1
A for artillery, pride of the line,
B is for battery, the battery sublime,
C for correction which gives us the fuse,
And D for the dragropes we seldom must use.
Chorus
Oh merry, oh merry, oh merry are we,
We are the boys of the Artillery.
Sing high, sing low, wherever we go,
Artillery gunners they never say no.
Recorded by Steve Gardham at Longcroft School, Beverley, where George taught history, 2nd July 1982.
This is a traditional song
When I first recorded this song in January 1972 Ted Kirk, the then singer, was 56 years old and was the rural science master at Longcroft School in Beverley where I was teaching. He lived at Kilnwick on the Wolds and had served in the Territorials as a young man. But he actually learned this song from members of Sykes’s Wagoners Regiment, formed as an artillery regiment in anticipation of the outbreak of World War I. Its members were all young wagoners and plough lads from the Wolds who were used to handling heavy horses that would be needed to carry munitions and pull guns around. Here are Ted’s two stanzas and chorus:-
A’s for artillery, the pride of the line,
B is for battery, the battery sublime,
C is for correction which gives us the fuse,
And D’s for the drag-ropes that we seldom use.
Chorus
Sing high, sing low, wherever we go,
Artillery gunners will never say no.
E’s for elevation that raises the guns,
F is for firing when firing’s begun,
G is for gunners light-hearted and gay,
And H is for hell where we’ll all go some day.
For the tune to this version see Gardham, An East Riding Songster, p39.
Ted informed me that any old Wagoner from Sledmere or Wetwang would remember it, but there weren’t many left alive even then, and I didn’t come across the song again until ten years later when another teacher from the same school sang me the first stanza and chorus given here. Unfortunately my recording of Ted Kirk was of very poor quality. George Collinson of Watton near Hutton Cranswick served in Army Intelligence from 1946 to 1948 and had gleaned a large repertoire of songs from his travels from one forces unit to another during this period. His stanza is almost identical to Ted Kirk’s first stanza, but he has the full chorus.
The song is obviously closely related to the much more widespread Sailor’s or Bosun’s Alphabet and other similar alphabet songs. Which came first it is now difficult to say, but I have seen no versions of The Artillery Alphabet older than World War I. There is The Soldier’s Alphabet dating from the early nineteenth century on broadsides printed in York; however, this is unrelated and has a Derry down chorus.
The following full version was obtained from The Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich, and was popular among soldiers stationed in India in the 1930s. It was also sung during World War II by Canadian soldiers and other versions exist adapted to different regiments. (See Roy Palmer’s What a Lovely War, p130)
1
A stands for artillery, the pride of my heart,
B stands for battery of which I’m a part,
C stands for correcter, it gives us the fuse,
D stands for dragropes we oft-times do use.
Chorus
Singing merry and merry and merry are we,
We are the boys of the Artillery.
Blow high, blow low, wherever we go,
We’re all jolly fellows when out on a spree.
2
E stands for elevation, it guides the old shell,
F stands for firing, we’ll blow them to hell,
G stands for gunner, he sticks and he sweats,
H stands for hoses, the drivers’ best pets.
3
I stands for Infantry, we shoot over their heads,
J stands for Jerry, he’s sampled our lead,
K stands for Kitchener, a jolly old sport,
L stands for layer who’s dropping them short.<
4
M stands for major who’s in command,
N stands for nation, we’ll make a firm stand,
O stands for observer, he’s never far out,
P stands for pay sergeant, money for nowt.
5
Q stands for quickness, we’ll give it them hot,
R stands for red tape of which there’s a lot,
S stands for signaler we can’t do without,
T stands for trumpeter who calls the boys out.
6
U stands for unit of which we are proud,
V stands for vehicle on which the lads crowd,
W stands for wages so damned hard to earn,
X, Y, Z we’ll very soon learn.
The original recordings of this song are deposited in the British Library Sound Archive at C1009/13 C21 [access copy 1CDR0009341 BD23] and this recording was digitized by the British library sound Archive as part of the Traditional Music in England project sponsored by the Heritage Lottery fund. Further details can be obtained at :- www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/traditional_music.html , along with details of many other recordings of traditional songs made by Steve Gardham and others from other parts of the UK.
Ted Kirk’s tune, chorus and first two stanzas were first published in Gardham, An East Riding Songster, Lincolnshire and Humberside Arts, 1982, p39, along with four more stanzas from the Royal Artillery, Woolwich, version.