# We're Here Because We're Here **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432 "2020-03-13T19:08:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/1 "2020-03-13T19:08:16Z")
I’m trying to remember what movie/show this is from. A character (a clown?) is singing _We’re Here Because We’re Here_. He realises it’s inappropriate (or something) and sort of trails it off. Like: ♫ \*We’re here because We’re here because We’re here because We’re… here… ☹ \* ♫ Am I trying to remember _Star Trek: Voyager_, ‘The Thaw’? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/2 "2020-03-13T19:51:10Z")
It’s a World War I song. Perhaps you saw it in a movie about that war: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/UA730QtjOBE/hqdefault.jpg "British soldier Edward Dwyer sings "We're Here Because We're Here" 1916") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA730QtjOBE) ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/3 "2020-03-13T22:21:40Z")
[Brendan Behan’s version.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em1v5gugH0A) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/4 "2020-03-13T23:05:01Z")
It sounds like it be from _Oh, What a Lovely War_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/5 "2020-03-14T00:38:26Z")
The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling For you but not for meeeee… ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/6 "2020-03-14T01:39:53Z")
The lyrics in the OP made me think of that awful Rush song. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/7 "2020-03-14T02:02:22Z")
The song does show up in a Stephen Baxter story (one of the ones in Vacuum Diagrams, as I recall). ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/8 "2020-03-14T09:17:05Z")
You’re really confusing me, especially since it’s the 10th anniversary of Anathema’s album [We’re here because we’re here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We%27re_Here_Because_We%27re_Here_(album)). And I just learned the album was named after the WWI song. I prefer the album. ---
**Author:** ![OleOneEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f14d63/32.png) [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/9 "2020-03-14T11:12:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’m trying to remember what movie/show this is from. A character (a clown?) is singing _We’re Here Because We’re Here_. He realises it’s inappropriate (or something) and sort of trails it off. Like: > > ♫ \*We’re here because > We’re here because > We’re here because > We’re… here… ☹ \* ♫ > > Am I trying to remember _Star Trek: Voyager_, ‘The Thaw’? Nope - Twilight Zone, ‘Five Characters in Search of an Exit’. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/10 "2020-03-14T14:08:08Z")
> [@OleOneEye](#): > > Nope - Twilight Zone, ‘Five Characters in Search of an Exit’. Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-here-because-were-here/849432/11 "2020-03-14T18:02:07Z")
[Travesties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travesties), by Tom Stoppard, has the characters sing a few lines. The play takes place in Zurich during WWI, the song was a sarcastic song, supposed to have been sung in the trenches, similar to “The Yanks are coming / the Yanks are coming / but they won’t get here until it’s over, over here.”