Poem ~ Songs Of War - Saturday, 13 May - Monday, 15 May 1916

Source: File: I'll make a man of you! (Tune: I Don't Want to be a Soldier) OhWhataLovelyWar [online] : <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x308MIPPUyA> [Accessed: 13 May 2016]

Source: File: Vesta Tilley. [online] See an original image at: <https://heroinesofthestage.wordpress.com/2014/08/09/miss-towards-heroines-of-the-stage/> [Accessed: 13 May 2016]

i

Kitchener replied with pointed finger,
When the Kaiser had started to huff -

While a country went willingly to war,

What better way for all the soldiers

To go, than to sing new catchy songs.

Already well known from before, the
Lyrics of 'Its a long way to Tipperary'

Were well suited to a marching song -
Without any suggested deeds of war,

Words evoked a longing for home.

Music and war had always travelled

Together, as already well established

By the Music Hall well before 1880s -

Popular Lilly Langtry and Marie Lloyd 

Were soon joined by new performers.

Vesta Tilley, readily known for her
Impersonations of men, with risqué 
Behaviour - to raise wary eyebrows
Playing her character 'Burlington

Bertie,' made her name before war.

ii

Vesta Tilley conceived characters

'Jack Tar Home from Sea' - another

Was 'Tommy In the Trench' - with

Husband Walter to commence a drive

For recruitment, gaining a new name.

Now Britain’s greatest recruitment

Sergeant, Great littlie Tilley sang

'Jolly Good Luck to the Girl Who

Loves a Soldier,' to bring men onto

Stage - persuading them how Army 

Was alright, but open to controversy.

'I’ve got a it of a Blighty one,' Tilley

Sang as a soldier glad to wounded

Home - not exactly what the war

Office wanted to hear – many songs

Had the power to inspire peoples

Patriotism and to gain manpower.

Song sources knew no borders -

With American tunes popularity 

Flows of songs emerged from pen

Of Wenrich, as in 'When You Wore

A Tulip - I Wore a Big Red Rose.'

iii

Back home pianos had centre

Place in many families’ parlors -

With boys away at war, families

Sang same songs as brothers,

Sons or fathers - old or new tunes
Marched them on the road to war.

In eager backing of government,

Propaganda and music became

Well matched - the medium stirred

Public to join British army - 'Keep 
The home Fires burning’ by Ford 
And Novella; a sweethearts ideal.

Brothers Felix and George Powell

Played the London Hippodrome. In

A break George wrote some lines

Of a song, that Felix had idly fitted 

Music too - only to see it as 'Piffle'
George stored it under song 'duds.'

iV

While across the water in New York,

Music publishers Day and Hunter

Decided to offer 100 guineas, to find

A marching song for fighting troops -

The Powell brothers looked at their

Rejected song to revise and enter.

Talents had by end of 1914, seen

Release by Mark Sheridan a singer

Of seaside songs, with 'Belgium Put

The Kibosh on the Kaiser' - inspired

By BEF's halt of the Schlieffen Plan.

A few moths passed - a telegram

To Powell brothers told them they

Had won first prize with composition,

'Pack Up your Troubles In Your Old

Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile’ -

Its popularity was in it's simplicity.

This song praised the Tommy who

Could remain cheery, in the worst

Conditions - with the simple luxury

Of a Lucifer match to light his fag,

All to return the Tommy's smile -

Powell brothers were onto a winner.

V

With the 'kitbag song' quick to prove

A hit, other older compositions were

Revived - the popular 'Mademoiselle

From Armentieres' made resurgence -

New, adaptable, French risqué words

Leading to claims by several writers.

Alternatively 'three German Officers

Crossed the Rhine' - depicted enemy

Having a jolly good time - to result

In illegitimacy, leading to birth of a fat

Prussian, to grow up without morals.

Other words told how Mademoiselle

Had not been kissed for some forty

Years - while a more demure Colette,

With sea-blue eyes, was seen by

Lawyer Frederic Weatherly - a lady

Who evoked the Roses of Picardy.

One night Frederic Weatherly travelled

Home by London bus when suddenly

The refrain hit the lawyer - he jumped

To the street to stand beneath a lamp,

Putting down the idea on an envelope.

With subject of a love affair, music sheet
Sales quickly hit record 50,000 monthly -

Sentimental Images of Colette in Picardy

Prompted eager young men to sing while
Waiting to enlist for France and Flanders.

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As a weapon of war, songs

Played their part, popularised

By the singers of the day - those

Early volunteers in rallying, sang
Of kitbags and roses - out to hit

The Kaiser only to yearn for home.

Both comedians and singers

Were playing their parts - along

With government policies, to be

The official and unofficial drivers

To recruitment, as civil heroes.

In new stars of stage and song

These included Harry Champion,

Harry Lauder, George Formby,

Gertie Gitana, Marie Lloyd

And Vesta Tilley, among many

Others, to set the pace of time.

Vii

Many artists and composers

Took inspirations, whose lyrics

Cleverly caught a keen public -

Writers Wimperis and Finck

Worked out the ultimate song

For voluntary recruitment rallys.

Calling out to youngest men by

A flirty lady, who dated military

Men - the purpose of her task,

As sung by Minnie Love, would

Make them all better soldiers.

In a call to other girls to walk out

With an army and the navy, her 
Dates included; a Hussar, a baby
Boy scout, a Scottie, a rifleman in
Green and a captain of the crew. 

Not to forget time with a bosun

A day later a Sub and Marine -

Finally with a midshipman or two.

She'd offer her services if a man

In front would take king's shilling;

A long war promised many songs.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: The 10 best: first world war music. Online. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/07/the-10-best-first-world-war-music> Accessed 13 May 2016

Source: File: Music Hall. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_hall> Accessed 13 May 2016

Source: File: Mademoiselle from Armentières. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mademoiselle_from_Armenti%C3%A8res> Accessed 13 May 2016

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 13 May 2016). 

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