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Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic
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Subject: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: John M. Date: 13 May 05 - 07:15 PM Hello everyone, If you are easily offended, please STOP READING. This thread is for mature audiences only. Please don't post "dreadful song" or "worst song written" as you are not helping. Below is a traditional song titled: "You, You Sons of Moses" (recording)
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semiti From: GUEST,Joe Offer Date: 14 May 05 - 01:46 PM This song is a parody of SOMETHING, but I can't quite figure what song. I think it's one of those dramatic Sigmund Romberg songs of the 1920's, but that's only a hunch. Can anybody identify the root song? -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Clint Keller Date: 14 May 05 - 02:47 PM "Song of the Vagabonds (?)" from "The Vagabond King." "Sons of toil & danger, will you serve a stranger, & bow down to Burgundy? Sons of shame & sorrow, will you cheer tomorrow, or bow down to Burgundy?" cliint |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Clint Keller Date: 14 May 05 - 02:51 PM --Rudolf Friml. I think clint |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: John M. Date: 15 May 05 - 11:04 AM
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semiti From: dick greenhaus Date: 16 May 05 - 08:34 AM Wht I heard in the early 40 was: Sons of bread and gravy Join the Yiddish Navy Fight Fight Fight or Palestine! Men who love salami Join the Yiddish Army Fght Fight Fight for Palestine! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Allen Date: 16 May 05 - 11:33 AM The Yiddish Navy does sound familiar. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: John M. Date: 16 May 05 - 12:03 PM Dick Greenhaus, Are you saying that you learned your version in the EARLY 1940's? If you can remember, from whom, where & in what context did you learn your version? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semiti From: dick greenhaus Date: 16 May 05 - 01:11 PM Hi John- I had it sung at me by some of the Italian kids in the playground at Aenue P and Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn NY. ca 1942 is my best guess. Nothing really good-natured about it at the time. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: Cool Beans Date: 16 May 05 - 03:30 PM I've heard the added verse: Make your big decision Get your circumscision. Fight, fight, fight for Palestine. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: John M. Date: 16 May 05 - 03:42 PM Cool Beans, when did you learn you version? In what context? Would you be willing to sing it over the phone to me (see numbers above)? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semiti From: GUEST,DK Date: 17 May 05 - 09:19 AM I learned this song in the 80's (in Young Judaea) as follows: Men with crooked noses, join the ranks of Moses Fight fight fight for Palestine. Brothers of Salami, join the Yiddish army Fight fight fight for Palestine. Matza balls, kreplach, Manashevitz wine We will live and die for Palestine, so... Make the right decision, get a circumcision Fight fight fight for Palestine. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: Cool Beans Date: 17 May 05 - 11:16 AM John, I learned the song in the 1960s when I was in college, from a friend who is not Jewish. I am Jewish. I wasn't offended; I found it funny, Still do. I'd sing it for you but I authentically know only the two lines: "Men with broken noses.." and "Make your big decision." If you can't find someone more knowledeable, PM me and we can set something up. CB |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: John M. Date: 19 May 05 - 04:11 PM A longer version of this song:
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: John M. Date: 20 May 05 - 01:21 PM Ok, I talked with Aaron Baranan part writer of the "Song of the Volunteers". He says that someone was singing a fragment of "Fight, Fight for Palestine" and that Aaron Baranan, Louis Cohen, Brenner and Max Kampler said that was "crap" because Palestine doesn't exist anymore -- Israel exists. They wrote the Song of the Volunteers based upon that fragment. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semiti From: Dave'sWife Date: 21 May 05 - 12:13 AM John: I heard the anti-semitic version of this song sung AT a Jewish History teacher in the Public Junior Highschool& Highschool I attended in the mid to late 70s. They would sing those "sons of Davey.. join the Yiddish Navy' lines and they referred not to crooked noses but to 'big, big noses. It bothered me very much. These kids also tortured him in other ways such as throwing pennies at him in the Hallway. This was in a Bedroom community of NYC populated mainly by "WASP" type families. There was an underclass of Italian Catholic families who were descended from Italian Stone-cutters who had settled in the town after 1880, having been brought over to build the huge homes that dotted the hills which sourrounded the town. The homes & their residents were referred to as 'The Hill-Toppers.' I lived there then because my father was in Law Enforcement and had been assigned to a nearby barracks. Most Catholic kids attended Parochial School through at least the 6th grade and most through the 8th Grade. The wealthier WASP kids