'"Hello Central! Give Me No Man's Land" is a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

era song released in 1918. Lyrics were written by

Sam M. Lewis Sam M. Lewis (October 25, 1885 – November 22, 1959) was an American singer and lyricist. Career Lewis was born Samuel M. Levine in New York City, United States. He began his music career by singing in cafés throughout New York City, and be ...

and Joe Young.

Jean Schwartz Jean Schwartz (November 4, 1878 – November 30, 1956) was a Hungarian-born American songwriter. Schwartz was born in Budapest, Hungary. His family moved to New York City when he was 13 years old. He took various music-related jobs including dem ...

composed the music. The song was published by Waterson Berlin & Snyder, Co. of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Artist

Albert Wilfred Barbelle Albert Wilfred Barbelle (1887–1957) was an American artist known well for his work in advertising, particularly cover art for sheet music of Tin Pan Alley. He also illustrated the first Mickey Mouse book. Early life Albert Wilfred Barbelle wa ...

designed the sheet music cover, which features a photo of

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

next to a shadow of a child on the phone. Explosions in No Man's Land take up the rest of the red background. The song was written for both voice and piano. It was first introduced in the 1918 musical '' Sinbad''. The sheet music can be found at Pritzker Military Museum & Library. The song tells the story of a child attempting to call her father in No man's land. She is unable to reach him over the telephone because her father has been killed fighting on the Western Front. The chorus is as follows: :''"Hello Central! Give me No Man's Land,'' :''My daddy's there, my mamma told me;'' :''She tip-toed off to bed'' :''After prayers were said;'' :''Don't ring when you get the number,'' :''Or you'll disturb mamma's slumber'' :''I'm afraid to stand here at the 'phone'' :''Cause I'm alone.'' :''So won't you hurry;'' :''I want to know why mama starts to weep'' :''When I say, 'Now I lay me down to sleep';'' :''Hello Central! Give me No Man's Land."''

References

firstworldwar.com

External links

Albums "Hello Central! Give Me No Man's Land" can be found on
1918 songs Songs of World War I Songs with music by Jean Schwartz Songs with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis Songs with lyrics by Joe Young (lyricist) {{1910s-song-stub