TUNES THAT TICKLE "TOMMY."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 169, 28 April 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

TUNES THAT TICKLE "TOMMY."

By SIR FREDERICK 71. COWEX. (The World-famous Composer, who write " r'a'l In," the Ofiiciftl Recruiting Song, tells of the Songs that Appeal to Soldiers.) Long befoip the war it used to Ix l said that liriti-h soldiers were not fond of music, that they never sang songs on the march. Although our soliders now sing on the march and in the fenches, it can still he .aid that they are not truly musical. The songs which our soliders sing are not soldiers' songs. It is strange, especially to a musician, but it is true that th.- last thing a British soldiei thinks of singing is a song of war, a stirring chant of battle, a paen of martial g'« ry. I -.,•,,.,.50 that if British soldiers sang more of war they might notJ),> such good soldiers, for it is not a IJr.ton's way to make a song about the deeds h.i does.

\et it really doe- seem a pitv that Britain has no genuine song of war. no really stiring combination of martial music and words to find favour with her soldiers, hke "La Marseillaise," for example. I suppose it is because, until August, 191 I. w e were not a war-Jiko nation.

But the songs v.mieh our soliders do sing- wnat of them:- What is the explanation of songs which, some of them are but meaningless childish doggerel' sung to very simple airs? What reason is there for the satisfaction that the finest soldiers in the world obtain from the following, for instance.-

Tlip moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin, His hoots are cracking For want of blacking, And his little baggy trousers t'nev want mending Before w 0 send him To the Da rd.-idles!

Ihese words are being sung by British heroes to the tune of a music-hall song called "Keelwing.•' Butwhv? What is the secret of their appeal to our splendid lighters, to heroes who arc ready and willing to sacrifice all for King and r.mpire. Compare these with the inspiring words of the refrain of the I'rencb war-song and anthem, be-'jn-nmg ' To arms, to arms, ve brave I" I here is no real explanation from the musicians point of view. I am convinced that one cannot give a definite, reason for popularity of the songs our so.diers sing, even in the face of death songs such as "Tipperary" Hold W Hand Out, Xaughty bov !" , , i r e Again!- "Hulio! Hullo. Übo s } our Lady Friend ?" " Who J\erc\ou with Last Night?" u „d the

They just happened. "Tommy" takes the free-and-easy spirit of his mimeballs into the fighting-lines, and Lint is why he is such a fine fighter. When the t"u'! history of the wa, iwrrttcn, 1 feel sure that we shall learn that many a British victory has boon won by -'Tommy's" sense of 'humour. Hut again, the strangest songs make our great soldiers feel sentimental and inspired. Here is a soldier's letter that I rend in a newspaper the other day that moves it :—-

1 was on sentry-go the other night, standing where, over a hundred years ago, Napoleon stood reviewing bis armies, and 1 didn't feel a bit, like Napoleon. . When softly on the night air came a murmur, which gradually began to swell until it l>eeame a roar, and then I caught the retrain: "You're my baby, you're such a wonderful child." It was the. singing of thousansd of British soldiers with the note of victory m their song, marching on as of" old through the mooniit roads of France to meet the foe, and at the words "Oh oh, oh, oh, you beautiful doll,' I drew myse.f up, shouldered mv rifle, and felt prouder than NapokuU ev, r knew how to feel.

"With the note oi victory in their song." That, then, must be t!\> explanation. British soldiers, born ol a most unmusical nation, just sing anything for the sheer joy of singing, and to show their complete caro-froe iisstirance of ultimate triumph to prove that they care not a snap of the lingers for their country's enemies.

What matter the song so long an the singer is stirred to do great deeds; what matter the music so long as it is sufficient to thrill him, to inspire him in the face of suffering and of death? In the grill-room of a big London restaurant a few months ago sat a wounded soldier, just out of hospital. Me wan n hero of th,* awful glories tf Mens and the Marne, but, as <ie sa' there with his friends in that crowded restaurant, he was abviotisly bent on having a good time. Then the orchestra started playing "Tipperarv,'" and that brave soldier, his face paling, put liis aims on the table and sobbed like a little child.

Th, re you have poignant proof that the ai tnal music and words of our soldiers' songs matter to them not at all; it is solely the circumstances in which they are, or have been sung, purely as the light-hearted expression of brave men's optimistic determination to "do or (i.e.''

Wo at home, especially those of us who love and know the magic of true music, cannot understand the appeals of songs like ''The Moon Shines Bright mi Charlie Chaplin." Yet it may he that those quaint, meaningless words with their simple refrain will bring tears to the eyes of brave men who have looked on horrors beyond our imaginations, jusi as the simple strains of ''Tipperarv" pierced the heart of that battle-scarred hero while he was surrounded by the inconsequent laughter and (hatter of a London restaurant crowd.

IK' hail horn one of that gallant khaki line which had marched through 'so'i!oknp in th.' lirst days of the war. He had Ming th • words of "Tipperary" v.ith them. though the \uinK meant notlrng then to him or to his comrades, and they yelled them merely because tli.' 1 line had a 1.1 l in it thai hi tod into theii inarcliiin' step-, il, had heard and -nng "Tipperary" durum the horror*; of the lirst lighting against overwhelming odds, and then, later lie had se< n the in. n who went to the light ringing that song returning broken, weary—leaving lrehind them many a body whoso voice had sent the strains floating over Flanders. Thus. "Tipporary." lor all its simpl<> words and unpretentious tune, had a meaning for him : it hecanie a memory, ft recalled darlf days and dreadful nights, and tlie remembrance of them, associated is it

"as w ill! tliat littl<> song, shook 1 hotly with emotion unrestrained.