# What's your favorite military song (or cadence)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665 "2008-07-16T08:41:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/21 "2008-07-17T05:45:20Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] That sounds more like Johnny’ Horton’s “The Battle of New Orleans”. [/QUOTE] That’s what I meant. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/22 "2008-07-17T05:53:29Z")
I’m not particularly fond of any of them, to tell you the truth. The one which is my _least_ favorite, however, is the one that goes: We… are [Alpha] Company And we like to do PT Push-ups, sit-ups Push-ups, sit-ups, two-mile run My rucksack, my bayonet… That’s all I can remember, actually. I know there’s more (including one that goes, “…And we like to party,” but, fortunately, I’ve blocked it from my memory). A couple years ago, in training, we had a drill sergeant do this one _every freaking morning._ Ironically, though many of the cadences encouraged killing, nothing made me as blood-thirsty as hearing this one at 4 AM after a few months of it. Also, both military posts on which I’ve done training were male and female. I figure that if I had gone to an all-male post (like Fort Benning, where all the other soldiers in my platoon went to), I would have gained more of an appreciation for cadences. However, since I trained with females, all the cadences had to be, for the most part, politically correct. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/23 "2008-07-17T06:10:39Z")
Minstrel Boy, especially the Joe Strummer version from Black Hawk Down When Johnny Comes Marching Home especially the version sung in Waponi in Joe vs the Volcano It doesn’t count, but for some reason I want to say I Get Knocked Down by Chumbawumba ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/24 "2008-07-17T06:22:05Z")
[QUOTE=mshar253] I’m not particularly fond of any of them, to tell you the truth. The one which is my _least_ favorite, however, is the one that goes: We… are [Alpha] Company And we like to do PT Push-ups, sit-ups Push-ups, sit-ups, two-mile run My rucksack, my bayonet… That’s all I can remember, actually.[/snip] [/QUOTE] Be glad to help you out: We are [Bravo] company And we like to do PT Push ups, sit ups Push ups, sit ups all day long Now stop, beat your face Bravo Company gonna rock this place I said HOOAH Take it back, Take it back I said HOOAH Break it down one time. SSG Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/25 "2008-07-17T06:47:17Z")
Not a cadence song. My aunt was a WAVE during the early 1960’s. She taught me this: “WAVES of the Navy, there’s a ship sailing out to bay, And she won’t come into port again until that victory day. So carry on for that noble ship and for every hero brave Who will find ashore that his man-sized chore was done by a Navy WAVE.” I’ve always been proud of my aunt. Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/26 "2008-07-17T07:17:31Z")
I remember when Captain Jack was a marching cadence and not a DDR song (it’s one of my favorite DDR songs though :D) Some other good 'uns: (This one repeats at every line, of course) \*There is, a girl, she wears a yellow ribbon, and if, you ever, asked her why she had one, she’d say it’s for the Airman who is far, far away… Her dad, he had, a shiny 12-guage shotgon, and if, you ever, asked him why he had one, he’d say it’s for the Airman who is far, far away…\* This one is ironic, since I have a healthy dislike for PT: _Gimme some… PT! Good for you… good for me!_ When I was in JROTC, one of the infamous “Forbidden Jodies” was “Sniper’s Wonderland”, and I vaguely remember another Forbidden Jodie that mentioned that “Napalm Sticks To Kids!” Oh, and of course, there is the old Air Force standby, _Irine_, about a fighter pilot’s favorite girl on base. Hmm… from my iPod on the rare occasions that I actually want to listen to a cadence while I run, I also am fond of _I Could Run To California_, since I am stationed in Cali right now, so it’s a short jog for me to actually do just that. 😃 And there’s one I have been making up during PT over the last week, devoted to all of the Air Force students at the Defense Language Insitute who can’t keep up with the insane pace of the school here, go ahead and guess the tune: _Lackland, Texas, here I come! Grab my beret, grab my gun! I love handcuffs, gimme some! Security Forces Airman, Huah!_ (You have to kinda squish the words in this line to fit the cadence, but it kinda works) I got some dirty looks for that last one, it hits too close to home here. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/27 "2008-07-17T07:19:57Z")
