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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Dear FF,
This brought a memory back to mind, and a little searching came up with the following:
1 The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
2 For you but not for me:
3 And the little devils how they sing-a-ling-a-ling
4 For you but not for me.
5 O death, where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling,
6 O Grave, thy victor-ee?
7 The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling,
8 For you but not for me.
o Original Text: Songs and Slang of the British Soldier: 1914-1918, ed. John Brophy and Eric Partridge (London: Eric Partridge, 1930): 59.
o First Publication Date: ca. 1914-1918?
o Representative Poetry On-line: Editor, I. Lancashire; Publisher, Web Development Group, Inf. Tech. Services, Univ. of Toronto Lib.
o Edition: RPO 1998. © I. Lancashire, Dept. of English (Univ. of Toronto), and Univ. of Toronto Press 1998.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Thanks for that one, dxb - I have known of it ever since Brendan Behan used it in The Hostage but didn't know its provenance until now.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
, your "'sblood" reminded me of "zounds" - which is actually pronounced "zooonds," because it is the short form of "God's wounds"
and "strewth", of course, is the shortening of "god's truth."
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
1 The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
2 For you but not for me Genuinely wicked humour, David   - and sounds pretty distinctively British, too. Is it a take-off of another song?
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I've been humming this one, on and off (off key, espec!) since it was mentioned, and find I've come up with a few more words:-
If you see the undertaker
Or the young man from the Pru
Drink a pint with what's left over
Now I'll say "good-bye" to you.
(The Bells of hell etc etc)
I don't know if theses are the original verse, or whether they are the invention of Behan - any ideas?
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
this song was used as the theme music for a BBC series (shown here over 10 years ago, so circa 12 to 15 years old) about the XBS-- the army sappers (engineers) responsible for the removal of unexploded bombs in English cities during WWII.. i remember the words were so morbid, and the tune so jaunty.. it seemed more irish than english! (as King Charles said of the irish, "All their war and death song are happy, and all their love songs are sad.")
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-lingRather surreal this - in trying to trace the tune I found that this song is (allegedly) not originally a war-song, but an honest-to-goodness Salvationist/Methodist hymn: http://www.kuuf.org/Sermons/Get the Hell Out.htmHere's a little on a famous Salvationist: http://www.times1190.freeserve.co.uk/general.htmIt may have been expanded a little as a war song, but the implication of sending one's enemy to Hell was clearly in the original hymn. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. "All their war and death song are happy, and all their love songs are sad."Excellent quote, Helen  . True, too! (even if this song isn't an example)
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
addict
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addict
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679 |
this song was used as the theme music for a BBC series (shown here over 10 years ago, so circa 12 to 15 years old) about the XBS-- the
army sappers (engineers) responsible for the removal of unexploded bombs in English cities during WWIII remember that series, Helen. It was called Danger, UXB! which is short for Unexploded Bomb. The main star was Anthony Andrews who also starred in Upstairs, Downstairs, Brideshead, revisited and a few later things which were pretty duff. http://us.imdb.com/Title?0078593as King Charles said of the irish, "All their war and death song are happy, and all their love songs are sad."I never really noticed before but now you mention it, it's true! Try comparing The soldier's song with She moved through the fair. And we like to call them rebel songs, Helen!
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
but its not just patriot songs that are happy.. think of the the wonder fun song, (the singer is the desesed, singing from the spirit world)--Ain't it grand boys to be bloody well dead!
Look at the widow,
Bloody great cow,
isn't grand boys, to be bloody well dead?
Chorus
Lets not have a sniffle,
Lets have a bloody great cry
and always remember the longer you live,
the sooner you bloody well die!
Look at the preacher
Bloody great hypocrite,
Ain't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
and so on for all the members of the wake, the keener, the undertaker, the children, etc.. and ends with with
Look at corpse, boys
Look at how lovely i lie,
isn't grand boys to be bloody well dead?
the tune is lively! and the song is cheerful! Isn't grand to be bloody well dead!
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