Give Out! Songs of, for and by the Men in the Service.
Published by
The FEMACK Company - 2 East 23rd St N.Y.C.
Edited by Eric Posselt, Illustrated by Dave
Breger, G. Frank, Fritz Kredel,
Carl Link, Richard A. Loederer, Lee Maril and Kurt Werth
Copyright 1944
by
The FEMACK Company, N. Y.
Book Designed by Max Fleisig
Produced & Lithographed in U. S. A. by
The Femack Co., New York
MEN in uniform this is your book.
Not because it is primarily published for you, but because you actually made it. You men in khaki of our Army, you in the Navy blue, you of the Marines and the Coast Guard actually selected every single one of the songs you will find in this volume, chose them as your favorites, as the songs that you sing among yourselves, as the songs that you wanted to share with your unknown comrades-in-arms throughout the United States and in those four-and-twenty corners of the globe where they fight and sing.
Three songs, and three songs only, are exceptions because they were contributed or suggested by civilians rather than by men in uniform. My task, as the editor of "Give Out!" was comparatively simple: after sending out a call for contributions, all I had to do was to wait for the postman to bring on your letters, sort and select and arrange the songs in a sequence that approached order; invite half a dozen artists to provide the illustrations; and check with as much diligence and care as I could muster words, music and existing copyrights. I hope I have not failed in any one of these respects, and ask for indulgence in case I have.
It was particularly gratifying to me that the response to my original appeal brought contributions from everybody in the ranks, from buck-private to the "general's lady" may Kipling forgive the misquote! from gob to Commander, and that every in-between rung of the military or naval ladder is represented. Many contributors were glad to have their songs or their choice identified with their name in the manner of "And I'll lick the guy who says it isn't so!" Many and more others preferred to remain anonymous, even as the name and location of the camps and posts where they are, or were, must needs remain anonymous.
All in all this book has turned into a gay although possibly somewhat heterogenous collection of new and old, of the modern and the hoary, the sentimental and the cynical, the arty and the corny, the tender and the tough. I know, of course, that it is anything but complete and that dozens, probably hundreds of songs that might and perhaps ought to have been included are glaringly absent; but this shortcoming is inevitable and I can only express the hope that, with your help, it may be remedied, at least in part, in a second edition or a possible second volume.
Real soldiers' and sailors' songs are not written by Tinpan Alley or Hollywood or, at any rate, certainly only rarely; they are born in barracks and tents, in the fo'c'sles of our men-o'-war or, not infrequently, in wardrooms and the officers' quarters of forts and camps. Naturally, a number of "popular" melodies by our tireless professional tunesmiths frequently do enjoy a certain widespread vogue, and one or another may actually survive and eventually earn the honorary sobriquet of soldiers' and sailors' "favorite". But essentially they are, and remain, songs sung at you, not by you. This is one reason why practically none of them has been included here. The other reason is that permission to reprint them is difficult to get because the copyright owners guard them, perhaps understandably, with the eyes of a hawk, the ferocity of a tigress and the jealousy of an elderly husband for his pretty young mistress. Unfortunately this holds good also for many of the "official" songs of the various services which you wanted to include, and which I tried my damndest to "clear" without results. Thus such venerable songs as "Anchors Aweighi", "Semper Paratus", "The Army Air Corps" etc. are absent from this collection. Even though the services themselves were glad to give their permission, the copyright owners wouldn't. So that's that; but, regrettable as it is for sentimental rather than practical reasons, the words and melodies of these songs are so familiar that almost everyone of you must know them by heart anyway. Yet another limited number of "true" soldiers' and sailors' songs are missing: songs like "Four F Charlie", "I'm Dreaming Of A White Mistress" and others which are so enthusiastically sung by you men in North Africa and in the vicinity of Australia. They are missing, not primarily because they might have to be "cleaned up" for printing, but because I have not been able to get the complete and authentic versions of tunes and texts in time. Send them in, if you want them; we shall include them later. Tough or not, they are your songs, and if you want them you shall get them.
It is impossible to thank individually each and every one of you who has so generously helped to produce this book; any attempt to do so would fill many pages. However, I feel that I ought to mention a few who have done more than their share. Thus I consider it a privilege as well as a duty to express my gratitude (and yours) to Lieutenant Colonel Franklin S. Forsberg of "Yank"; Lieutenant Colonel F. van Wyck Mason and Major P. Frazier of the War Department; Lieutenant Commander Walter Karig of the Navy Department; Colonel S. C. Cumming of the U.S. Marine Corps; Brigadier General R. H. Jordan of the U.S. Quartermaster Corps; Lieutenant Colonel A. C. M. Azoy of West Point; Captain Dudley W. Knox of Annapolis; President Harry L. Loeffler of the Trident Society; and Professor Raymond Kendall of the U.S.O. My special thanks are also due to the Public Relations Officers and the Special Service Officers in camps, forts, fields, posts and stations throughout the length and breadth of our land. To all you others thanks, too, and a handshake, and good luck!
