Tuesday 11 November 2008

Well I never knew that

Via sweary blog Devil's Kitchen, a second verse of I Vow To Thee My Country that I've never heard of:

I heard my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters she calls and calls to me.
Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head,
And round her feet are lying the dying and the dead.
I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns,
I haste to thee my mother, a son among thy sons.

We don't sing it now, apparently, because it's too overtly martial and nationalistic. And also, presumably, because it's a bit crap compared with the other two sublime verses.

Indulge your need for I Vow To... facts and trivia at Wikipedia here.

5 comments:

dNo said...

Reminds one of the lost verse of Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport... widely sung until about 1960

Let me Abos go loose, Bruce
Let me Abos go loose
They're of no further use, Bruce
So let me Abos go loose.

Its hard to think of anything to say that could make it in any way sadder, funnier, more unbelievable or shocking. But you will be singing it out loud by now...

Jonny Mac said...

Dno - that true?

dNo said...

depressingly it is!
Dont take my word - here is Rolf
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20878429-2,00.html

And i think this should be a main thread - one writer first of all denies the Abo holocaust, and then says that "kangaroo" actually means "cock"...

Subject: RE: Tie Me Kangaroo Down'let Abos go'explain
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 27 Jan 02 - 03:49 PM

"Let me abo's go loose" simply means dismiss my field hands. The song caused some controversy at the time, and I remember it was banned from the airwaves in some (Asian? ) country as a result of this verse, which was in dubious taste even allowing for the less politically aware climate of the 60's.
One Guest above wonders why the kangaroo needed to be ties down in the first place.

My understanding is (and always has been) that "kangaroo" in this context is allegorical, being symbolic of the dying stockman's male member, which he is afraid might continue to flourish priapically even after death just as it did when he was alive, leading to potential problems with the fitting of the coffin lid. Therefore he beseeches his closest friend to take appropriate precautionary measures.

Jonny Mac said...

Crumbs. Dno reveals the dark side of TMKDS. The post of special investigative reporter for JMP is yours for the asking, hairy feller.

dNo said...

And i dont even get a link in the Jonny reads column... What more ambition could a young hairy blogger have...