Jonah Lewis - Stop the Cavalry

[Gunboat]

Call me a softie, but Rolf Harris's 'Two Little Boys' always brings a lump to my throat. And another with military overtones which I've always liked is Roger Whittaker's 'The Last Farewell'. Anyone know if either is supposed to refer to the Great War?

I thought I was the only person ever to dare speak the names of Rolf Harris and Roger Whittaker in the same breath without any sense of irony....

I think two little boys was American Civil War related....

On the Jonah lewis theme I remember his TOTP appearance with a toy bolt action rifle which was a toy my friend had and which I had coveted when I was younger and for which my desire wasnt sated until I got my hands on a Lee enfield in the army cadets.

[Stebie9173]

GAC, here's that lump for your throat:

Two little boys had two little toys

Each had a wooden horse

Gaily they played each summer's day

Warriors both of course

One little chap then had a mishap

Broke off his horse's head

Wept for his toy then cried with joy

As his young playmate said

Did you think I would leave you crying

When there's room on my horse for two

Climb up here Jack and don't be crying

I can go just as fast with two

When we grow up we'll both be soldiers

And our horses will not be toys

And I wonder if we'll remember

When we were two little boys

Long years had passed, war came so fast

Bravely they marched away

Cannon roared loud, and in the mad crowd

Wounded and dying lay

Up goes a shout, a horse dashes out

Out from the ranks so blue

Gallops away to where Joe lay

Then came a voice he knew

Did you think I would leave you dying

When there's room on my horse for two

Climb up here Joe, we'll soon be flying

I can go just as fast with two

Did you say Joe I'm all a-tremble

Perhaps it's the battle's noise

But I think it's that I remember

When we were two little boys

Do you think I would leave you dying

There's room on my horse for two

Climb up here Joe, we'll soon by flying

Back to the ranks so blue

Can you feel Joe I'm all a tremble

Perhaps it's the battle's noise

But I think it's that I remember

When we were two little boys

Apparently Napoleonic in origin and adapted to fit the ACW by the Dixon Brothers in the 1930s.

Steve.

[Gunboat]

GAC, here's that lump for your throat:

Did you think I would leave you dying

When there's room on my horse for two

Climb up here Joe, we'll soon be flying

I can go just as fast with two

Did you say Joe I'm all a-tremble

Perhaps it's the battle's noise

But I think it's that I remember

Not too proud to admit that it leaves a lump in my throat every time that it goes quiet just before those two lines.....going off now for a blubber

[Guest mruk]

You want to hear 'Rolf does Led Zep', or William Shatner covering The Beatles and Pulp [Lucy and the Sky with Diamonds and Common People]. Then there's Edward Woodward, and Richard Harris. Now that would bring a lump to your throat. Shatner sound deranged, and Woodward and Harris mumble through as if auditioning for a role.

Regards.

Dave

PS: 'You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties'. Wasn't that another Jonah Lewie 'hit'?

[armourersergeant]

Well now id were on that what about...

Billy dont be a hero,

regards

Arm

[Will O'Brien]

I think you will find the second photo was of a young boy who i believe was an orphan and adopted by a canadian Regiment ? i have seen quite afew photos of this boy over the years at postcard fairs etc, perhaps somebody can tell us more? P.s I have and like the record !!! will try to post other photo tomorrow.

Thank you for the info.

[armourersergeant]

Bit quiet Will, you got a copy of Renee and Renate too?

Arm

[Guest mruk]

I'm not sure where we're going with this, and whether it's a musical-military theme, or 'naff' records in general. But just in case it's both, how about the clip of 'Sweet' singing 'Ballroom Blitz', with that berk on the guitar wearing the Picklehube?

'I just haven't got a clue what to do'

Dave

[Guest mruk]

PS: Not a great deal different to Herman Goering in his younger days, from what I've heard--make-up, nail varnish, and flying-boots. It reminds me of an ex-Chief Stoker who used to drink in a boozer in Pompey in the early 1980s. [imagine the voice of Jack Duckworth] 'Do you want a game of pool lads?' 'No thanks Rose, we're going somewhere else.'

I'm going to try and get some shut-eye now: unless, of course, I manage to think of the group who had a hit with 'Snoopy versus the Red Baron' in 1973

Regards,

Dave

[Jim Clay]

I'm going to try and get some shut-eye now: unless, of course, I manage to think of the group who had a hit with 'Snoopy versus the Red Baron' in 1973

Wakey wakey!

Morning Dave - the 1973 hit was by the Hotshots.

Jim

[Guest mruk]

Call the Hands, Call the Hands.

Hotshots! Thanks Jim.

According to my 'Supersonic' LP [1975] 'Hot Shots' was also a track by Barry Blue. [You can make your own jokes up about the dodgy name]

Does anyone remember Mike Mansfield--he of the untamed hair?

Cue Music!

Dave

[mooshwah]

if you fancy strumming along to Snoopy Vs Red Baron (to pass the time trenchbound or w.h.y.)

here's the sheetmusic ;-)

http://www.heathrow-flyers.co.uk/gallerys/...eetmusic-3.html

(it was posted by the hotshots drummer - so shouldn't be any copyright problems)

[George Armstrong Custer]

When the Karaoke at one of our local pubs puts up Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody', the images on the screen are of a Great War Tommy being chased around in a wood by Germans in pickehaube's! I can never see the relevance of these images to the song.........

