Be Prepared

DESCRIPTION: "Be prepared! That's the Boy Scouts' marching song." The scouts should be prepared to "hold your liquor pretty well," "Don't write naughty words if you can't spell, "Hide that pack of cigarettes," and otherwise hide their private lives
AUTHOR: Tom Lehrer
EARLIEST DATE: 1981 ("Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer")
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad drugs drink campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 290, "(no title)" (1 short text)
DT, SCOUTPRE
ADDITIONAL: Tom Lehrer, _Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer with not enough drawings by Ronald Searle_, Pantheon Books, 1981, pp. 12-14, "Be Prepared" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [72 words]: Obviously a composed song; it's Tom Lehrer's take on the Boy Scout motto. But Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs prints it as though it came to her anonymously, so I'm listing it here. Certainly I can imagine bold camp counselors sitting around singing this.
BoyScoutSongbook1997 has a genuine "Be Prepared" song, which opens "Oh Be Prepared, Prepared, Prepared, the motto of a Boy Scout," but I have no evidence that it is traditional. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: ACSF290B

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography