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Titles from songs

The title True Soldier Gentlemen comes from a song of the time, now most familiar as the theme from the Sharpe TV series. The song was originally part of a 1706 play and intended as a satire on the army, with talk of soldiers plundering and escaping from nagging wives. In the original, it was Queen Anne (or 'the queen') rather than King George. However, during the course of the eighteenth century, the song was adopted as a march by a number of regiments. The words changed a little, while keeping their subversive tone:

Hark, how the drums beat up again, For all true soldier gentlemen, Then let us ‘list and march, I say, Over the hills and far away. Over the hills and o’er the main, To Flanders. Portugal and Spain, King George commands and we’ll obey, Over the hills and far way. Over rivers, bogs and springs, We shall live as great as kings, And plunder get both night and day When over the hills and far away. Over the hills and o’er the main, To Flanders. Portugal and Spain, King George commands and we’ll obey, Over the hills and far way. We then shall lead more happy lives, By getting rid of brats and wives, That scold on, both night and day, When o’er the hills and far away.

All of the titles in this series will taken from period songs. The second story, Beat the Drums Slowly comes from a song now probably more familiar as the cowboy ballad 'Streets of Laredo'.

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