Lyr Req: Don't Forget the Diver, Forty Feet Below

Subject: Lyr Req: Don't Forget the Diver, Forty Feet Below
From:
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 01:44 AM

My ancient mother is looking for this ??WWII?? song - my now extinct father spent the last part of the war diving to clear mines in Dutch and German harbours. He used to sing this tune, and all that we can remember is this tag - it might be the title, who knows.

Anybody got this one?

Many thanks,
John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Forget the Diver, Forty Feet Below
From:
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 04:13 PM

Hmmm. Depending on the age of your parents, and where they came from, it might be from the 1940s. A radio programme from Liverpool. From It's That Man Again:

'Don't forget the diver sir; don't forget the diver'
   The words spoken by a bathing suit clad figure, collecting for the New Brighton diver, inspiring the character Deepend Dan.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Forget the Diver, Forty Feet Below
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 09:52 PM

"Don't Forget the Diver" was also the title of one episode in the series "Dad's Army." It was definitely a well-known catch phrase popularized by "It's That Man Again," and consequently it shows up all over the Internet, but I haven't found any evidence that it was ever a song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Forget the Diver, Forty Feet Below
From:
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 03:58 PM

Yeah, I saw that, but due to the time frame the thread creator mentioned, I guessed at the radio show.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Forget the Diver, Forty Feet Below
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 12:57 PM

Thanks George and Jim:

I just visited the "It's that Man Again" site, and listened to the brief bit on "Don't Forget the Diver" - I'm not at all sure it's what we're looking for, but I'm willing to bet that all the mine clearance divers in England in 1945 had heard that show, and some-one no doubt would have made a song.

These guys were all nutters, of course - they cleared beach obstacles before landings, were often in the harbours before surrender, working in the dark, in the slime, with incredibly crude rebreathers: no SCUBA then, and they couldn't make bubbles or they'd be dead) picture here Mine Clearance Diving Suit - 1945.

So I have absolutely no doubt that the bars in the messes were well populated, and that singing was a large part of the affair.

Just off the phone with my younger sister, who recalls Dad singing "Don't Forget the Diver, Forty Feet Below" to the opeing melody of "Lilli Marlene".

Thanks again,
John