a soldier told me before he died 
a soldier told me before he died
i don't know whether the bastard lied
no matter how much he tried and tried
his wife could never be satisfied.
so he fashioned a prick of 10 in.
 steel
run on a pulley by a bloody great wheel,
two brass balls he filled with cream,
and the whole bloody issue was run by steam
chorus <span style=%27font-family:symbol%27>·and round and round went the bloody great wheel
in and out went the prick of steel,
till at last his wife she cried,
' enough, enough!' I'm satisfied.'
 
but now here is the bitter bit-
there was no way of stopping it!
and so from ass to ____ she split,
and the whole bloody issue was covered in shit.
this song was sung to me by john dengate and snow wilson.
john learned the song ring the second world war.
 snow learned the song from spldiers who had sung the song in new guinea and korea.
 snow sang the song in vietnam while serving with 3rd squadron, royal australian engineers, serving with th us armys 173rd airborne bde
i suspect that the sgts john and snow learned the song from, learned it from their sgts who had been ww1 veterans.
 impotence is a problem with veterans from all wars, but the reference to steam leads me to beleive that the song originated earlier than ww2 where it was learned by the sgts, steam had been replaced by petrol and diesel engines, or electric by then.
this song shows soldiers looking at their problem in a humourous way, and devising 'alternateive methods 'of 'problem solving',
rather than taking a negative view of womens sexuality,