[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_0OwZLWlW4]
Something for the weekend. Dogface Soldier, the theme song for the Third Infantry Division, Audie Murphy’s division, during World War II and today.
I Wouldn’t Give A Bean
To Be A Fancy Pants Marine
I’d Rather Be A
Dog Face Soldier Like I Am
I Wouldn’t Trade My Old-O D’s
For All The Navy’s Dungarees
For I’m The Walking Pride
Of Uncle Sam
On Army Posters That I Read
It Says “Be All That You Can”
So They’re Tearing Me Down
To Build Me Over Again
I’m Just A Dog Face Soldier
With A Rifle On My Shoulder
And I Eat Raw Meat
For Breakfast E’V’RY Day
So Feed Me Ammunition
Keep Me In the Third Division
Your Dog Face Soldier’s A-Okay
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEj5crj5z28&feature=related]
Puleeze . . . they have re-written this song. It used to say, “On all the posters that I read it says the Army builds men,” not “be all that you can,” and the final line used to be “Your dog face solder boy’s ok,” not whatever it is now. This is historical revisionism in the name of political correctness. Audie would be appalled . . .
Here are the original lyrics to the song:
I Wouldn’t Give A Bean
To Be A Fancy Pants Marine,
I’d rather Be A Dogface Soldier Like I Am.
I Wouldn’t Trade My Old O.D.’s
For All The Navy’s Dungarees
For I’m The Walking Pride Of Uncle Sam;
On All The Posters That I Read
It Says The Army Builds Men
So They’re Tearing Me Down To Build Me Over Again
I’m Just A Dogface Soldier
With A Rifle On My Shoulder
And I Eat A Kraut For Breakfast Everyday.
So Feed Me Ammunition,
Keep Me In The Third Division,
Your Dogfaced Soldier Boy’s Okay.
The current lyrics have been in use in the Third Division since the eighties.
Start at 22:18 for a “spirited” rendition of Dogface Soldier in the movie To Hell and Back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woK8Alj3ffA&feature=related
“be all you can be” was the Army’s recruting slogan in the 1980’s
“Greet them ever with grateful hearts.”
As I sit here, three brave Afghan war veterans (still on active duty) sleep in the next room.
I also recall the winner Hank, “Today’s Army Wants to Join You!”
Ah, military life bears as much relationship to most recruitment posters as spam does to a fine steak!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diWtQkJwLwE&feature=related
Don
I alwas hated that one.
In the 80’s the Army Reserve’s slogan was “soon you will wish it is more than one weekend a month” Times have changed.
I believe now Hank many a National Guard Armory has a sign saying “One weekend a month my a–” Military service, or servitude as one of my green wearing colleagues used to refer to it, always requires a well-developed sense of humor.
I’m sure that the men on the ground in the military have a much bawdier version than those we hear publicly, but – at the risk of being laughed at – I think the US soldiers songs are more gentlemanly than the Kiwi or ANZAC songs – there seems to be only the bawdy version down here, and that’s going back to WW1 !!