The army of the period had a substantial Irish element and the song speaks to what wasn't always a happy experience. The full lyrics:
Three years ago, this very day, I went to Govner's Isle
To stand ferinst the cannon in true military style,
Thirteen American Dollars each month we surely get,
To carry a gun and a bayonet with a military step.
cho: There's Sergeant John McCafferty and Corp'ral Donahue
They make us march up to the crack in gallant Company Q;
The drums they roll, upon my soul, for that's the way we go
Forty miles a day on beans and hay in the Regular Army, Oh.
We had our choice of going to the army or to jail,
Or it's up the Hudson River with a cop to take a sail;
So we puckered up our courage and with bravery we did go
And we cursed the day we marched away with the Regular Army, Oh!
The captain's name was Murphy, of "dacint French descint"
Sure he knew all the holy words in the Hebrew testament;
And when he said to Hogan: "Just move your feet a foot,"
Sure, Hogan jumped a half a mile on Sergeant Riley's boot.
The best of all the officers is Second Lieutenant McDuff;
Of smoking cigarettes and sleep he never got enough.
Says the captain, "All we want of you is to go to Reveille,
And we'll let the first sergeant run the company."
There's corns upon me feet, me boy, and bunions on me toes,
And lugging a gun in the red hot sun puts freckles on me nose
And if you want a furlough to the captain you do go,
And he says, "Go to bed and wait till you're dead in the Regular
Army, Oh"
We went to Arizona for to fight the Indians there;
We were nearly caught bald-headed but they didn't get our hair
We lay among the ditches in the dirty yellow mud,
And we never saw an onion, a turnip or a spud.
We were captured by the Indians and brought ferinst the chafe
Says he, "We'll have an Irish stew," the dirty Indian thafe.
On the telegraphic wire we skipped to Mexico,
And we blessed the day we marched away from the Regular Army, Oh!
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magolding
14 years ago
I believe the song "The Regular Army OH" came from an early stage musical and the soldiers would adapt the lyrics to their situation
I remember the line about company Q (the term for a punishment detail) as "They made us march and toe the mark in gallant Company Q".
The last paragraph refers to service in Arizona in the 1870s. The telegraph wire into Arizona was constructed in 1873 by Captain Price of The Fifth cavalry, so the members of the Fifth naturally sang: "On Price's telegraphic wire we slid to Mexico".
During General Crook's Bighorn and Yellowstone expedition of 1876 a member of the Fifth was heard to add a stanza something like:
But there upon the Yellowstone we had the damnest time
Faith we made the trip with Rosebud George six months without a dime
Some eighteen hundred miles miles we went though hunger mud and rain
With backs all bare and rations rare no chance for grass or gain
with bunkies starving by our side no rations was the rule
Sure, twas ate yer boots and saddles ye brutes but feed the packer and the mule
But you know full well that in your fights no soldier lad was slow
and it wasn't the packers who won you a star in the regular army oh
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mousalope
13 years ago
Excellent addition about Company Q, thank you. I never understood that had any significance beyond simply another troop.
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Phillip Marlowe
13 years ago
Well, Ford couldn't have been too concerned about accuracy in song. In Rio Grande, the Sons of the Pioneers sing the wonderful Bold Fenian Men, which wasn't written until 1916.
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