"I'm Goin' To Fight My Way Right Back to Carolina" 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 written and composed by
Billy Baskette William James Baskette (October 20, 1884 – November 8, 1949) was an American pianist and composer who wrote popular songs of the Tin Pan Alley era."Billy Basket, 64, Pianist, Songwriter", ''The New York Times'', November 11, 1949 He also wrote on ...
and Jessie Spiess. The song was published in 1918 by McCarthy & Fisher, Inc. of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The sheet music cover was designed by Andre C. De Takacs. It features an armed soldier tearing through the cover. The song was written for both voice and piano.
The lyrics are told from the point of view of a soldier who is willing to fight to his best ability. His inspiration is his girlfriend Caroline (also referred to as Carolina). The chorus is as follows:
:''I'm goin' to fight my way back to Carolina''
:''I'm goin' to run every Hun,''
:''every son of gun I see''
:''Depend on me, Cause I'm in this thing to win''
:''And I know that it's no sin''
:''To grab a little German, any little Herman''
:''and carve my name on him''
:''And I am satisfied Carolina loves me''
:''I left my heart with her in Dixie land,''
:''She'll understand that I may come back with something missin' ''
:''But that won't keep us from huggin' and kissin' ''
:''When I fight my way back to Caroline''
The sheet music can be found at
Pritzker Military Museum & Library
The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...
.
References
Bibliography
*Parker, Bernard S. ''World War I Sheet Music 1.'' Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007. .
*Vogel, Frederick G. ''World War I Songs: A History and Dictionary of Popular American Patriotic Tunes, with Over 300 Complete Lyrics''. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. .
External links
View the song MP3 and sheet music here.
1918 songs
Songs of World War I
Songs with music by Billy Baskette
Songs written by Jessie Spiess
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