A 1917 call to patriotic action/arms.
Words and music by George M. Cohan.
One of the most martial of U.S. patriotic songs. It’s music has insistent march rhythms. It’s lyric has tight, sharp repetitions that are packed with jingly rhymes. It borrows from Johhny Get Your Gun (1886). Overall the song has a determined, stirring quality. It was used as a marching song by soldiers in WWI and WWII. It won the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment:
Lyrics
- Johnnie get your gun, get your gun, get your gun
Take it on the run, on the run, on the run
Hear them calling you and me, every son of liberty
Hurry right away no delay go today
Make your daddy glad to have had such a lad
Tell your sweetheart not to pine, to be proud her boy’s in line
Chorus
Over there, over there, send the word, send the word, over there
That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming
The drums rum-tum-ming everywhere
So prepare, say a prayer, send the word, send the word to beware
We’ll be over, we’re coming over
And we won’t come back till it’s over over there
- Johnnie get your gun, get your gun, get your gun
Johnny show the Hun you’re a son of a gun
Hoist the flag and let her fly, Yankee Doodle do or die
Pack your little kit show your grit do your bit
Yankees to the ranks from the towns and the tanks
Make your mother proud of you, and the old Red, White, and Blue
Sung here by Fred Feild: