A WWI song from 1918.
Words and Music by Irving Berlin.
Cover Art by Albert W. Barbelle.
Copyright ©7 May 1918.
Sheet Music from the collection of Michael Deatz.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- In uniform, we represent
The navy of our President
Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho!
We try to be as Dewey was
The fearless man we knew he was
Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho!
With watchful eye we take our post
To guard our Uncle Sammy’s coast
Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho!
We’ll fill our guns with navy beans
And shoot the German submarines
Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho!
Chorus:
Over the sea, boys, we’re assigned
With the land we love ever in mind
Over the ocean, full of devotion
For the girls we left behind
- We’re each a son of Washington
And each a man behind a gun
Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho!
The fun’ral march is all rehearsed
If we should see the Kaiser first
Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho!
We don’t get much for what we do
But what we do means much to you
Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho!
We have to leave our wives behind
For fighting of a different kind
Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho!
Sung by Laurence Rubenstein: