Up Front / Commentary: War songs through the ages: The music behind the mayhem

There have always been songs and sayings about wars, some funny and some not so funny.

In the North African campaign of 1940-43 there was a sad and homesick German song called "Lilly Marlene." Both Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps and Montgomery's 8th Army sang the song in German and English, and then the American GIs got ahold of it, added their words and ruined the song.

I don't think music had anything to do with Alexander's army or the Romans. At least I've never heard of anything. I don't think the Frenchmen were singing in their retreat from Moscow. I don't think war music started until our War of Independence with the singing of "Yankee Doodle." I don't think there was much singing in the War of 1812. Johnny Horton just about started another war with England with his "Battle Of New Orleans." He tempered that with "Sink The Bismarck."

The American Civil War brought some great music. Just about every regiment had its own band. Both North and South played their favorite songs. The South played "Dixie" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag," and the North played "John Brown's Body" and the universal love Song "Lorena." Then one warm early fall evening, the bands on both sides of the Rappahannock River played "Home Sweet Home" at the same time. Soldiers from both sides waded the fords of the river, exchanged tobacco for food and sang together until almost midnight. Then at about 8 a.m. the next day, the bugles blared and the officers shouted commands, and the same soldiers commenced killing each other again.

In World War I there was "Over There" and "It's a Long Way to Tipperary."

There was plenty of patriotic music in World War II. There were lots of Glenn Miller arrangements, plus singers and comedians. The Battle of the Bulge brought out a couple of hilarious statements. The commanding general of the 101st Airborne said "nuts" when the Germans asked him to surrender. And one of the 101st soldiers told another that the Germans had them surrounded. His answer was "those poor bastards."

The Vietnam War brought out the protest songs. The Korean War brought out the best of Nat King Cole.

There have been some crazy songs that have come out through the years. One of them was at the top of the hit parade for all of 1959 and part of 1960. It was about a serial killer named MacHeath who murdered prostitutes, stole their money and then tied concrete to them and dumped them into the river. The name of the song was "Mack the Knife" and Bobby Darin sang it in a very swinging voice. I think he could have the congregation swinging with the last amen of the Lord's Prayer.

Then there was Mitch Boyer telling George Armstrong Custer that if he attacked that big American Indian village, he and Custer would be going home that night on a road they did not know. Custer attacked the village and they both went home that night on that road they did not know.

Something that has stayed with me through the years is three lines from a poem by Englishman Rudyard Kipling, who also wrote about the dangers of the Khyber Pass area connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan. (It is still as dangerous today as it was in Kipling's time)

Tho' I've belted you and flayed you,

By the livin' Gawd that made you,

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din

Also, kudos to my old buddy Bill Hall for bringing out the beauty of the Canadian national anthem. I always felt relaxed when my quartet would sing that beautiful song on nights when the Canadian teams were playing Lewis-Clark State College. When I sang "The Star Spangled Banner," I would get the feeling that I was either Willie Nelson or Robert Goulet.

"Oh, Canada" is a beautiful song. It would be a tough one for American GIs to screw up.

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Vic Deering is a retired Tribune printer and can be reached at city@lmtribune.com, or at (208) 848-2269.