Oh It's a Lovely War

DESCRIPTION: "Up to your waist in water, Up to your eyes in slush, Using the kind of language That makes the sergeants blush." "Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war. Who wouldn't be a soldier, eh?" The soldier complains of food and poor pay while pretending to praise them
AUTHOR: J. P. Long and Maurice Scott (source: Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (source: Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver)
KEYWORDS: war soldier humorous food
FOUND IN: US Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, pp. 74-75, "Oh! Oh! Oh! It's a Lovely War!" (1 text)
Brophy/Partridge-TommiesSongsAndSlang, p. 219, "(Oh, Oh, Oh, It's a Lovely War" (1 fragment)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 182, "Oh, it's a lovely war" (1 short text)
Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, pp.47-48, "Oh! It's a Lovely War" (1 text)
Roud #9624
NOTES [77 words]: According to Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, this inspired Joan Littlewood's play "Oh! What a Lovely War," which in 1969 became a film produced by Richard Attenborough. Littlewood produced her play long after her divorce from Ewan MacColl, but they worked together for some time after the divorce. I wondered a bit if he had anything to do with the play, but it is not mentioned in his autobiography Journeyman. (Which is, to be sure, extremely selective.) - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: SBar074

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