Gordon/Grant." It's on the 4-CD set called "A Prairie Legend," Bear Family #197542, 1996. The tone of the song is very upbeat, not at all sad and mournful, therefore I suspect it's not the song you're looking for. I transcribed this from a sound sample at Barnes & Noble:

... when your coffee isn't sweet,
And far away the fields are green,
But can you get the gasoline?
It's wonderful. It's marvelous.
This life is gettin' tougher day by day.
You gotta get used to it,
And when you're used to it,
Then the main thing that they ration is your pay.

You'll get used to it.
You'll get used to it.
The Axis caused the taxes; you'll get used to it.
You may think you....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 12:19 AM

http://monologues.co.uk doesn't have it, and they should have it if anyone does. I see they have a message board. You might try posting a request there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 12:22 AM

WorldCat.org shows that several libraries hold this sheet music:

YOU GET USED TO IT (AFTER A WHILE)
Words and music by Charles A. Bayha.
New York: Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., ©1918.

There's also:

YOU'LL GET USED TO IT
From "Meet the Navy."
Words by Victor Gordon; music by Freddy Grant.
New Zealand: Charles Begg & Co., ©1942.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 07:42 AM

From the Canadian Encyclopedia

"'You'll Get Used to It'
'You'll Get Used to It'. World War II song in quick-march tempo, written in 1940 by Freddie Grant about life in a camp for German and Austrian nationals (many of whom were refugees) in England during the hostilities. It appeared first in the November 1941 issue of Stackeldraht (sic), the newspaper published in the internment camp at Farnham, Que, to which Grant had been transferred. A version with modified lyrics credited to Gordon Victor (a pseudonym for the song's commercial publisher, Gordon V. Thompson) was popular as a morale booster during the war, and the title became a catch phrase among the allied forces. This version was sung frequently by the Happy Gang, recorded by Wilf Carter (and in the 1960s by the Al Baculis Singers), and appeared in the folio Sing With Gracie Fields (Robbins). In Canada the song was a show stopper as sung by John Pratt to his own lyrics in Meet the Navy. Pratt also performed his version in the English movie of the show and on a Victor recording.

Author Florence Hayes"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: kendall
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 11:10 AM

I used to know this one from the singing of Wilf Carter in the 40s.

Subject: Lyr Add: YOU'LL GET USED TO IT / TU VAS T'Y FAIRE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 12:39 PM

The US catalog of copyright entries has:

You'll get used to it; w Victor Gordon [pseud. of Gordon V. Thompson], m Freddy Grant [pseud, of Fritz Grundland] © Apr. 2, 1942; E for. 66802; Gordon V. Thompson, ltd., Toronto. 29010

I found this at http://claude.torres1.perso.sfr.fr/GhettosCamps/Internement/Canada/YoullGetUsedToIt.html:


YOU'LL GET USED TO IT

You'll get used to it,
You'll get used to it
The first year is the worst year,
Then you'll get used to it
You can scream and you can shout,
They'll never let you out
It serves you right, you So and So,
Why weren't you naturalized Eskimo?

CHORUS: Just tell yourself, it's marvellous,
You'll get to like it more and more
You've got to get used to it!,
And when you got used to it
You feel just as lousy as you felt before.

You'll get used to it,
You'll get used to it
The first year is the worst year,
Then you'll get used to it
You will never see your wife,
For they locked you in for life
It makes no difference who you are
A soda jerk or movie star


There's also a French version (appropriately for a Canadian song, n'est-ce pas?) but I don't know whether it's singable:


TU VAS T'Y FAIRE

Tu vas t'y faire,
Tu vas t'y faire
La première année est la pire,
Mais tu vas t'y faire
Tu peux crier, tu peux hurler,
Ils ne vont pas te libérer
Bien fait pour toi, Monsieur Un Tel,
Que n'es-tu pas naturalisé Esquimau ?

REFRAIN
Dis-toi juste que c'est merveilleux,
Que tu vas aimer ça de plus en plus
Il faut bien que tu t'y fasses
Et quand tu t'y seras fait
Tu te sentiras aussi misérable qu'avant.

Tu vas t'y faire,
Tu vas t'y faire
La première année est la pire,
Mais tu vas t'y faire
Ta femme, tu ne la verras pas
Ils t'ont bouclé à vie
Peu importe qui tu sois
Bistrotier ou vedette de cinéma

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'You get used to it'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Feb 23 - 03:43 PM

http://www.musiques-regenerees.fr/GhettosCamps/Internement/Canada/YoullGetUsedToIt.html