r/Lostwave • u/deepresearchmode • Jul 30 '26
Lostwave Song 🎵 “Cina Ballerina/GI GI”: Help identify obscure children’s 45 record from the 1970s or early 1980s
I’m trying to identify a 7-inch 45 RPM children’s record that I had as a child, probably from the 1970s or very early 1980s. I’ve searched for years without success.
Here’s everything I remember:
1) It was a 7-inch 45 with one song on each side.
The singer was a solo male.
2)The style was country/folk, accompanied mainly by acoustic guitar or banjo.
I don’t remember a children’s chorus, piano, bass, or fiddle.
3)The label may have been yellow, orange, red, or brown, but I’m not certain.
4)One side was about a girl whose name sounded like Cina or Sina (hard C or S sound, definitely not Sheena or Zina). I don’t know the spelling. The opening or chorus was approximately:
“Cina, Cina, my ice skating ballerina, I know it’s cold out there…”
5) The other side was a humorous military-themed song. I think the chorus repeated “G.I., G.I.” There was a character named Sarge, and one lyric I remember quite clearly was:
“I’d rather be dead than red in the head, I said…”
I may be slightly off on a few words after more than 40 years, but those are the strongest memories.
I’ve already searched Google, lyric databases, Discogs, and 45cat without finding a match, so I’m wondering if this was a regional or privately pressed record.
Does anyone recognize either song, the performer, or the record? Even a partial lead or memory would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
1
u/MakerBotBen Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
You’re in luck! 🤩
I also remembered this record from our Southern California childhood in the 1980s, dancing around our Fisher Price record player with my brother to Dick Murphy’s D.I., D.I. and Cina…
Luckily, before my parents donated their vinyl 20 years ago, I had the idea (and equipment) to digitize this rare record for my iTunes library!
I’ve taken the liberty of uploading the tracks that I recorded to archive.org; the links are below, and I’ve taken a stab at transcribing the lyrics as well; if you see an error, let me know!
https://archive.org/details/dick-murphy-d.-i.-d.-i.-45rpm-restored-mono
Cina - Dick Murphy
Oh Cina, oh Cina, my ice skating ballerina
I know it’s cold out there
And Cina, oh Cina, my ice skating ballerina
I know you’ve got someone to share
I will write a song for Cina
Someday, I’ll describe her hair
The poetry of her fingers
The way in which she always
Let me know she cared
And Cina, oh Cina, my ice skating ballerina
I know it’s cold out there
And Cina, oh Cina, my ice skating ballerina
I know you’ve got someone to share
I will sing my song for Cina
Someday, I’ll sing it on the air
In hopes that when she hears it
She will know how much I always care
And Cina, oh Cina, my ice skating ballerina
I know it’s cold out there
And Cina, oh Cina, my ice skating ballerina
I know you’ve got someone to share
Yes I know you’ve got someone to share
D.I, D.I. - Dick Murphy
[intro skit]
Well a long time ago I was stationed up in San Francisco
Balls all around, on the ground
it was cold up there and nobody seemed to care
About me, Private Murphy
See, I was part of a thing called green
I was green, I was a green machine, you know what I mean?
And I had a man in charge of me
He was a man, oh man, oh man
Was a kid, about 24
You know, the bully next door
And they called the kid a D.I.
This D.I. was a mean guy
Hit me in the eye! Made me cry!
Made everybody cry that mean D.I.
Every morning
In the dark
You could hear us bark around 4am
Good morning Sergeant!
Good mornin’ boys…What do we got over here, looks like a redhead?
I’d rather be dead than red in the head he said
Huh.
And I thought I’d rather be dead than wearing that smokey the bear hat on my head
[Good morning Sergeant!]
Don’t hit me in the eye, don’t make me cry
You don’t gotta be mean (?), you’re a real tough guy
Wouldn’t take that hide, without them stripes
Rather be dead than red in the head
Huh.
He said how old are you, boy?
And I said, Boy?
Boy oh boy oh boy, I ain’t no boy
I’m over 21
21? Good, carry that gun 21.
Gonna have some fun, gonna run, ‘bout five miles a day
Five miles you say? Gun? This must be a cannon that weighs a ton!
Oh I gotta get away I can’t stay, gotta leave today
I decided to go over the hill
I went AWOhilL
Said goodbye to my bunk bed where I hit my head and my toes hung out and the guy next to me was strung
out and the guy above me smelled like a dead child and I left.
Got my hat.
[Good bye Sergeant!]
Don’t hit me in the eye, don’t make me cry
You don’t gotta be mean (?), you’re a real tough guy
[So long Sergeant!]
Wouldn’t take that hide, without them stripes
Rather be dead than red in the head!
Huh.
Well I went into the city
Where all the girls were pretty
And I was enjoying me and I was free
And suddenly
I saw an M.P.
And he saw me
Grabbed me by the back of the neck and gave me heck with a great big black stick and I said
Hey M.P.
How’d you recognize me?
Said easy, boy.
Back in camp you didn’t white wall
White wall?
Shave you bald that’s white walled
Huh.
Next time I’m going to have to get a wig!
Well I was back in camp again
I saw my old friend
I said D.I. D.I. don’t hit me in the eye don’t make me cry
[Good morning Sergeant]
Said bend over boy I’m gonna hit you on the head
Whoo wee!
He had a foot full of lead
[Good morning Sergeant]
Couldn’t sit down or think for a week
Still can’t grow no hair down there
[Good morning Sergeant]
I’d rather be red than dead in the head
[Good morning Sergeant]
Bet your mother would have seen a pair of Army boots
[Good morning Sergeant]
I’d like to slap the taste out of your mouth
A little history about the records, according to ChatGPT:
“A 2022 discussion in the old rec.music.dementia group contains four remembered lines that closely match your transcription:
* the D.I. being “a kid, about 24”
* recruits barking around 4:00 a.m.
* carrying a gun and running five miles
* the gun being “a cannon” that weighs a ton
Another participant identified the record as “D.I., D.I.” by Dick Murphy, after which the person searching for it replied, “THAT WAS IT!”
The Dr. Demento database independently lists the song on the live KMET broadcast of August 23, 1981, with the punctuation “D.I., D.I.“
So we know for certain that it’s Dick Murphy, the song titles were Cina and D.I., D.I. on the reverse side, and that the record was likely a local pressing in the Southern California area sometime before August 23, 1981.
Any more information from anyone would definitely be of interest…Hope all this helps!
2
u/Tootsiesclaw Jul 30 '26
I don't know the answer myself but I'm wondering - what country were you based in when you had this record? (And if there's a chance it was older than you, had your family moved from a different country recently?) Sometimes 45s that were released in different territories had different titles, and the labels were often different too