Digital Tradition Mirror

Now that the War is Over

Now that the War is Over

     Now the war is over,
     Mussolini's dead,
     He wants to go to heaven
     With a crown upon his head.
     But the Lord said, No!
     You must go down below,
     All dressed up and nowhere to go.
     _______________________________________________________

Opie Lore (1959), 104, from Aberdeen, 1952, to accompany
a ball-bouncing game.  Cf. Lomax, Scotland (gramophone
disc), side A no. 8(c), a skipping rhyme from Aberdeen
[var.  You've got to stay below].
The Opies note an English wartime chant about Hitler, and
refs. to Glasgow Herald 13 Aug 1955, a WWI chant from 1918:

     When the war is over and the Kaiser's deid
     He's no gaun tae Heaven wi' the eagle on 'is heid,
     For the Lord says No! He'll have tae go below,
     For he's all dressed up and nowhere tae go.

     The tune resembles "Lulu had a baby".

     Norman Buchan (101 Scottish Songs, 1962, 135) mentions a
contemporary version which has forgotten Mussolini and says
"Vaseline [!] is dead".  Cf. Ritchie Singing Street (1964),
46, an adaptation current in the Teddy-boy days: "Rock 'n'
roll is over/ And Tommy Steele is dead", etc., same as Those
Dusty Bluebells (1965), 30, from Cumnock:

     Now the war is over and Tommy Steele is dead,
     He wants to go to heaven with a crown upon his head.
     But the Lord says no, you'll have to go below,
     There's only room for Elvis and his wee banjo.

MS

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!