You're in the Army Now/The Big Parade

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

I searched Youtube for the music, but could only find a million uploads of some friggin’ rock group playing it, with the wrong lyrics—what do you expect from a rock band?

In case you vaguely recall hearing different lyrics than the ones below, I can assure you that you’re correct. There are a zillion different lyrics to this song. Apparently, every company had its own resident weisenheimer or three who came up with his own variations.

Speaking of which, in Kevin Brownlow’s restoration of King Vidor’s silent, WWI masterpiece, The Big Parade (1925), there are a zillion variations on “You’re in the Army Now” (along with variations on the wildly inappropriate, “My Buddy,” which I very much doubt was in the original score).

You’re in the army now,
You’re not behind a plow,
You’ll never get rich,
You son of a gun,
You’re in the army now.
 

“You’re in the Army Now” starts at 0:52 of the trailer, and runs for about 20 seconds.
 

The Big Parade
 


 

Published on June 3, 2013 by SilentPianoNinja.
 

My chief of research graciously found me the following set of lyrics, for which I thank him.
 

Performed by Abe Lyman and his Californians; V ocals by The Chorus
Recorded November 27, 1940

We're in the Army now,
We’re not behind a plow,
We’ll never get rich, diggin’ a ditch,
We're in the Army now.

We're in the Army now,
We're in the Army now,
We'll never get rich, on the salary which,
We get in the army now.

We're eating Army grub,
And let me tell you bub,
We know what it means,
They're feeding us beans,
We're in the Army now.

We're marching everywhere,
It's getting in our hair,
We follow the rules,
and follow the mules,
We're in the Army now.

We're in the Army now,
We're making dough, and how!
On twenty-one bucks,
Who says we're bucks?
We're in the Army now.

We left our wives behind,
I wonder if they mind?
Who gives a hang?
We're with the gang,
We're in the Army now.

No more we’ll have to hear,
“How late will you be, dear?”
We go where we please,
And do what we please,
We're in the Army now.

We're happy as can be,
Have lots of company,
The cooties at night,
Drop in for a bite,
We're in the Army now.

[lyrics transcribed by listening. Send corrections via the contact link on the main page]