WAR SONGS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2709, 2 March 1916, Page 6

WAR SONGS

NO JINGO FAVOURITES AS IN THE BOER. WAR. /Why is it that the war songs of to-day ate not whistled by office boys, butcher boys, and the juvenile populations of our great cities with that zest which attended the musical compositions of the South African war? A "Daily News" inquirer discovered that thero were at least two factors which had brought about a by no meaus unwelcome situation. The first lis the psychological change that has been wrought in a public to whom war has now becoino a thing of grim reality; the second is the absence in war songs of today of those features that suit the shrill efforts of the street boy. The'boy who whistled "The Absentminded Beggar" during breakfast, dinner, and tea has now switched on to "Keep the Home Fires Burning," an air which, the "boss" as well as the office boy finds himself humming at the smallest provocation. But it seems a different type to "The Absent-Minded Beggar." There is no doubt that "Herowe are I Here we are! Here we are again!" has acted as a marked stimulus to recruitin" when Tendered- by our bands with sufficient iteration. "But among the war compositions of to-day," a representative of Messrs. Francis, Day, and Hunter told a "Daily News" representative, "there are none of those self-praising Jingo soaigs that marked the progress of the South African war.'' Such compositions as "All the boys in khaki get the nice girls,". "Till the Boys Come Home," "Here we are again!" and "Private Cassidy," are making their way into our midst. Yet it is not likely, that any war song will enjoy the tremendous vogue that fell to the share of "Good* bye, Dolly Grey," nearly sixteen years ago. .