"You're in the Army Now" also known as "We're in the Army Now" is an American song written in 1917 by

Isham Jones Isham Edgar Jones (January 31, 1894 – October 19, 1956) was an American bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter. Career Jones was born in Coalton, Ohio, United States, to a musical and mining family. His father, Richard Isham Jon ...

. Lyrics were written by

Tell Taylor Tell Taylor (aka Tellie ''né'' Tell Roberts;(October 28, 1876 – November 23, 1937). Tell was born October 28, 1876 to Clarinda Jane Roberts (1854-1930) and John Asbury Taylor (1853-1928), on a farm near the Village of Vanlue, Amanda Township, ...

and Ole Olsen. The notes of the melody are intended to resemble those of a U.S. Army bugle call.

In popular culture

The piece of music has appeared in several movies and cartoons about the US Army from ''

The Big Parade ''The Big Parade'' is a 1925 American silent war drama film directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Tom O'Brien, and Karl Dane. Written by World War I veteran Laurence Stallings, the film is about an ...

'' to ''

The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin, with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph Meeker, ...

'' to ''

The Draft Horse ''The Draft Horse'' is a Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on May 9, 1942. The title is a pun on draft horse and the draft (conscription). Plot A farm horse sees a poster that says the U. ...

'' to ''

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

'' with the lyrics providing titles for two 1941 army comedies ''

You're in the Army Now In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...

'' and ''

You'll Never Get Rich ''You'll Never Get Rich'' is a 1941 American musical comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The title references the U.S. Army song lyric: "You'll never get r ...

''. The original title of the television series ''

The Phil Silvers Show ''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on the CBS Television Network from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes wer ...

'' was ''You'll Never Get Rich''. The song is also referenced by

war poet War poetry is poetry on the topic of war. While the term is applied especially to works of the First World War, the term can be applied to poetry about any war, including Homer's ''Iliad'', from around the 8th century BC as well as poetry of th ...

John Allan Wyeth in his

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

poetry collection ''This Man's Army: A War in Fifty-Odd Sonnets''. The collection recalls Wyeth's service with the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

in France during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Wyeth (2008), ''This Man's Army: A War in Fifty-Odd Sonnets'', pages xxxii, 13.

Lyrics

There are at least two versions of the lyrics with "You'll never get rich, you son of a bitch" often replaced with "You'll never get rich by digging a ditch".

References

Bibliography

*Herder, Ronald, ''500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics'', Dover Publications, 1998. *Smith, Kathleen E. R., ''God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War'', University Press of Kentucky, 2003. American patriotic songs American military marches Songs about the military 1917 songs Songs of World War I Songs with music by Isham Jones {{1910s-song-stub