Send Out the Army and the Navy

DESCRIPTION: "Send out the Army and the Navy, Send out the rank and file, Send out the brave Territorials, They'll face danger with a smile (I don't think). Send out my mother, Send out my sister and my brother, But for Gawd's sake don't send me."
AUTHOR: Gitz Rice (source: Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (sung by Alfred Lester, according to Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver)
KEYWORDS: soldier mother brother
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Brophy/Partridge-TommiesSongsAndSlang, p. 58, "Send Out the Army and the Navy" (1 text)
Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, pp. 42-44, "For Gawd's Sake Don't Send Me" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: John Mullen, _The Show Must Go On! Popular Song in Britain during the First World War_, French edition 2012; English edition, Ashgate, 2015, p. 158, "(no title)" (1 excerpt)
Roud #10546
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Send Out the Chryssy" (form)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Conscientious Objector's Lament (original title)
NOTES [110 words]: According to John Mullen, The Show Must Go On! Popular Song in Britain during the First World War, French edition 2012; English edition, Ashgate, 2015, p. 158, this was a music hall song written to ridicule conscientious objectors, and it was pretty rough:
Non-combatant battalions are fairly in my line
But the Sergeant always hates me for he called me 'baby mine,'
But oh, I got so cross with him, I rose to the attack,
And when he called me 'Ethel' I just called him 'Beatrice' back.
The verses don't seem to have been well remembered, but the chorus -- the part quoted in the description -- came to be widely sung by the soldiers who actually served. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: BrPa057C

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