had a private Day School and a Boarding school. The Public School was mostly Upper-Middle Class WASP kids and then come the 8th grade, there would be an influx of the Catholic Kids whose families couldn't afford to send them to Catholic Highschool. There were only 2 Jewish students, a pair of sisters and 3 African American students. All the minority and working-class kids stuck together. All of us were subjected to similar treatment as the History teacher as well. They had nasty songs for all of us. The teacher in question considered the taunts to be a game of one-upmanship. He'd sometimes sing along with the kids but would sing different words. I presume he was singing the correct lyrics. he'd also go and pick up the pennies and put them in a jar on his desk. I think he felt that he was besting them somehow. He wasn't; it only encouraged them more. They also sang some horrible song about a 'Wandering Jew' to him. I would say that the year I first heard the song would have been 1976 when I was in the seventh Grade and the last time I heard it would have been 1980, when I began attending college off-campus for half-days as a Junior in High-school. I hope this info is useful to you. Forgive my typos. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,G.I. Joe Date: 21 May 05 - 01:03 PM I heard the first line as "Sons of Borsht AND Gravey Join the Jewish Navy". Fight Fight Fight for Palestine |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,GUEST,Alberto Date: 24 May 05 - 05:17 PM Another old verse was Come on you sons o'bithes Put on those purple britches Fight fight fight for Palestine |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semiti From: GUEST,KATSBACK Date: 30 Dec 08 - 06:47 PM My moms knows this song. She has sung it to us as children. She was born and raised in Iowa, born in 1925, raised by her mom and dad, her dad being a Swede. Her mom was German and Indian. It was sung in school. snobsback@yahoo.com |
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Subject: RE: Fight, Fight, Fight for Palestine song From: GUEST Date: 06 Jan 09 - 06:04 PM This is a pro-jewish version retrieved from here: http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_spine/archive/2008/03/12/fantasies-about-palestine-circa-1958.aspx jm_rice said: |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: Leadfingers Date: 06 Jan 09 - 08:20 PM Click here Just as "Anti Semetic" - But still a good song . |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: Joe_F Date: 07 Jan 09 - 07:30 PM There is antisemitism, and there are even antisemitic Jews. But the kind of self-ridicule in this particular spoof is no sign of either. I strongly suspect that most if not all of the versions cited here were invented for fun in Jewish summer camps. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Mel F Date: 29 Aug 10 - 02:30 PM I heard the song at a San Francisco area BBG-AZA convention in the mid-60s. I thought it was hysterical (and still do, which is why I Googled it) and never considered it anti-Semitic. To me, it was a spoofy source of Jewish pride. The fragment I recall is: Matzo, blintzes, Manischewitz wine We will always fight for Palestine. Make the big decision Have a circumcision. Fight fight fight for Palestine. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,dreadnot Date: 04 Dec 11 - 01:44 AM I heard these lyrics from my x-brother in law (now deceased) while playing nickel, dime, quarter poker and drinking heavily. We are the sons of Moses We have long and crooked noses FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT for dear old Palestine GET THAT QUARTERBACK! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: Barbara Date: 04 Dec 11 - 01:50 AM I don't imagine John Mehlberg is still doing his study, but I learned this as a parody of and to the tune of the University of Michigan fight song in 1965 or 66. Blessings Barbara |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Guest Date: 29 Jan 12 - 12:49 PM The version I heard in the '60's growing up Jewish in Boston was: Onward, onward, on to meet the foe Eating borscht and bagels as we go If you like salami Join the Yiddish army Fight, fight, fight for Palestine! Always thought it sounded as though it were adapted from a college fight song. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Don Date: 18 Mar 13 - 04:13 PM My dad, born in Detroit - 1938, had us sing a similar song before we left for any long trip in the car. It went, Onward, Onward, Onward we shall go. Eating Kosher Pickles in the snow - HEY. Would be happy to sing it to you but wanted to find out more. My dad wants us to sing it to our children but after reading this I'm not so sure. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST Date: 28 Jun 13 - 01:08 PM I heard it in the 60's at an AZA-BBG convention in the SF Bay Area. I was Aleph Gadol of my chapter and we rocked with 20 members there. May have been the high water mark of my life, peaking at 16. As I recall, hearing it from a kid named Stan Roth... Men with broken noses, will you join with moses Fight, Fight Fight for Palestine. If' your name is Davey, join the Jewish Navy Fight, Fight Fight for Palestine. Matzo balls and Manischewitz wine We will always fight for Palestine Make the right decision, get a circumcision Fight, Fight Fight for Palestine. I never heard is sung by anyone other than Jewish boys as a parody akin to Mad Magazine, another vehicle for we Jews to control the media and minds of the world's youth, right? As for the teacher picking up the pennies tossed to him...I hope he made a point to donate them to charity and let those antisemitic brats he taught see what being Jewish is about. And if he donated it in their names, all the better. L'hcaim, jb |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: Suzy Sock Puppet Date: 29 Jun 13 - 01:04 PM If you're Jewish and you sing this, it's funny. If not then no, not at all. Just my opinion. