General Chat

me neither :-D

I too have never heard soldier version only the Dustman one, a frequently sung ditty in my childhood residence :-D :-D :-D. Along with the chewing gum song too off course.

You're more sophisticated than most! That was the first time I'd even heard of the 'Soldier' version.

This is the only bit of the Dustman song I'm familiar with

Oh, my old man's a dustman
He wears a dustman's hat
He wears cor-blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat

And the chorus from Rule Britannia.

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
(accompanied by flag-waving)

I will elaborate and maybe you will get my gist.

My old man's a soldier,
He fought at the Battle of Mons.
He killed ten thousand Germans,
With just a hundred bombs.

Some lay here,some lay there,
Some lay round the corner.
One poor soul with a bullet ** *** ****
Singing 'Rule Brittania'.


Surely I am not alone in knowing this.

You have, I am sure , realized that I have always moved in cultured and sophisticated circles and am extremely cultured myself.

This truly came to light the other day.

We were having tea, my troupe of strange men and I, OH, Fred's mate and M of the three wheeler, and watching the programme I had recorded about Lonnie Donegan.

His son, Peter, was explaining how the song 'My Old Man's a Dustman' evolved from a WW1 song 'My Old Man's a Soldier'. When he came to the chorus about some laying here and some laying there I joined in with delighted glee only my poor souls wasn't crying out for water, he was singing 'Rule Brittania'.

Not one of them joined in, they had never heard it before.

Wherever had they been?