[QUOTE=SSG Schwartz] Do you want running or marching? My best cadence for running is: \*C-130 rolling down the strip 64 Paratroopers, one way trip Mission top secret destination unknown Don’t even care if they ever coming home [/QUOTE] A friend of mine in the Army taught me a version of that jodie that she said should never EVER be sung near Airborne soldiers, evidently based on an airplane crash some time ago: C-130 rolling down the strip, hit a rock and the mother fucker flipped! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/28 "2008-07-18T05:14:13Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] A friend of mine in the Army taught me a version of that jodie that she said should never EVER be sung near Airborne soldiers, evidently based on an airplane crash some time ago: C-130 rolling down the strip, hit a rock and the mother fucker flipped! :eek: [/QUOTE] The next line is even worse… 64 Paratroopers lost their lives And all us legs\* going drinkin’ tonight \*legs: Non-airborne personnel, or those who have never trained to be a paratrooper. SSG Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/29 "2008-07-18T05:48:54Z")
Wish I could remember all the words. There’s a well known cadence that goes, I wanna be an Airborne Ranger! Live that life of blood and danger. Airborne Ranger. Blood and danger … SHOOT TO KILL! In our MI unit we changed it to, I wanna be a chairborne ranger, [something, something] … SHOOT TO HURT! I always thought that was hilarious, especially because the intel gathering we did required us, in wartime, to spend most of our time behind enemy lines and we knew (cold war days) our life expectancy was much shorter than your average grunt, much less an Airborne Ranger. ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/30 "2008-07-18T07:26:11Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] In our MI unit we changed it to, I wanna be a chairborne ranger, [something, something] … SHOOT TO HURT! [/QUOTE] There’s also a “Sick-Call Ranger” version. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/31 "2008-07-18T14:43:26Z")
One I learned during basic started out _On the first day of training, my sergeant gave to me A pamphlet on VD_ and went downhill from there. The full version is definitely NSFW and can be found at http:/ / www. geocities .com/squadron400/12days.htm ---
**Author:** ![Klytus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Klytus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klytus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/32 "2008-07-18T14:56:37Z")
I’ve always been fond of some of the ones from _Full Metal Jacket_ I don’t know, but I’ve been told. _I don’t know, but I’ve been told._ Eskimo pussy is mighty cold! _Eskimo pussy is mighty cold!_ Mmm, good! _Mmm, good!_ Feels good! _Feels good!_ Is good! _Is good!_ Real good! _Real good!_ Tastes good! _Tastes good!_ Mighty good! _Mighty good!_ Good for you! _Good for you!_ Good for me! _Good for me!_ Mama and Papa were laying in bed. _Mama and Papa were laying in bed._ Mama rolled over, this is what she said… _Mama rolled over, this is what she said…_ Ah, gimme some… _Ah, gimme some…_ Ah, gimme some… _Ah, gimme some…_ P.T… _P.T…_ P.T… _P.T…_ Good for you! _Good for you!_ And good for me! _And good for me!_ Ho Chi Minh is a son-of-a-bitch! _Ho Chi Minh is a son-of-a-bitch!_ Got the blueballs, crabs and the seven-year-itch! _Got the blueballs, crabs and the seven-year-itch!_ I don’t want no teenage queen. _I don’t want no teenage queen._ I just want my M-14. _I just want my M-14._ If I die in the combat zone. _If I die in the combat zone._ Box me up and ship me home. _Box me up and ship me home._ Pin my medals upon my chest. _Pin my medals upon my chest._ Tell my mom I’ve done my best. _Tell my mom I’ve done my best._ ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/33 "2008-07-18T15:14:30Z")
I kind of like National Emblem. I used to have a 78 record of it from the 20s(?) ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/34 "2008-07-18T17:54:49Z")
Probably the raunchiest one we were ever allowed to sing: \*Gang bang Lulu Gang bang Lulu Who’s gonna gang bang Lulu? When we go oversees. Lulu’s got a boyfriend He drives a pickup truck He just likes to shift the gears Lulu likes to f_ck_ and it continues in that vein. I also liked this one for running: \*A yellow bird With a yellow bill Was sitting on My windowsill I lured him in with a piece of bread And then I bashed his frickin’ head\* ---
**Author:** ![AAFOUF\_63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@AAFOUF\_63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AAFOUF_63)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/35 "2008-07-18T20:11:50Z")
Somebody please mention all those bawdy Oscar Brand compilations of service songs. And (nit-picking here) Under the Double Eagle is neither by Sousa nor about the US. America’s eagle is single: the double eagle then signified (and maybe still does) Austria. The march is by Josef Wagner, the “Austrian march king.” ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/36 "2008-07-18T22:35:02Z")
