Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-01-01
"wAR SONGS

"WAR SONGS"
A British army officer, describing
the men of his battalion. somewhere
in France" writes as follows:
These fellows are great singers
and I have heard a lot of weird war
chants already One runs to the tune
of The Milky Coconut,' which you
may know
'Coo-oo-oolness under fire,
Coo-oo-oolness under fire,
Mentioned in dispatches for
Drinking the Company rum,
Coo-oolness under fire.
s. The men sing
Il showed my finger in woodpecker's
hole
And the woodpecker screamed, God
strafe your soul
Take it out
Take it out!
Take it out!
Remove it.
l think l told you before of the little
song of the heart I Want to Go
Home No, / think it was someone
else / told, SO you must have 1T
I want to go home: (bis)
The coal box and shrapnel they. whis-
tie and roar,
/ don't want to go to the trenches no
more.
| want to go over the sea,
Where the Kaiser can't throw bombs
at me.
p ooooohs aye!
I don't want to die,
| want to go home
"on the march, amid other weird
and wonderful songs, they have hab-
it of breaking out with
Three cheers for the Vaterland!
Ock, ock, ock!
Mein Gott,,'
which is to them the very acme of
waggishness.. They are funny lot.
The favorite songs of soldiers and
sailors are always simple. The songs
that men sing on the march are usual
ly of the nature of chants or shanties
The German soldiers in the first ter
rife drive into, France, through Bel
GUM, sang Deutschland Uber Allies"
and men who saw and heard them
say that no words can convey the i'm,
preston of resistless military force
created in the mind of the oplooker
by those endless columns of men NOV
ing rapidly forward, singing as they
marched, and always taking three
paces in silence at the end of each
line. The three steps in, silence re-
mind one of another marching song,
Tramp, Tramp. Tramp
Those who saw the great review at
the close of our Civil War expert
enced a similar emotion, as regiment
after regiment of hardy seasoned vet
Grams marched past singing, John
Browns Body"
Come to think of it, the case Of
Edith Cavell Is producing much the
same effect in England today as the
case of John Brown of Osawatomie"
did in the North in the sixties The
air of John Browns Body" is well
known in England, and the British
armies may even now be singing a
war chant with the refrain Her soul
goes marching on"
Many of the regiments recruited
from the western counties of ENGLAND
are made ND Of men cast in much the
same mould as Cromwelis Ironsides,
or the Scottish Covenanters. They
nray and sing and fipht with more
than a touch of fanaticism. Only a
few years ago many of them went to
iail rather than submit to school
law that thew considered unjust
They are. for the most part nlain
simple folk, many of them are Wes-
leyan Methodists-sueh men would be
apt to sing of Edith Cayell, when on
the march:
EDITH CAVELL"
tTune-"Iohn Browns Body"
Remember Edith Cavell, and strike
for victory;
Remember Edith Cavell. and strike
for victory;
Remember Edith CayeII. and strike
for victory;
Her soul will lead us on
Glory, GLORY. Hallelujah.
Her soul viii lead us on.
Wen fight and wen pray till The
Day is won,
Her soul will lead us on.
Her prison door was opened, and she
went forth to die.
Her soul will lead us on.
She said II die for England; her
voice was SO brave.
Her soul will lead US on.
The cruel volley sped, and she sank
to the ground
Her soul will lead us on.
The glory of the Lord shone around
her when she died.