The Happy Pals

Come let us go down lovers lane
Once more to sing love’s own refrain
Though we must say auf wiedersehen
Auf wiedersehen, my dear

Here in your arms I can’t remain, 
So let me kiss you once again
Soon we must say auf wiedersehen
Auf wiedersehen, my dear

Your love will cling to me
Through the lonely daytime
Each night will bring to me
The magic memory of May-time

I know my heart won’t beat again
Until the day we meet again
Sweetheart, goodbye, auf wiedersehen, 
Auf wiedersehen, my dear

1932

Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer
Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer
With our one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer

What a show, what a sight
We really hit our target for tonight

How we sing as we limp through the air
Look below, there’s our field over there
With our full crew on board
And our trust in the Lord
We’re comin’ in on a wing and a prayer

1943

Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me
Anyone else but me, anyone else but me No! No! No!
Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me
Till I come marching home

Don’t go walking down Lover’s Lane with anyone else but me
Anyone else but me, anyone else but me No! No! No!
Don’t go walking down Lover’s Lane with anyone else but me
Till I come marching home

Marion Hutton:
Don’t give out with those lips of yours to anyone else but me
Anyone else but me, anyone else but me No! No! No!
Watch the girls on the foreign shores, you’ll have to report to me
When you come marching home

Don’t hold anyone on your knee, you better be true to me
You better be true to me, you better be true to me
Don’t hold anyone on your knee, you’re getting the third degree
When you come marching home

 1942

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

1920

It’s a long way to Tipperary,
It’s a long way to go.

It’s a long way to Tipperary
To the sweetest girl I know!

Goodbye Piccadilly,
Farewell Leicester Square!

It’s a long long way to Tipperary,
But my heart’s right there.

 1912 

Keep the Home fires burning,
While your hearts are yearning.
Though your lads are far away
They dream of Home.

There’s a silver lining
Through the dark cloud shining.
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come Home.

 1914

Kiss me goodnight, Sergeant-Major
Tuck me in my little wooden bed

We all love you, Sergeant-Major 
When we hear you bawling, “Show a leg!”

Don’t forget to wake me in the morning
And bring me ’round a nice hot cup of tea

Kiss me goodnight Sergeant-Major
Sergeant-major, be a mother to me

1939 

Underneath the lantern, by the barrack gate,
Darling I remember the way you used to wait.
‘Twas there that you whispered tenderly,
That you loved me, you’d always be,
My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

Time would come for roll call, Time for us to part,
Darling I’d caress you and press you to my heart,
And there ‘neath that far off lantern light,
I’d hold you tight, We’d kiss good-night,
My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

Orders came for sailing somewhere over there,
All confined to barracks was more than I could bear;
I knew you were waiting in the street,
I heard your feet, But could not meet,
My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

Resting in a billet, just behind the line,
Even tho’we’re parted, your lips are close to mine.
You wait where that lantern softly gleams.
Your sweet face seems to haunt my dreams.
My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

German poem 1915; German song 1938; English song 1942

There’s a window light a-burning
For someone out there
There’s a heart that’s ever yearning
And a head bowed down in prayer

There’s a loving hand to guide you
Where ever you may roam
Back again to Peaceful Valley
On the road to home sweet home.

1917

Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming
The Yanks are coming
The drums rum tumming everywhere

So prepare, say a prayer
Send the word, send the word to beware
We’ll be over, we’re coming over
And we won’t come back till it’s over, over there.

1917