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,M..L. Morrison Date: 01 Jul 13 - 05:55 PM About 1947 in Toronto we sang; "Eat your bread and gravy Join the Jewish navy Fight, fight, fight for Palestine." A classmate left grade 11 to go to Palestine and we were fascinated. He was considered to be an adventurer. I think the boys envied him and the girls thought ot was romantic. The song was catchy and we loved the rythym. But it was Toronto. And there was antisemitism. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Ari White Date: 26 Oct 13 - 11:05 PM My grandfather ran the embargo bringing in airplanes for Machal in the 48 War for Independance. The version I remember him singing, which he brought back from that war, was Come all ye sons of Moses with your great big noses and fight! Fight! Fight for Yis-ro-el. Come all ye sons of Davey join the Jewish Navy and fight! Fight! Fight for Yis-ro-el. I'll check by my mother to see if she remembers more. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Jeff Date: 19 Nov 13 - 04:21 PM All ye sons of Moses Jews with broken noses Fight, fight, fight for Palestine Eat your bread and gravy Join the Jewish Navy Fight, fight, fight for Palestine |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Jeff, from above Date: 19 Nov 13 - 04:25 PM Onward, onward, onward is our call I forget the next part.....something all Eat your bread and gravy Join the Jewish Navy Fight, fight, fight for Palestine My grandfather use to and still sings this to me. I never looked at it as Anti-Semitic, probably because I was so young. I grew fond enough of the song to make my way here. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Sal Date: 15 May 14 - 02:32 PM I grew up near Shirley Avenue, Revere MA. Shirley Ave. was the center of the Jewish section of town. My parents bought a house square in the middle of the Jewish section. We were (for a while) the only Italians there. All my friends were Jewish. I learned the song from them and, probably first heard it in 1951 or 1952, when I was 12 or 13. It certainly was NOT considered anti-semitic. It was considered funny. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Guest, Ron Bowren Date: 22 Jul 14 - 09:33 AM Today I was watching the news about Israel and this song kept going around in my mind. I wondered how that song originated, so Googled it and found this thread. I think I first heard the song in 1956 while I was in the USMC in Japan, someone just started singing it. What I remember are the following lines: Oh, you sons of Moses With your crooked noses Fight, fight, fight for Palestine Onward, onward, swords against the foe Forward, forward the Lily Banners flow So, you sons of Moses With your crooked noses Fight, fight, fight for Palestine |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST Date: 05 Apr 15 - 05:35 PM My Jewish husband says he sang it in school in Chicago in the late 40's in a predominately Jewish school. He remembers it as: If your name is Arnie Join the Jewish Army Fight Fight Fight for Israel If your name is Abie Join the Jewish Navy Fight Fight Fight for Israel. (They also sang Christmas Carols in school and thought nothing of it) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Walt Date: 25 Apr 15 - 11:09 AM We "sang" a version of this in my very Jewish Washington Heights (NYC) neighborhood pre-1948 (we would not have said "Palestine" after the establishment of the State of Israel). Our last verse was: Men of circumcision, Join the 44th Division, And fight, fight, fight for Palestine! Another favorite was one Philip Roth sometimes receives credit for, since he quoted it in "Portney's Complaint" as a cheer used by his New Jersey high school. We'd chant our version of that one: Izzy, Abie, Jakey, Sam. We are the boys who eat no ham. Can you guess our favorite dish? Matzos and gefilte fish. We play baseball, hockey, soccer. We keep matzos in our locker. I think there were two more lines. Anyone remember them? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Richie Date: 26 Jul 15 - 08:19 PM I learned the Fight for Palestine in Jewish Summer camp in the New York area during the mid to late 1950s. Here are the few verses that I remember. Verse "Come all you sons of Moses, with all your crooked noses Fight, Fight, Fight for Palestine! Chorus Fight on, fight on, fight for Victory March on, March on, Gefilte fish for me. Verse People who love salami, come join the Jewish Army Fight, Fight, Fight for Palestine |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST Date: 30 Jul 15 - 07:48 PM Learned this song many years ago in Jackson Heights Queens Sing to the tune of Song of the Vagabond Men who eat salami Join the Jewish Army Fight fight fight for Israel Men who pray to Moses Men with big hook noses Fight Fight Fight for Israel Men of circumcision Make this big decision Fight Fight Fight for Israel Onward Onward as we fight the foe Does not stop us from making a little dough |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: LadyJean Date: 30 Jul 15 - 10:29 PM I grew up in Squirrel Hill, a Pittshurgh neighborhood with a large Jewish community. Though I like another one time Squirrel Hill resident an Presbyterian. It was one of my fellow Presbys in grade school who came up with: Roses are reddish Violets are blueish. If it wasn't for Jesus, We'd all be Jewish. Which isn't entirely accurate, but still entertaining. