Song of the Two Sad Flight Sergeants

DESCRIPTION: "Here we are, spending a year on Gan, Passing three hundred and sixty-five days Getting a wonderful tan." They rarely see a woman. They will be very glad to leave once "my celibate year has passed"
AUTHOR: Words: Flight Lieutenant H. A. Philbrick / Music: Squadron Leader Victor B. Kendrick (source: Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook)
EARLIEST DATE: 1967 (Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook)
KEYWORDS: soldier exile
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook, pp. 258-261, "Song of the Two Sad Flight Sergeants" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [109 words]: There are at least two places in the Maldives named "Gan," one an island with that name, the other being the airport at the tip of the island range that houses Addu City. Neither is quite as isolated as the song seems to imply; there were people on the islands other than those who run the airports! But both islands are long and narrow and the airport rather isolated. And it's not obvious to me why the British kept a base in the Maldives anyway. What were they trying to do -- make sure the fish didn't rise in rebellion? Certainly it's easy to understand why the airmen felt isolated in a place so far from any place they would ever have heard of. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: WJL258

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