"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 beg ...
'' by
Moss Hart
Moss Hart (October 24, 1904 – December 20, 1961) was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director.
Early years
Hart was born in New York City, the son of Lillian (Solomon) and Barnett Hart, a cigar maker. He had a younger brother ...
.
*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
''The World at War'' is a 26-episode British documentary television series that chronicles the events of the Second World War. It was produced in 1973, at a cost of £900,000 (), the most expensive factual series ever produced. It was produ ...
.
*Folk singer
Lead Belly performed the song (as "Gee, But I Want to Go Home" or "
Army Life
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
" ) 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
''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker.
Th ...
'' 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
Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's ''Goodfellas'' (1990). He was a Primet ...
) 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
is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fantasy-themed action role-playing video games that started with the game '' Monster Hunter'' for the PlayStation 2, released in 2004. Titles have been released across a variety of platforms ...
''.
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 Klinger may refer to:
* Klinger (surname), a list of people with the surname
* Corporal Klinger, a character from ''M*A*S*H''
* Klinger (horse), owned by the US Army
* Klinger (band), an Australia band from 1996 to 2003
* Klinger Ridge, Marie Byrd ...
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
{{Song-stub