"Gee, Mom, I Want to Go Home" (also known as "I Don't Want No More of Army Life") is a traditional, humorous song satirizing life in the Armed Forces. Each verse has two lines relating what recruits are told, followed by an exaggerated description of the fact. For example:
:The biscuits in the Army
:They say are mighty fine,
:One rolled off the table
:And killed a pal of mine.
The original song was sung by Canadian soldiers during World War II.
With original chorus
:"Oh, I don't want no more of army life
:Gee ma, I wanna go
:back to Ontario
:Gee ma, I wanna go ho_o_ome!"
The song occurs in several variations, the lyrics being adapted for the different branches of the Armed Forces, and it has been transformed into a camp song as well.
Appearances in popular culture
*The song appeared in the 1943 play ''
Winged Victory
The ''Winged Victory of Samothrace'', or the ''Nike of Samothrace'', is a votive monument originally found on the island of Samothrace, north of the Aegean Sea. It is a masterpiece of Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic era, dating from the ...
'' by
Moss Hart.
*The song, presumably sung by British Commonwealth soldiers, can be heard during "The Desert: North Africa", the eighth episode of the documentary series
The World at War.
*Folk singer
Lead Belly
Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...
performed the song (as "Gee, But I Want to Go Home" or "
Army Life" ) on several 1940s recordings.
*The song was released as a single, titled "I Don't Want No More of Army Life", in 1950 by Texas Jim Robertson
*The character of Dino Manelli sings two stanzas in issue #58 (Cover date September 1968) of the World War II-set comic book series Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos.
*The song was performed in the 1977 ''
M*A*S*H'' episode "Movie Tonight" (season 5 episode 22), with lyrics adapted to the characters and situations in the show.
Father Mulcahy, Hawkeye and B.J., Colonel Potter, Klinger, Hot Lips, Radar and four of the nurses all sing a verse each. Frank Burns tries to sing a rather hostile verse after everyone has finished the song, but is glared down.
*Manny Singer (
Ray Liotta) sings a verse to his despondent daughter shortly after the death of her mother at the beginning of the 1994 film ''
Corrina, Corrina''.
*A variant of the song is sung in the 2020 film ''
Monster Hunter''.
M*A*S*H version
There are six different verses in the ''M*A*S*H'' version, all of them reworded and each sung by a different member or members of the cast, including one by Hawkeye and B.J. Hunnicutt: "O the surgeons in the army, they say are mighty bright; we work on soldiers throughout the day and nurses through the night," a reference to the surgeons' womanizing habits. A verse sung by
Klinger went like this: "O some guys like the army; I think that it's a mess; if it's so damned terrific, how come I wear a dress?" (Klinger's failure to get a psychiatric discharge from the army by dressing in drag was a recurring gag in the series).
References
External links
''M*A*S*H'' VersionStraight and Level: Growing Up in the 40s by Jack C. Botts
Novelty songs
Songs about the military
Year of song unknown
Lead Belly songs
Songs written by Gitz Rice
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