OK, this is a rather odd entry in this series because, although it dates from 1941 (pretty much the same time as the paperbacks I blogged about previously), this book was not actually found in my mother-in-law’s house: it was actually found in my mother’s house, because it belonged to my father, James Willett (whose signature appears on the front).
It’s the official US Army Song Book from the Second World War. It begins, as you’d expect, with the Star Spangled Banner (three verses!), but the complete contents is eclectic, to say the least:
- The Star Spangled Banner
- Alma Mater
- Aloha Oe
- America
- America, the Beautiful
- Anchors Aweigh
- The Army Air Corps
- Song of the Army Engineer
- Auld Lang Syne
- Battle Hymn of the Republic
- Bombed
- The Caissons Go Rolling Along
- Parody Field Artillery Song
- Carry Me Back to Old Virginny
- Casey Jones
- Cindy
- Colombo
- Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean
- Crash On! Artillery
- Dixie
- Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes
- Arms for the Love of America (The Army Ordnance Song) by Irving Berlin
- For Her Lover Who Was Far Away
- For Sev’n Long Years
- God Bless America
- God of Our Fathers
- Good Night, Ladies!
- Home, Boys, Home! & The Infantry (there are two number 28’s: a SNAFU, I guess)
- A Home on the Range
- Honey Dat I Love So Well
- I’ll Tell You Where They WEre
- The Infantry (different than the previous one by this name)
- It’s a Long Way to Tipperary
- I’ve Been Workin’ on de Railroad
- Juanita
- K-K-K-Katy, plus parodies of the chorus of K-K-K-Katy, such as “K-K-K-K. P., Dirty old K.P., That’s the only Army Job that I abhor…” or the even more evocative “C-c-c-cootie, Horrible cootie, You’re the only b-b-b-bug that I abhor…”)
- The Last Round-Up
- Let Me Call You Sweetheart
- The Man on the Flying Trapeze
- The Marines’ Hymn
- The Mintrels Sing of an English King
- The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga
- The Mountain Battery
- My Buddy
- My Wild Irish Rose (plus a parody, “My wild eyed cadet,/He ain’t learned nothing yet,/He noses her down/When close to the ground…”)
- The New River Train
- Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen
- Oh! Susanna
- The Old Gray Mare, She Ain’t What She Used To Be
- Old Joe Clark (not a song about the former Canadian Prime Minister)
- Old King Cole (with a modified chorus glorifying the “Fighting Infantry”: each chorus adds another rank, so the final chorus runs, “The Army’s gone to hell,” said the generals;”What’s my next command?” said the colonels;/”Where’re my boots and spurs?” said the majors;/”We want ten days’ leave,” said the captains;/”We do all the work,” said the shavetails;/”Right by squads, squads right,” said the sergeants;/”Beer, beer, beer,” said the privates,/”Merry men are we./There’s none so fair as can compare/With the Fighting Infantry.”
- The Old Plantation
- On, Brave Old Army Team
- Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag
- Pop! Goes the Weasel
- The Raw Recruit
- Red River Valley
- She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain
- Slum and Gravy & Sons of Randolph (there are two number 59s)
- Smiles
- Song of the Signal Corps
- A Stein Song
- Tammany
- There’s a Long, Long Trail
- Where Do We Go From Here?
- Yankee Doodle
- You’re in the Army Now
It’s an interesting mixture of sentimental old favorites, patriotic songs, and songs poking fun at Army life. I like, for one example, Bombed:
We were bombed last night, bombed the night before
And we’re going to be bombed tonight as we never were bombed before.
When we’re bombed, we’re as scared as we can be,
They can bomb the whole darn Army if they don’t bomb me.
CHORUS
They’re over us, over us,
One little cave for the four of us,
Glory be to God, there are no more of us
Or they’d surely bomb the whole darned crew.
But I think my favorite part of the book is the warning you can see on the image of the inside front cover:
“This book is the property of the United States Government and its contents may be used only with the military services.”
Which means, of course, that every time since 1941 that anyone has sung “Home on the Range” or “That Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze” they’ve been breaking military regulations.
I’ve sung both many times myself. I feel so ashamed.
1 comments
Dear Edward,
My husband passed away in 2005 and among his collections were 5 copies of the Army Song Book. I am downsizing and need to get rid of them. How can I find their value and a market for them? I’m not of the computer age and have a hard time with Ebay. I also have sheet music from that era and need to sell those as well.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Regards,
Jeanne Hoffman