Another of Bellamy’s Kipling settings and Jon explains its presence in this month’s repertoire by saying “For the Christmas haters amongst you we will include a few none seasonal numbers this month. This is one of my favourites from Kipling’s Barrack Room Ballads (tune by Bellamy).” I suppose it might fit in with the seasonal over indulgence, but as Bellamy’s original notes, that you’ll of course find on Mainly Norfolk, suggest the typical remorse here is tempered by the damage inflicted on the arresting officer. So hardly your average post party regrets then! Well personally speaking anyway…
You can buy the December digital album now from all good download stores.
Can’t go wrong with Kipling!
Getting bored with it though! His stuff is horribly formulaic.
Ahh, that’s a relief. Not a Christmas song.
Thank you. 🙂
I can’t stand carols.
“Christmas haters”! Only because we are Christians
Christmas song or no, the tale this particular soldier has to tell is all to familiar, I’m afraid…
I like the ‘comedy’ in the way the ‘soldier’ sees his plight.
I must say I find the Kipling stuff really enjoyable and there’s a deceptive simplicity to the flow of it all that seems to naturally fall into song, as if they were always intended as such. As for the Carols Lady D, we’ll have a few more yet. ‘Tis the season after all. Strangely, given the lack of appeal in the subject matter for me, I still find the tunes rather affecting and I guess they are hardwired by annual repetition throughout my youth. I suppose one man’s sprout is another man’s indigestion, or something like that.
This is my favorite on my LP of Bellamy’s of Kipling’s barrack room ballads. Gunga Din and The Road to Mandalay will be showing up soon I hope. We need the thought of hot and dusty weather as we cope with the cold.
Nicely done, and it may well be inspirational for some at this time of year, I suspect there will be a few spending time in the cells after taking on a little too much festive cheer.
Well, if this soldier only got ‘jankers’ or CB (confined to barracks) after an actual assault, he got off more likely than a detention, which is what one might expect if violence was concerned. He’s lucky if his behaviour was only viewed as a drunken misdemeanour, but perhaps not a second time. He says he’ll do it again! Here’s a nice Wiki link that explains ‘jankers’ et al for the less military informed amongst us!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jankers
@ Skyman: Yer clock is an hour out!
B****r!! Thanks Jane, that’s sorted that.
Always look forward to Jon doing a Bellamy / Kipling. Note to Diane, Colin at home with a fractured finger, complained tonite that he’d tried AFSAD in the afternoon and the site was down. I think we might be getting there!
No prob, Skyman. Since we have shared ‘Longitude’ together, here’s Show of Hands doing Dick Gaughan’s ‘John Harrison’s Hands.’ Steve’s opening line says it all about yer clock!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgyQ9CqI9Qs&feature=related
Steve does a wonderful unaccompanied version of this song on his recent ‘Live in Somerset’ CD.
@Jane………….lovely to see you back…..
and by wearing “The Cardinal” (out damn sock!)I can see that you are trying to pick yourself up and dust yourself down!…….
Ref “Jankers”….I had some of that during 1958 National service……It is quite disturbing to be marched around with two Military policemen in very (I mean VERY)close formation behind you and then have to report to the guardhouse every hour through the night wearing whatever the sadistic corporal of the guard decides …from pyjams./tropical kit/full battle order…….and because of lack sleep…..you get another charge the next day…………and all I did was to stick my bayonet through the low ceiling during rifle drill……………I ask yer!
Found this very amusing but then Kipling wrote some wonderful poems. Surprisingly enough a great many of them were put to music, for example “Mandalay”,”Gentleman-Rankers” and “Boots” to name three.
@ Muzza: I’m sure you meant you were glad to see my front as well as my back, now I am divested of your shepherd-washed sock! (Is it possible to be di-vest-ed of a sock? Is DI-vested anything to do with Taffy-phobia?)
You were on proper ‘jankers’ as that is exactly how it is supposed to work, with you getting a double deterrent to the amusement of everyone else not on jankers! What you got it for just reinforces my view that the soldier in question got off lightly for what he did!
@ Jane: Should you ever read this, I must tell you that I do not wear a vest and do not suffer from taffy-phobia. Spent many a lovely holiday in Wales.
@ Di: Hahahahaha! Though I am surprised ye do not wear a woollen vest, living ‘up on t’moors!’
@Diana……………..vest,vest,vest,vest,vest………oh what memories of past comments.
Aren’t they just? We did have some laughs then Muzza. Some of the crew are not on here now which is a shame.
Loved the song, good old Kipling and his words.
National Service…1958…………..oh don’t remind me! Vest vest vest sock sock sock
set me alight and roast me (Diana’s dad)
Sorry to be so indulgent…..anybody new to the site will not realise what that’s all about!!!
nice start to a slightly snow dusted day….
National service 1958………blimey….that was 61 years ago…where did those years go
Ha….this old blog is like a lovely old diary…..bringing old friends, songs and memories back to the fore…..wouldn’t it be nice to see, again, one of Daina’s spelling attempts.
What I’d give to flip back to 1958 for a couple of days and be fit again and able to run around like wot I did in my National Service days…..sigh!
and to get corrected and taken to task by our very own ‘Dainer’!
Blimey…we had thick fog yesterday…not seen one of those for ages.
Just awakened on the sofa to find my hot water bottle has leaked all over the place!…(that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!