Bless 'Em All


"Bless 'Em All", also known as "The Long and the Short and the Tall" and "Fuck 'Em All", is a war song. The words have been credited as being written by Fred Godfrey in 1917 to music composed by Robert Kewley. It was first recorded by George Formby, Jr. in 1940.
The song has also been credited to Jimmy Hughes, Frank Lake and Al Stillman.

History

Godfrey claimed to have thought up the lyrics for the song while serving with the Royal Naval Air Service at Dunkirk during the First World War, recalling in a 1941 letter to the Daily Mirror: "I wrote “Bless 'Em All” while serving in the old RNAS in France in 1916. And, furthermore, it wasn't "Bless.'" Although the song is credited to him, it is unclear if he actually wrote the lyrics, and his service record indicates that he joined RNAS in January 1917. Les Cleveland writes that a version of the song titled "Fuck 'Em All" was a popular protest song by airmen serving on India's North West Frontier during the 1920s, and may have originated from there. It later gained popularity among British and Commonwealth troops during the Second World War, and with a change of lyrics became a patriotic tune after being performed by singers such as Gracie Fields and Vera Lynn. It was also recorded by George Formby and others. Ward Brown noted that " The line You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean seems to reflect the point of view of soldiers about to be sent to a fighting front on the other side of an ocean - presumably the Atlantic. This would point to an American origin for the song, rather than a British one, though there is no clear evidence for such an origin". However the 'ocean' referred to, given a British-Indian origin, is much more likely to be the Indian Ocean - although the English Channel would do just as well for the purposes of the song.

Lyrics

Bless 'em all,
Bless 'em all.
The long and the short and the tall,
Bless all those Sergeants and WO1's,

Bless all those Corporals and their blinkin'/bleedin' sons,
Cos' we're saying goodbye to 'em all.
And back to their Billets they crawl,
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean,
So cheer up my lads bless 'em all

Irish version

A satirical version of the song became very popular in Ireland during the Second World War. The song was a reaction to the widespread rationing of tea, sugar, tobacco and other goods due to the drastic drop in imports, particularly from Britain. It poked fun at Ireland's Taoiseach Éamon de Valera and Minister Seán McEntee who were blamed for the shortages and rationing. The line "the long and the short and the tall" had particular sarcastic resonance because De Valera was tall while McEntee was very short.

In popular culture

Films
Television
Literature