Grafted into the Army

DESCRIPTION: "Our Jimmy has gone for to live in a tent, They have grafted him into the army... I told them the child was too young, alas! At the Captain's forequarters they said he would pass...." The mother talks of her little boy in the army; she hopes he comes back
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST DATE: 1862 (sheet music published by Root & Cady, according to Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar; the version in Work-SongsOf-Henry-Clay-Work just says "186_")
KEYWORDS: soldier mother youth humorous
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Work-SongsOf-Henry-Clay-Work, pp.137-140, "Grafted Into The Army" (1 text, 1 tune, a copy of the original sheet music)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 361-362, "(no title)" (1 text)
Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 371, "Grafted Into the Army" (1 text, a copy of a Johnson & Co. broadside)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #799, p. 53, "Grafted Into the Army" (13 references)
Dime-Song-Book #11, p. 22, "Grafted into the Army" (1 text)
Sllber-CivWarFull, pp. 311-313, "Grafted into the Army (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-SoldierSongsAndHomeFrontBalladsOfCivilWar, pp. 68-69, "Grafted into the Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colonial-Dames-AmericanWarSongs, p. 93, 'Grafted' into the Army" (1 text)
Messerli-ListenToTheMockingbird, pp. 113-115, "Grafted into the Army" (1 text)
DT, GRFTRMY*
Roud #6596
NOTES [58 words]: Various authors note that Henry Clay Work's verb "grafted" is a multi-layered pun. It is, on its face, a mis-statement of "drafted"; it is a form of "grafting," as in combining the branches of different trees -- and it reminds us of graft, as in financial illegalities, which were common among military suppliers and recruiters in this period. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: SCW68

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