Your King and Country Want You (We Don't Want to Lose You)

DESCRIPTION: "We've watched you playing cricket And every kind of game. You men have made your name, But now your country calls you To play your part in war." "Oh! we don't want to lose you but we think you ought to go For your King and your Country both need you so"
AUTHOR: Paul A. Rubens (source: Sheet Music)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love separation sports soldier
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, pp. 6-8, "We Don't Want to Lose You" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Recruiting Parody No. 2" (lyrics)
NOTES [93 words]: Wikipedia has an article on this song, which (on July 10, 2023) began "Several different recruiting songs with the name 'Your King and Country Want/Need You' were popularised in Britain at the beginning of the First World War." It gives the complete lyrics and notes that royalties were donated to "Queen Mary's Work for Women Fund" (Mary of Teck was the wife of King George V).
The Digital Tradition has a song, "The Rose of York" by Lesley Hale and Ken Thomson, which quotes a couple of lines of the chorus; presumably this is a sign of its popularity. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: AWTBW006

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