Somme, The

DESCRIPTION: "I want to go back, I want to go back, I want to go back to the Somme, That's where I've come from, With a souvenir bit of a bomb." The singer recalls the local sights. "I want to be there, I want to hit there, A certain someone with a bomb"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Nettleingham-TommysTunes)
KEYWORDS: soldier injury return
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jul 1-Nov 18, 1916 - Somme campaign. The British army undertakes its first full-scale offensive against the Germans. There were 58,000 casualties on the first day alone; in the end, the Allies suffered almost 600,000 casualties, 420,000 of them British. The Germans suffered almost as much, and the attack barely dented the German lines.
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Nettleingham-TommysTunes, #47, "The Somme" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #10772
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Michigan" (tune)
NOTES [42 words]: Given the total ineptitude of the British high command responsible for the Somme, I wonder if the soldier's desire to hit someone with a bomb is a desire to destroy the German enemy -- or his own generals. Personally, I'd have gone after the generals. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: NeTT047

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