Mountains of Morne, The

DESCRIPTION: "Dear mother, I'm writing this letter... I'm a second A.M. in the R.F.C. And when I enlisted a pilot to be; But oh 'tis never a bit of the flying I see.... Now if things don't alter I'll blooming soon be Where the Mountains of Morne sweep down to the sea"
AUTHOR: unknown (but see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Nettleingham-TommysTunes)
KEYWORDS: technology derivative pilot
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Nettleingham-TommysTunes, #65, "The Mountains of Morne" (1 text)
Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook, p. 11, "The Mountains of Mourne" (3 short texts)
Roud #18229
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mountains of Mourne" (tune) and references there
NOTES [114 words]: Steve Roud lumps this with the "regular" "Mountains of Mourne." I disagree; it is clearly a World War I rewrite. I would note that, in many dialects, "Morne" would be pronounced "Mohne," i.e. "Moan," and Nettleingham-TommysTunes explicitly calls this "another moan."
And a rather silly moan, too; pilots rarely lived long in combat. Whereas a "second A.M." -- an air mechanic, second class -- stayed at base, where he was relatively safe.
Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook suggests that it was one I. J. B. Powell who wrote the lyrics that eventually evolved into this. If Ward-Jackson is right, seven out of eight lines of the final, traditional, version are essentially Powell's. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: NeTT065

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