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,nancy w. Date: 07 Mar 16 - 06:30 PM I heard this song at a jewish girls camp in Maine, around 1968- Sons of borchst and gravy Join the Yiddish Navy Fight fight fight for Kosher Ham (boom boom boom boom) Save those dimes and nickels Buy those kosher pickles Fight fight fight for kosher Ham Onward onward onward to the foe Eating lox and bagels as we go No more dirty dishes Just gefilte fishes Fight fight fight for kosher ham |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST Date: 10 Aug 16 - 01:56 PM Far from Anti-Semitic, this was a little ditty we sang as children in, probably, 1948. While the melody seems to come from as far removed as the time of Rudolph Friml, the words we sang were: Save your wooden nickels Buy your Jewish pickles Fight, fight, fight for Palestine. The song may have been adapted to our age because 1948 was the year of the British relocation of the Jews to that which was called Palestine- rather than Israel. All the more curious was that the neighborhood in which I lived in the "Germantown" area of North Philadelphia, was a mixture of Irish Catholics, a few Methodists and we Presbyterians. To the degree that we were small children, we would have been incapable of understanding the nature of the words as reflecting either semitically positive or negative value. Rather, the ditty had rhyme-charm and, as such, connoted conviviality. Further, everyone of adult stature in this "solidly moral neighborhood," (as my later years living there would attest)would have been happy for the salvation of the Jews from their woes in Europe. Attesting to the validity of Semitic sympathies of these people in Germantown, were the numerous Jewish Grocery store owners, pharmacists and doctors who did business in the area and who were respected- if not loved- by all of us. If anyone chooses to discuss this, I am at: alanrbb_@Hotmail.com Allen Braithwaite |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,pauperback Date: 11 Aug 16 - 10:40 AM Israel a nation again and Hebrew being spoken, miraculous. Blessed is the man whom Thou dost chasten, O LORD, And dost teach out of Thy law... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,pauperback Date: 11 Aug 16 - 11:14 AM ...now just a little rain, please? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,GUEST, Douglas Date: 11 Oct 16 - 09:17 AM I found this thread because I woke up today with this fragment running thought my mind and Googled it: Sons of schmaltz and gravy, Join the Yiddish navy. Fight, fight, fight for Palestine. My vague recollection is that I learned it, probably in 1947 or 1948, at Camp Centerland, a day camp run by the Jewish Community Center of Buffalo, New York. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Tommy Turtle Date: 07 Jan 17 - 03:24 PM Come all you broken noses Follow your leader Moses Fight. fight. fight for Palestine. Come eat your eggs and kippers Put on your dancing slippers Fight. fight. fight for Palestine. We learned this in Luther League in 1958. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Guest Richard Date: 19 Jan 17 - 04:46 PM I learned this song in the 60's from my family, it is similar to the versions here but more anti-Semitic. Sons of pork and gravy, Come and join the Navy, Fight fight fight for Palestine. Onward onward on against your foes, If you lose your sword You can always use your nose. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: robomatic Date: 20 Jan 17 - 06:30 PM I recently ran into a Jewish magazine published in the American Midwest in the 1940s (pre-Israel). When they referred to "Palestinians" they invariably meant Jews. Sounds like the issue of anti-Semitism could be complex. There are pro-Jewish lyrics and there are mocking lyrics which could yet be Jewish as many Jewish songs and stories are self mocking and/or self critical (After all, the Torah is full of refernces to the "stiff-necked" people): reference "The Conversion of the Jews" by Philip Roth. And then there are the genuine anti-semites, who are always with us and will occasionally use real Jewish jokes among themselves either because they don't understand them or because they do. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,les Date: 05 Mar 17 - 11:32 AM Woke up singing a version of this song. My dad used to sing it whenever someone who was Jewish came on tv. This was in the 60s. Googled it just to see if I was crazy. I honestly hadnt thought of this in 40 years. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'You, You Sons of Moses' Anti-Semitic From: GUEST,Mikhail Iosevitch Date: 19 May 17 - 12:17 PM my Dad used to sing one bit of this, 50+ years ago: Join the Jewish Navy Fight on bread & gravy Fight fight fight for Palestine! |
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