Ciao,

GAC

[Guest mruk]

It was probably one of Freddie's fantasies.

Personally, I never saw the point of Queen; with the exception of perhaps two or three records. I liked 'Radio Ga-Ga' because it reminded me of the Saturday morning pictures and 'Flash Gordon', but I'm more pushed to loathing rather than liking, and this might have something to do with 'Bohemian Rhapsody staying at No.1 for what seemed forever.

'There [was] no escape from the music in the whole damn street.'

[Now there's a popular combo-The Who-and I need to make a connection now to World War One]

Regards,

Dave

[Will O'Brien]

Bit quiet Will, you got a copy of Renee and Renate too?

Arm

No Arm I don't. I certainly ain't saving all my love for you The quietness is mainly due to being painfully aware that the thread may be straying ever so slightly off topic

[Guest mruk]

On a more serious note, and in keeping with the spirit of the main question, I'd like to mention the cover of 'Setting Sons', the 1979 album by 'The Jam'. It's not clear what the message is here, and whether the album, and 'Eton Rifles' in particular, is a swipe at the establishment, and public schoolboys in general, or a reunion of three oppos who have been through war, and since drifted apart. It does happen. But what is interesting, is the sleeve of the LP itself, and what I'd like to know is what Pals think. Is this a piece of pastiche kitsch, or does the cover attempt to say something deeper about the meaning and value of comradeship itself?

Regards,

Dave

[Roxy]

The Jam - Setting Sons

[Mr_Sunray]

Is this a piece of pastiche kitsch, or does the cover attempt to say something deeper about the meaning and value of comradeship itself?

Regards,

Dave

From Wikipedia:

Singer, guitarist, and songwriter Paul Weller conceived it as a concept album about three boyhood mates who later reunite as adults after a war to discover they had grown up and apart. This wasn't carried through to completion, and it is unclear exactly which tracks are part of the concept, though it is commonly agreed that "Thick As Thieves", "Little Boy Soldiers", "Wasteland", and "Burning Sky" are the obvious constituents.

Steve (one time Jam Fan who saw them at Bingley Hall, Birmingham, 1981)

[ChrisC]

I always thought that Rolf's (pause to genuflect) 2 Little Boys was about the Boer War?

I WAS Kaiser Bills batman....

Chris C

[Jim Clay]

I WAS Kaiser Bills batman....

No - I was Kaiser Bill's batman .

Jim

[Staffsyeoman]

Hopefully some forumites of a similar age to myself will remember the one hit wonder Jonah Lewis & his song Stop the Cavalry.

Sorry friends , as much as I cheer the contributions to the discussion with the note on the sleeve for the single, his uniforms in the video and so on... I can't let the description of Jonah as a 'one hit wonder' stand... as he wrote the defining anthem of my teenagehood.. "In the Kitchen At Parties" - which WAS a hit (well, it got on TOTP). It begins.. "I'm no good at chatting up and I always get rebuffed....." The chorus: 'That's why you'll always find him in the kitchen at parties... 'That's why you'll always find him in the kitchen at paaartieeeees...'

Oh, and as to others...

1. I always thought 'Two Little Boys' was about a Napoleonic battle.. but that may have been me projecting.

2. The Eton Rifles. Hmm. Well, the Eton OTC did fight in the Boer War (like Cambridge University OTC, who got the battle honour). That mocked up statue always perplexed me, as the figure in the middle always looked more like a WW2 American bomber pilot to me... No comment on the lyrics, can't remember them...

3. Kaiser Bill's Batman.. Ahhh..... I googled that a couple of months ago to remind me who recorded it. 'Whistling Bob Smith'. There is no Whistling Bob Smith; he was a front man for when they were on TOTP. Written by an English songwriter - name escapes me, Roger something, he was half of 'Blue Mink' (remember them aged pop-pickers?). Yet, I found an entire treatise on the 'WW1 German trench song' complete with lyrics "Ich war Putzer des Kaisers" - but the thing was written in 1966!! By an Englishman! (err, before the World Cup, if that's what you're thinking) With no lyrics!

[Sgt_Hazell_Great_Grandson]

Two little boys , i thought , was as American Civil War poem recorded by Rolf following a trip to Arnhem in the late 60`s.

Roland.

[Staffsyeoman]

Two little boys , i thought , was as American Civil War poem recorded by Rolf following a trip to Arnhem in the late 60`s.

Roland.

An American Civil War poem... following a trip to Arnhem... Ok, my mind's boggling. And next, a heartfelt deconstruction of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, inspired by my recent visit to Marston Moor. (Can ya tell what it is yet??)

Thanks Roland - ACW seems much more aposite than Napoleonic!

[Gunboat]

Er ahem......I can check Rolfs Autobiography which is called wait for it..... "can you tell what it is yet"

I am sure (from memory) the song is from America from the end of 19thCent or early 20th cent. So odds are it would be ACW

And can we please stop talking about it as it makes me cry

[Gunboat]

PS jake the peg was written by a dutchman, it is perhaps more likely that song he picked up from a trip to arnhem....