Mechanic's Moan, The

DESCRIPTION: "The hours I spent with thee, dear bus, Are as a string of plugs to me; I count the clearances in all your valves... and still you miss." The engine is misfiring; the pilot comes back. "And when the war is over, I'm going back to Angleterre"
AUTHOR: unknown (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Nettleingham-TommysTunes)
KEYWORDS: technology derivative
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Nettleingham-TommysTunes, #64, "The Mechanic's Moan" (1 text, tune referenced)
Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook, pp. 19-20, "The Air Mechanic's Moan" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #10763
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rosary" (tune)
cf. "The Rosary (Hospital Version)" (lyrics, probable tune)
NOTES [160 words]: In the World War II Royal Flying Corps, and also the American Army Air Force, there was a tendency (particularly in the periods when bomber casualties were high) for pilots to abort their missions at the slightest hint of mechanical problems with the plane. It wasn't malingering, quite, since the planes did usually have some sort of problem. But it was certainly a lack of enthusiasm (justifiable, given the high rates of loss on some bombing raids). I haven't seen documentation of such a problem in World War I, but this song makes it sound as if it existed.
Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook attributes this to J. C. Whittaker, the author of "The Air-Crew's Wish" and "Airmen's Opening Chorus." There is nothing unreasonable about this attribution -- but the Ward-Jackson text is verbatim from Nettleingham-TommysTunes, and that book does not attribute the song to Whittaker (or anyone else). So I am not confident enough in the attribution to list it. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: NeTT064

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