Evening star., 1940-10-27
War Victims Prefer
Swing Music When
Awaiting Death
Explanation Believed
To Be Thot 1t Delays
Facing Realities

why NSS''a'SS
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Oct. 26-Ghostlike
In the darkness, a British steamer
plows the mountainous waves of
the North Atlantic with the most
precious of cargoes - unescorted
refugee children bound for Amer
ica's safe shores.
Suddenly, unseen among the toss
Ing whitecapS, an enemy torpedo
strikes amidships with a dull boom.
Horror and confusion reign as the
vessel ships tons of water and roofs
leadenly in the 20 minutes it takes
to sink
And the children sing.
They don't sing Nearer, My God
to Thee" as did 1,517 souls % years
ing.
They sing The Beer Barrel Polka"
and "Oh, Johnny, Oh"
Now the Polka" is a rollicking
tune about rolling out the brew
barrel for some beer-quafflng.
Johnny is another lifting air
particularly suited for jitterbugs.
Distract Attention.
Why, then. do the youngsters
chant these silly words as they toss
about like corks in the face of
death?
DR.. J. L. Moreno. a leading
psychiatrist, says that both children
and adults probably feel just as
religious underneath as normally
when facing such a crisis and at the
same time can feel the urge to
sing the swing tunes.
Our instinct is not to face reality
when it comes or else to put off
facing it as long as possible" DR..
Moreno said. Our prayers and
religious songs are perhaps too rigid
In driving one to face reality, which
one doesn't want to face. and so
such song as The Beer Barrel
Polka would be an escape into at
least a semblance of pleasurable
mood.
Such gay songs are better nodded
to distract the attention from the
threatening to the pleasant. 1t is
the same motive that makes us
give child candy to persuade him
to take his medicine"
Keep Up Spirits With Swing"
And then there is the opinion of
song authority E. c. Mills:
These tunes work like magic, ap-
parently, in keeping their spirits
up says Mr. Mills.
Latest instance of this phenom-
enon was when the British steamer
City of Benares was sunk by an
enemy torpedo on September II,
with loss of 248 lives. n of them |
children. One hundred and fifty
eight survivors told of singing the
American swing" tunes.
Likewise, when British soldiers
IN France saw death approaching
in an earlier stage of the war.
Tommy Atkins" crooned an Amer
lean ballad called South of the
Border"
If any tune could be more remote
from the poppy fields of Flanders,
we haven't heard it. Yet they
murmTed its cloying words softly,
giving vent to their emotions in
this saga of an American who had
TO leave his Mexican sweetheart
and come home.
Depressing Song Popular.
In late years, two other songs
have produced varying results. says
Mr.. Mills. who is chairman of the
Advisory Committee of the Amer
lean Society of Composers, Authors
and Publishers.
Gloomy Sunday won strange
popularity with light-hearted COL
lege students, considering its
macabre theme was that of a young
man whose bride-to-be had died,
Mr.. Mills points out. 1t was a song
Of contemplated suicide, and was
blamed for the self-destruction of
at least two persons. Radio stations
finally prohibited the playing of it.
On the lighter side of the effect
OF songs was the case several years
ago of the too-popular isle of
Capri"
SohJuiCu ~
The Isle" was a great tune, with |
words that caused listeners to con-
jure up visions of olive trees, blue
seas and white sands. In it, a
sailor would have married (maybe) /
a native italian signorita he found
on the beach at Capri. But she
wore a wedding ring, so he sailed
away at dawning, practically in
tears.
At first. this was very soothing
and all very romantic, but it so
unnerved one American that he
left his wife and family to escape
hearing it 20 times nightly on the /
radio.
Cotton in his ears. he searched |
the world over, seeking a place |
where the song was never played |
Finally the story goes, he found !
1t. He sent postcard home, telling
Of his good fortune
The postmark was the Isle of