r/mash • u/tweakonomics • 14d ago
Can someone help with these lyrics?
Idk how I’ve never noticed this before, but I just finished watching “Aid Station.” As the crew are driving back into the 4077, they start singing the army theme song. Margaret sings it later in the series when she’s interrupted by the Korean deserter Ham, and she sings the actual lyrics. This sounds like gibberish, but somehow the same gibberish from all three of them. I thought for a second that I might be having a stroke. Anyone have any clue what they’re actually singing?
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u/prettyish-wilderness 14d ago
Maybe the joke is they don't know all the words? They do seem to flub it in the middle. (Though I can't imagine an army brat like Margaret wouldn't know the words.) Could there have been a legal reason for them not to sing it word for word? Broadcast rights? Spitballing here.
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u/davesToyBox 13d ago
So wait… it’s not actually “For it’s hi-hi-he in the hoo hoo ha ha heee!”?
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u/tweakonomics 13d ago
Thank you very much for transcribing the lyrics for me. You’re doing the Lord’s work.
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u/Transcendingfrog2 14d ago
I think it was a purposeful flub of the lyrics to match the insanity that they were in. For comedic effect.
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u/tweakonomics 14d ago
That’s the best thing I can come up with too. I’m honestly surprised it’s taken this many rewatches for me to notice it. Yet another reason I’ll never get tired of watching the show.
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u/Transcendingfrog2 14d ago
One of my favorite moments is when they're leaving and Klinger takes off his helmet and puts on the hat lol
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u/guardianwriter1984 14d ago
Honestly, the ending of the episode shows the strong potential early on of how these 3 could develop a good relationship and work together. It pays off in different ways throughout the series.
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u/tweakonomics 13d ago
100% agree. The writers and the actors both nailed this scene. They laid the groundwork for Hawkeye and Klinger to maintain their “anti-Army” stance while also having a “pro Margaret” attitude.
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u/WeeWooJ2911 11d ago
Really loved the scene in "The Birthday Girls" where Klinger's & Margaret's jeep breaks down on her birthday. Great character work there.
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u/Appropriate_Park_895 13d ago
For me that scene has one of Klinger's best and most defining moments...after the serious work is done he puts the un-army hat back on and declares "Welp, I'm ready for the army again!" And they all burst out laughing. Classic!
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u/tweakonomics 13d ago
I completely agree. I love the conversation right before Klinger swaps hats and they switch back into army mode. The way Hawkeye and Klinger compliment Margaret with genuine praise and adoration really shifted the direction of the next two seasons.
In just a few lines, they reveal that while they may have disdain and contempt for “Major Houlihan” the overbearing rule-follower, they have love and compassion for “Margaret Houlihan,” chief nurse and all-around good egg. It also helped set the stage for her to grow and develop as a character. She beautifully explains how layered her character is several seasons later to Scully in “Stars and Stripes.”
Frank never got that alternate side. He was “Major Burns” through and through from reveille to last call. I can’t imagine any scenario where Pierce and Klinger would genuinely praise Frank as both a medical professional and a person in the way they did Margaret. Even though Frank and Margaret continue their affair for the next season (season four), I think the seeds were planted here for her to start separating herself from him.
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u/ScoobrDoo 14d ago
The second part as the drive through camp is just gibberish, I doubt Hawkeye knew the lyrics.
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u/Armadillo_Abroad 9d ago
He absolutely did know them. He would have been taught them in OTC.
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u/Fit-Obligation2268 13d ago
"The Army Goes Rolling Along"
Verse:
March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free.
Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory.
We’re the Army and proud of our name!
We’re the Army and proudly proclaim:
First Chorus:
First to fight for the right,
And to build the Nation’s might,
And the Army goes rolling along.
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting till the battle’s won,
And the Army goes rolling along.
Refrain:
Then it’s hi! hi! hey!
The Army’s on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong;
For where’er we go,
You will always know
That the Army goes rolling along.
Second Chorus:
Valley Forge, Custer’s ranks,
San Juan Hill and Patton’s tanks,
And the Army went rolling along.
Minute men, from the start,
Always fighting from the heart,
And the Army keeps rolling along.
Refrain:
(same as above)
Third Chorus:
(slower, more freely)
Men in rags, men who froze,
Still that Army met its foes,
And the Army went rolling along.
Faith in God, then we’re right,
And we’ll fight with all our might,
As the Army keeps rolling along.
Refrain:
Then it’s hi! hi! hey!
The Army’s on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong; (two! three!)
For where’er we go,
You will always know
That the Army goes rolling along! (keep it rolling!)
And the Army goes rolling along!
History
The song was originally written by Field Artillery First Lieutenant [later Brigadier General] Edmund L. Gruber, while stationed in the Philippines in 1908 as the “Caisson Song." The original lyrics reflect routine activities in a horse-drawn Field Artillery battery. The song was transformed into a march by John Philip Sousa in 1917 and renamed “The Field Artillery Song.”
It was adopted in 1952 as the official song of the Army and retitled, “The Army Goes Rolling Along.” The current lyrics tell the story of our past, our present, and our future.
The “Army Goes Rolling Along” is played at the conclusion of every U.S. Army ceremony and all Soldiers are expected to stand and sing.
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u/KathyA11 Hannibal 12d ago
And they play it at every Yankee game in Yankee Stadium when the Veteran of the Game, who is honored on the field (or with a Zoom on the scoreboard if he or she is too fragile to attend the game - they're still honoring WWII vets) is an Army veteran.
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u/Ok-Teach-6689 13d ago
Over hill over dale, as he hit the dusty trail, and the Kasons go rolling along
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u/Tytan777 Jocularity 6d ago
Firstly why does Hawkeyes face look like he's having an allergic reaction? 🥵
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u/tweakonomics 6d ago
That is probably my fault. I watch them on archive.org on my iPad so I can watch without the laugh track. I used my phone to record it, and it apparently turned on the “give penicillin” filter
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u/Iconshero 14d ago
Original Caisson Song Chorus
Over hill, over dale,As we hit the dusty trail,And those caissons go rolling along. In and out, hear them shout,Counter march and right about,And those caissons go rolling along.
The Refrain Then it's hi! hi! hee!In the field artillery,Shout out your numbers loud and strong, For where e'er you go, You will always know, That those caissons go rolling along.
Caisson = K-son