Tune Req: They Put Us in the Army/Last Long Mile

Subject: Tune Req: They Put Us in the Army
From: Uke
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 06:39 PM

Hi there, I'm trying to find this song, as the tune is used for a quite amusing 1930s student parody that goes like so:


'It's Not the Beer'

They send us up to Varsity and make us wear a gown,
They take away our nice short pants just when our knees are brown,
They work us forty hours a week to make us fit to learn -
We go and drown our sorrows for the freshest worm will turn.

Chorus -
Oh, it's not the beer that makes you feel so queer,
Nor the good old long squash shandy;
For the stuff that makes you rock
Is the sherry and the hock,
Vermouth, martini too, and cherry brandy.
Shell-shock and rum will warm the portly tun -
But they don't leave the head too clear:
So if gin and whicky make you frisky,
Peg along on good old beer.


They sell you wine in bottles and whisky by the flask,
They sell you rum and peppermint whenever you may ask
They sell you risky cocktails, but please remember that,
The first one makes you happy but the last one knocks you flat.

Take warning all you freshers when you want to drown your woes.
Some penetrating tipple warm the cockles of your nose;
But take a tip from Billy Nidd who knows what he's about
And say "A pony shnady" just whenever it's your shout.

Tune: They Put us in the Army


From 'Canterbury University College Song Book - 1940'

Subject: RE: Tune Req: They Put Us in the Army
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 07:13 PM

Well, it's called "The Last Long Mile" (oh, they put me in the Army and thye handed me a pack), and it's in a songbook called "Legion Airs." That's a start, at least.
Oh, and I found sheet music here (click). Anybody have time to transcribe it?
-Joe-

Subject: ADD: The Last Long Mile
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 07:47 PM

Well, I won't vouch for the quality of this, but it's all I have time for. I found it in this PDF songbook. It's also in a songbook at Immortalia.com.

THE LAST LONG MILE

1.
Oh, the put me in the Army and they handed me a pack,
They took away my nice new clothes and dolled me up in tack,
They marched me twenty miles a day to fit me for the war,
I didn't miss the first nineteen, but the last one made me sore.

Chorus
Oh, it's not the pack that you carry on your back,
Nor the Springfield on your shoulder,
Nor the five inch crust of coffee colored dust
That makes you feel your limbs are growing older.
And its not the hike on the hard turnpike, that wipes away your smile;
Nor the socks of sisters that raise the blooming blisters,
It's the last long mile!

2.
Some day they'll send us over they'll put us in the trench,
Taking pop shots at the Fritzes with the Tommys and the French,
And someday we'll be marching through a town across the Rhine
And then you bet we'll all forget these mournful words of mine.
Chorus

3.
Oh, they put us on the Salt Springs hike and handed us a pack,
They took away our nice new clothes and dolled us up in tack,
marched us twenty miles a day to fit us for the chore,
We didn't mind the first nineteen, but the last one made us sore.
Chorus

Subject: RE: Tune Req: They Put Us in the Army/Last Long Mile
From: Uke
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 10:16 PM

Thanks Joe, much appreciated!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: They Put Us in the Army/Last Long Mile
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 06:00 PM

Dedicated to the 17th Co. 18th P.T.R.*
The Last Long Mile
Plattsburg Marching Song, 1917

Words and Music by
EMIL BREITENFELD, Co. 17.

Oh they put me in the army and the handed me a pack,
they took away my nice new clothes and dolled be up in kack;
They marched me twenty miles a day to fit me for the war,
I didn't mind the first nineteen but the last one made me sore:

[chorus]
Oh it's not the pack that you carry on your back,
nor the Springfield on your shoulder,
Nor the five inch crust of Khaki colored dust
that makes you feel your limbs are growing older,
And it's not the hike on the hard turnpike,
that wipes away your smile,
Nor the socks of sister's that raise the blooming blisters,
It's the last long mile. Oh it's mile!

Some day they'll send us over and they'll put us in a trench,
takin' pot shots at the Fritzes with the Tommies and the French,
And some day we'll be marching through a town across the Rhine,
and then you bet we'll all forget these mournful word of mine:

chorus.


Sheet music at Duke.U.

Charles Hart and the Shannon Quartet on YT.

From the Jerome Kern musical comedy Toot Toot, adapted from the Edgar Allan Woolf book and Rupert Hughes play. It's New York premier was in George M. Cohan's theatre. Pretty good company for a rookie.

*see next.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: They Put Us in the Army/Last Long Mile
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 06:04 PM

*Lieut. Emil Aron Breitenfeld (1888-1964) graduated Columibia Law ('11) with a minor in music. He was stationed at Ft. Dix, NJ when the song was first published. His “Provisional Training Regiment” was stationed in Plattsburg, NY as part of the Yank's Ivy League Preparedness Movement.

His mother's side of the family (Löwy & Freundenthal) means he is releated to some of the first Jewish pioneers west of the Mississippi (ref.: Solomonville, now Solomon, AZ.)

Most of his professional music career was spent on the West Coast. Among other jobs, he was staff arranger at Villa Moret (aka: Charles N. Daniels, 1878–1943.)

There was a senior year production titled Made in India at Columbia, U., but this is the earlist sheet music I've found so far.

The composer is, of course, saxophonist Paul Desmond's father (born: Paul Emil Breitenfeld, 1924-1977, aka: the Villa Moret rugrat.)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: They Put Us in the Army/Last Long Mile
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 22 Jun 22 - 03:12 PM

"...The song—originally known as either The Long Last Mile or the Plattsburg Marching Song—quickly became popular with soldiers, and was presented along with other soldier's compositions to the National Board on Army and Navy Camp Music. The board liked the song, and considered it one of the best songs to have been produced in soldier's camps. The song was later featured in the first issue of Music in the Camps, an activity book produced for army and navy training camps."
The Last Long Mile