I remember reading a book about women in the military, the authors objecting to the words to this ditty, sung to the music of “Candyman”. It’s too graphic for regular display. Who can take a chainsaw , cut the bitch in two, fuck the bottom half and give the top to you. S&M man can, S&M man can cause he spreads the love around and makes the hurt feel good. Very nice. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/37 "2008-07-19T02:00:58Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] When I was a kid my grandpa (who was in the Army, in the Korean War) always sang these two songs: 1. “You’re in the Army now! You’re in the Army now!” That’s all I can remember of it. 2. “It’s time to get up, it’s time to get up, it’s time to get up in the morning!” (To the tune of Reveille.) That one annoyed the hell out of me because I hated being woken up in the morning. I would have to say my favorite ones are the ones they sing in _Full Metal Jacket._ [/QUOTE] My dearly beloved grandmother was quite the proper, even prudish lady. Loved animals, her family, hated profanity and vulgarity and wasn’t given to reminiscing. Which is why it was such a shock when visiting her in the nursing home near the end, she ups and starts singing the second song. It was hysterically funny, because it was just so very out of character and all. According to her it went: It’s time to get up, It’s time to get up, It’s time to get up in the morning. Someday I’m going to murder the bugler, Someday they’re going to find him dead. And then I’ll kill the other pup, The one that wakes the bugler up And spend my whole fuckin’ life in bed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/38 "2008-07-19T03:40:56Z")
Not a cadence but a military song. I always thought that [Garry Owen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0g4TLmvaX8) was a very catchy tune. Unfortunately I was in two divisions that contained portions of the 7th Cavalry (8th ID and 1st Cav). That meant that Garry Owen was played at every damn division function. The song loses it’s appeal after a while. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/39 "2008-07-19T04:03:59Z")
I’ve loved “Garry Owen” since seeing “They Died With Their Boots On.” Had a tape of marches I liked to play while out walking. “The Yellow Rose of Texas” nearly killed me until I figured out it was a Canter and I lacked the number of legs for it. Not that I’m picky, though being a Doper would give that away, but “Unter der Doppeladler (Under the Double Eagle)” was written by a Joseph Wagner, though Sousa recorded it almost immediately. Which was good, since the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1902 didn’t have long to go. It is also hard to march to, being pretty fast. It was explained to me by a fellow who attended a European military academy a generation before I would’ve had I done so that the guys in Yurp take shorter, faster steps than the ex-WWII-GIs who taught me to march. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665/40 "2008-07-19T05:29:03Z")
My high school marching band came on the field to [Le Regiment de Sambre et Meuse](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jW5OJ6D_Cg), which you know better as [the “script Ohio” song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPNnIFH6_RU). We made a big N - nothing to “dot”. It’s actually the hardest song we had to play, for a trombonist at least - mainly because we played it fast like OSU does instead of like the band in the first clip. In four years of band I never learned to play it exactly correct. Even when we had to test the song every summer I did a horrible flub job (and I was really good at trombone). It was just exhausting to play. However, that song gets me pumped and I’ll often bring up an MP3 of it when I need a little motivation at work. And yeah, it almost moves me to tears at Bowl games, too 🙂 I actually found all of the “official US military marches” tiring. We had to play them as a medley for the Memorial Day parade. I think marching in block formation to actual marches while playing was really hard, possibly because of the trombone parts (especially “Wild Blue Yonder”). Playing flowery music and getting into looping formations on the field during halftime was much easier. I don’t think I could ever swing being in a real military band. Sorry about the tangent. Carry on, soldiers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-military-song-or-cadence/456665.md?page=3)