Tom Lehrer - It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a soldier

[sesshypuppysbff]

Hahaha too true. I have a best friend in the Army and even he agrees!

[Blarmac]

Haha I'm in the Army and I can honestly that 60 some years later, this song still rings true.

[SimuLord]

How to annoy an Air Force member:

1) Go to any recording of "Wild Blue Yonder" on YouTube

2) Leave comment saying "Up in the air, junior birdmen!"

3) Watch the fun.

[pyrotech312]

2:03 is when the actual song starts

[Ruthlesscritic]

@pyrotech312 Hey, the intro's just as important.

[pyrotech312]

@Ruthlesscritic  good point

[redleg56]

If you weren't in you don't know how true this was, is , and ever will be

[TedBronson1918]

@redleg56 Agreed! He's singing about the eternal truths of the military. Nothing is worse than realizing that you're expected to obey the commands of people half as smart as yourself or people who have no business holding higher ranks. Sorry to say, but some people SHOULD BE career privates. Excellent privates become crappy corporals or worse sometimes. Double that for officers who're mainly successful at pushing a pencil.

[roach3111]

as a soldier funny as hell cant stop laughing

[proken58]

Jim Bouton once wrote that when he was playing from Houston, he and his teammates made up their own version of this song that they called "It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be An Astro". One verse:

"Now, Harry Walker is the man who manages this crew/He doesn't like it when we drink and fight and screw/But when we win our game each day/Then what the f-k can Harry say?/It makes a fellow proud to be an Astro!"

[TheJohnnyCotts]

@proken58 I remember reading about that in Ball Four, but I had never heard this one so I had no idea how it should go.

[irishmauddib]

I am on a mission to contact him, if anyone can pm me with hints on how to do this it would be lovely and i will my best to reward you

[thEannoyingE]

@irishmauddib as am i, my late uncle was a student of his and talked of him often and talked to him in his later years as well. I know he was born in MA and currently resides in CA but sadly that's all i know as far as now, and he is in his 80s.

[LCplDwayneHicks]

Man I love the army but this is a good criticism of it. I respect anyone if their opinion is based off of facts instead of "Im gonna make my parents mad by hating the army"

[imorio]

song starts at 2:04

[awsomefullerestest]

tom lehrer who be an awesome Grandfather wouldnt he?!

[Dyloss]

He would.

[YukiTora699]

Ha, awesome XD

[ColbertPhilosopher]

lol

"the change of service had come as quite a blow to him as he had to memorize a new serial number, which took up most of his time"

[nerdydev]

I wonder if Jhonny from this song is the same Jhonny jones from so long mom

[xavierrrr]

johnny x

[MySerpentine]

Support the troops=don't ask questions

Good for Tom

[MySerpentine]

@brownhairedkid1 *Facepalm* That's what I said.

[Pieter345]

the part of that he saluted a non was the best xD

[jmomsu]

The part that rings most true for me is the part about policing up the filter tips (cigarette butts), because that is the kind of thing that my unit spent most of its time in garrison (and a disconcerting amount of time in the war zones) doing.

[jollyroger822]

I know what you mean and in a war zone on post you better have your pt belt on

[thEannoyingE]

@jmomsu I always wondered what that verse meant, why was that sort of thing done? a lack of filters on the cigarettes back then?

[Grober7]

@thEannoyingE

i always thought he was contrasting the "hell of war" with the soldier's actual duty of sweeping up cigarette butts.

[TedBronson1918]

@thEannoyingE "policing up the filter tips".. This line is talking about 2 things. The reason Army bases look so clean is because they line up soldiers an arm's length apart and they walk along picking up garbage, small and large (including the butts). It is also done to get soldiers smart about being out in the field and not leaving clues as to their presence. No soldier worth his crossed rifles would be caught dropping a cigarette butt when in the field. They're taught cont'd

[TedBronson1918]

@TedBronson1918 They're taught to 'field strip' cigarettes when in the field. Field stripping = twiddling out any remaining tobacco and the cherry onto the ground, scattering the tobacco and making sure the cherry is dead, and finally pocketing the filter for later disposal back at base. If you save the entire butt after extinguishing it, it will eventually provide you a small supply of loose tobacco for when you run out of smokes. You take the loose tobacco and cont'd

[TedBronson1918]

@TedBronson1918 ...take the loose tobacco and make "bible butts". You tear a page out of a pocket sized New Testament and roll up some loose tobacco in it. The rice paper used for the bible makes for a fairly tolerable cigarette. If you save the tobacco from the bible butts to make more they'll be strong enough to give you a legal light buzz- been there, done that! Remember this lesson, recruits!

[eegester]

saluted anon?

[MySerpentine]

A nun

[MediocreGenius]

God, I love Tom Lehrer