American Music Goes To War, World War One in American Song Part 2: Over There, Page 2
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The Ship Of Uncle Sam Though the war in the trenches seems to have captured most attention in coverage of the first World War, the Navy played a pivotal role in the war. Aside from providing transportation and battling the U-boats our Navy fought battles at sea against the German Navy and shore batteries. The first US ship to be damaged by enemy fire was on October 15, 1917 when the U. S. S. Cassin (destroyer) was torpedoed by German submarine U-105, off the coast of Ireland, 20 miles south of Mine Head. That action resulted in 1 killed and 9 wounded. The Cassin was later salvaged and fought again. I found this song somewhat intriguing as it seems to represent
a little bit of flexibility in truth in advertising. The cover clearly
states "Uncle Sam's Ships" and carries a complete listing (presumably)
of the entire fleet of the US Navy, from tenders to battleships. From
the cover, one would think that the song is about all the ships of the
Navy. However, once the song inside is seen, we see the actual title as
The Ship Of Uncle Sam and find that the song is a tribute to the USS Melville.
The Melville was a Destroyer Tender. She was built at New York Shipbuilding
Co., Camden and commissioned in 1915. Her vital statistics are: Displacement:
6,748 tons (full load) Length: 417'3" Beam: 54'4" Draft: 22' Speed: 13.5
knots (max); 9 knots (econ) Armament: 2 5"/51; 4 3"/50 DP; 2x2 40mm; 8
20mm Complement: Turbine engines, single screw, 4,000 h.p. The composer, Daisy M. Pratt Erd, is listed on the inside cover as a
Chief Yeoman, USNRF. Interestingly, the F was for "Female."
Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels took advantage of the fact that
the 1916 law which created the Naval Reserve used the word personnel rather
than male when referring to Navy Yeoman and authorized the enlistment
of woman as Yeoman (F) on March 19, 1917. Within a month the Navy swore
in the first officially recognized enlisted women in U.S. history. The
11,274 Yeoman (F), popularly known as "Yeomanettes", who served in W.W.I
were recruited to "Free a Man to Fight". Photo Daisy May Pratt Erd, 1918 from http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-e/dm-erd.htm
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The effect of war on children and family played a huge part in the music of the war. As we saw last month with His Buttons Are Marked U.S. and again this month with this song and others, the bewilderment and simple understanding of children makes for great musical story telling This song was introduced by the great Al Jolson in the stage play Sinbad at the Winter Garden in New York. This same show also spawned the mega-hit Swanee by George Gershwin. Though Sinbad was a war oriented production, it managed to balance the war issues with plenty of other sentiments. The composer, Jean Schwartz (b. 1878 Budapest - d. 1956, Los Angeles) came to America in 1891 with his family. He started his musical career as a song plugger and pianist for Shapiro Bernsten. His first song composition was Don't Put Me Off At Buffalo Any More in 1901 with William Jerome. He wrote quite a few popular songs over many, many years, teaming up with most of the great lyricists of the times. Perhaps his greatest known work was Rock-a-bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody in 1927. Hello Central Give Me No Man's Land is a very moving song that tells the story of a child trying to call her Daddy and trying to understand why her mother is upset. It has a wonderfully expressive melody and if you are familiar with Jolson, you can just imagine him singing this song with the delicacy and tenderness the melody begs for. Hear this great old tune (scorch) |
Some
of the Yeoman (F) served as chief petty officers but none were commissioned.
Daisy Pratt Erd was made Chief Yeoman in charge of women at the Boston
Navy Yard with more than 200 women under her supervision and was recommended
for an officer’s commission by Congressman James Gallivan but Secretary
Daniels explained, "I have no authority to make a woman an ensign and
I have given orders that no men shall be made ensigns who do not pass
the examinations necessary to qualify them for important duty at sea."
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Three Wonderful Letters Here we have another wonderful song about family and home. Having been in the Navy and at sea aboard a Destroyer, I can attest to the importance of letters from home. It gets lonesome out there, even in peace time and I can only imagine how much more important it would be if I were sitting in a muddy trench with nothing but death and destruction around me. This song tells us about a soldier who receives three letters of love and support from home, one each from his mother, wife and daughter. It is another touching and well written ballad from the golden age of song. The composer, James F. Hanley wrote some of America's greatest hits, including Back Home Again In Indiana, Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart and Rose Of Washington Square. Hear this song (scorch) |
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In last month's feature and essay, we featured a song titled Where Do We Go From Here, by the same songwriting team. This month, we present yet another good humored and light look at the war from them that tells us about a soldier "over there" writing home to his wife that he has "been wounded in this fight, shot at sunrise, gassed at night, outside of that I feel all right but I ain't got weary yet." In a way, that line tells the story of the soldier fighting the trench war but handles it so humorously and lightly that the real truth and horror of it simply escapes you. The song goes on to tell about the soldiers exploits in chasing down a Hun and his desire to bring him in alive because "I just shot five". It's funny how music can take a very serious and terrible subject and make it seem like fun. One interesting thing about the chorus of this song is the alternative line about "all the French girls that I see, Beg to sit upon my knee." It seems pretty unlikely that anyone except a suicidal maniac would write a line like that to his wife back home! Percy Wenrich ( b.1887, Joplin, MO, d. 1952, New York City) was a prolific and popular composer of the period. He studied at the Chicago Musical College and he and his wife, Dolly Connolly were successful and acclaimed vaudevillians. He was skilled in virtually all genres of popular music having composed excellent Rags, ballads, novelty songs and more serious songs throughout his career. He wrote many famous and lasting songs such as Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet, When You Wore A Tulip, Moonlight Bay and The Smiler. We have featured quite a few of his works on our site over the years and may dedicate an entire issue to him sometime in the future. Hear this great W.W.I song(scorch) |
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War Babies Unlike the previous song and others featured this month, there were some songs that dared to face the truth and reality of the war. War Babies is such a song. This one is a hard hitting straight to the point message about the cruelty of war and the helpless victims such as children. Just look at the cover! It is one of the most shocking covers I have seen from this period in American music. All those poor orphaned kids, standing there before their devastated city with no where to go. The lyrics are even worse. Talk about a guilt trip, this is the original "save the kids" effort that would have to soften even the hardest of hearts. The lyrics speak to the need for taking care of these orphans of war. Overall, the lyrics are pretty painful. I can't imagine such a somber and painful song being bought by many people. I can't imagine anyone wanting to prominently display this on their piano. It is too real, too much a reminder of the pain and sorrowful outcome of war. The composer, James F. Hanley, is the same who wrote Three Wonderful Letters From Home, featured above. This song is also a very expressive waltz and it is clear that Hanley put a lot of emotion into his work. You can see and hear another "reality" song, After The War Is Over, Will There Be Any Home Sweet Home? in this months essay on W.W.I music.Hear this great W.W.I song (scorch) |
We hope you have enjoyed this month's feature and we appreciate your interest in our efforts to bring you the best American popular music history site on the web. Be sure to tell your friends and family about us. If you have suggestions for themes or issues you would like to see in the future, please contact us. We will see you back next month for the third and final installment in this series about American Music from World war One. The third issue will present you with music written after the war ended and the boys were coming home. You won't want to miss the next installment in the series so stay tuned! Have a great month.
We hope you are enjoying this month's feature. To see the other songs featured this month again, go back to part A.
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