Table of Contents Tenshun!
........................*............*....... 7
The Infantry, King of the Highway
........ 9
The Infantry......................................~....... 10
The Caissons So Rolling Along ............10
Motorized Field Artillery Song................I'2
Keep Them Rolling
..............................,,...13
The Wagon Soldiers' Gang ....................14
Coast Artillery Song .............................. 14
Crash On Artillery ......................................15
Coast Artillery Marching Song................15
The Tanker's Hymn .............,........................16
March Of The Armored Corps ...............17
The Tanker ..............................................18
Eleventh Armored ........................................18
The Armoraider's Song ........... .........,......19
Motor School Song......................................,-.20
The Tanker Song........................................21
AAF Ground Crew Song............................22
Over Land And Over Sea .................... 23
Happy Landing
........................................ 24
The Army Flying Corps .......................... 25
We're Soldiers With Wings .,.....................26
Air Corps Roar ............................................27
Come On And Join The Air Corps..........28
Song Of The Army Engineers .....................30
What Would The
Army Do? ...................31
Engineer O.C.S. Song........................ .....33
Quartermaster Song ....................................34
March Of The Signaleers.........................34
Song Of The Signal Corps .....................36
Transportation Corps March .................37
Salute To The Medical Corps................ 38
Medic's Song
............................ 38
Sing A Song To Our Navy
................39
Song Of The Seabees ..............................40
The Marines' Hymn
.................................41
The Army Mule, The Navy Goat ........42
The U.S.A. Will Fight
...................,43
You're In The Army Now ...............45
Mademoiselle From Armentieres ...........47
The Modern Hinky-Dinky.........................50
Reveille.........................................51
Stable Call
................................51
Mess CalI ........................................................51
Sick Call...........................................................51
Fatigue Call .................................................51
Taps ..............................................52
The Recruit .....................................................53
The Private Song ..................................... 55
The Corporal...............................................55
The Sergeant........................................55
My Wild Eyed Cadet .......................56
The M.P. .........................................................56
We're All For You. Uncle Sam ..........57
Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho...................................61
Engineer's Song...................................61
Drill Song...................................................62
The Infantry .............................................62
I'm A Cranky Old Yank...........................63
Third Calvary Song ....................................64
The Guts Of The Army .........................64
The Domesticated Artillery Man
........64
A Helluvan Engineer.................................65
Tammany .,......................................................66
Mother, Take In Your Service Flag
.....66
The Old Navy ..........................67
We're In The Q.M.C................................68
The Ki-Wi Song............................................68
G. I. Blues .....................................................69
Song Of The Army Cooks .........................70
Beans For Breakfast ....................................71
The Boot's Song ............................................71
Kitchen Police..............................................72
The B.C. Gave Me K.P. In A Hurry ........72
K.P. Blues.....................................................73
Oh, Yea ?........................................................74
All We Do ..................................................74
Payday Song ................................................75
Mule Song ....................................................75
Dirt Song ......................................................75
Cootie Song ..................................................76
Louse Song ................... ...............................76
Greasy Wops And Yankee Boys ................76
We Do Squads Left ...................................77
I'll Tell You Where They Were! ................77
Please, Take Me Back To The Army ....78
The Waitress And The Sailor ................79
Cristofor Colombo ......................................80
The Son Of The Beach ................................84
I Was Born Ten Thousand Years Ago ....85
Abdul, The Bulbul Ameer ........................86
The Bastard King Of England ....................90
Willie. The Weeper ....................................93
It's The Syme The Whole World Over ....94
Lydia Plnkham.............................................97
The Cannibal Maid....................................98
Hallelujah, I'm A Bum ............................100
Whiskey Johnny........................................100
The Mermaid .:..........................................102
Home, Boys, Home ..................................103
The Armored Cruiser Squadron ................105
The Admiral Walks His Quarterdeck ...106
Destroyer Song ..........................................107
There's A Hole In The Bottom Of
the Sea .........................................107
What Are You Going To Do ..................108
Song For Adolf .....................................109
Springtime In Alaska ................................109
My Sister, She Works In A Laundry ....109
Dirty Gertie from Bizerte ......................110
The Tattoed Lady .....................................110
There Was A Little Hen..........................112
That's The Wrong Way................. 112
Underwear................................................112
Maneuver Song ..........................................113
Philippine Convoy ......................................113
We Love Mrs. Jones...............................114
The Prettiest Girl....................................114
Soldier-Men Blues ......................................116
I'm Dreaming Of A White Mistress ....117
Bombed Last Night .............................119
Long Time Ago..........................................120
Today Is Monday....................................118
A Poor Aviator Lay Dying
............121
Beneath The Belgian Watertank ..........122
The Hearse Song ...........................123
Oh! Oh! Oh! It's A Lovely War
......124
I Don't Want No More Army ..........125
It's A Short Life ............................126
When This Bloody War Is Over ............126
I Want To Go Home ................................127