The Makins of the U.S.A. - Billy Murray (1918)
The Makin's of the U.S.A.
This is an unusual song since it promotes a commercial product.
It stands out for an additional reason: it suggests American soldiers fighting in France were somehow short of tobacco supplies. I never read this in any history book.
Maybe there was a shortage. The song suggests regular folks at home were the ones who should make up for the deficiency. But I always thought a government should supply what is needed by troops deployed overseas. But is tobacco really "needed" to win a war? Sure, family members should send letters. But if they are asked to mail store-bought items to soldiers overseas, where does it end? Alcohol? Bullets? Raisin Bran?
The song promotes smoking, which is a shame. Some men who returned safely from the war may have died later of lung cancer since smoking was encouraged in the trenches.
Billy Murray
Edison Blue Amberol 3506
1918
Words by Vincent Bryan
Music by Harry Von Tilzer
The boys in Yankee regiments have socks on every leg,
but they have no tobacco nor tobacco can they beg.
The other allied soldiers are as cunning as a fox.
They’ve always got tobaccy in their old tobaccy box.
A soldier cannot smoke a pair of socks.
So help us fill the old tobacco box.
If you are not a slacker, get a sack
of good tobacco and send it to
some Yankee soldier right away.
Send on the old Bull Durham,
and then he’ll know you’re for him
because it is the makin’s of the U.S.A.
Italian smokes are strong enough to cause a mule
to sneeze, and those they capture from
the Huns are like Limburger cheese.
You have to wear a gas mask using smokes made by the French.
And English cigarettes will clean out any German trench.
A soldier cannot smoke a powder rag.
He’d rather have the makin’s in a bag.
This is an unusual song since it promotes a commercial product.
It stands out for an additional reason: it suggests American soldiers fighting in France were somehow short of tobacco supplies. I never read this in any history book.
Maybe there was a shortage. The song suggests regular folks at home were the ones who should make up for the deficiency. But I always thought a government should supply what is needed by troops deployed overseas. But is tobacco really "needed" to win a war? Sure, family members should send letters. But if they are asked to mail store-bought items to soldiers overseas, where does it end? Alcohol? Bullets? Raisin Bran?
The song promotes smoking, which is a shame. Some men who returned safely from the war may have died later of lung cancer since smoking was encouraged in the trenches.
Billy Murray
Edison Blue Amberol 3506
1918
Words by Vincent Bryan
Music by Harry Von Tilzer
The boys in Yankee regiments have socks on every leg,
but they have no tobacco nor tobacco can they beg.
The other allied soldiers are as cunning as a fox.
They’ve always got tobaccy in their old tobaccy box.
A soldier cannot smoke a pair of socks.
So help us fill the old tobacco box.
If you are not a slacker, get a sack
of good tobacco and send it to
some Yankee soldier right away.
Send on the old Bull Durham,
and then he’ll know you’re for him
because it is the makin’s of the U.S.A.
Italian smokes are strong enough to cause a mule
to sneeze, and those they capture from
the Huns are like Limburger cheese.
You have to wear a gas mask using smokes made by the French.
And English cigarettes will clean out any German trench.
A soldier cannot smoke a powder rag.
He’d rather have the makin’s in a bag.