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WWI American

Immigrant Poetry

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IT’S A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY

Rudolf Edmonth Rehbach

Wenn im luftgen Unterröckchen

Englands feile Söldnerscharen,

bunte Bändchen an der Mütze,

zu der blutgen Wahlstatt fahren,

nehmen sie für zwei Minuten

ihre Pfeifen aus dem Mund

und mit faden Krämerstimmen

tuen sie das Lied uns kund:

„It’s a long way to Tipperary,

it’s a long way to go“. —

Einen Two-step, seicht und kindisch,

ohne Mark und ohne Klang,

hat der Krämer sich erkoren

als Britanias Schlachtgesang.

Ehre sei der Marseillaise,

Frankreich kämpft mit Rosz und Mann,

doch bei Englands Two-step-Söldnern

kommt uns Hasz und Ekel an.


Rudolf Edmonth Rehbach


Rehbach, Rudolf Edmonth. “It’s a long way to Tipperary.” In Aus ruhmreicher Zeit: Deutsch-amerikanische Dichtungen aus dem ersten Jahre des Weltkrieges, compiled by Irving T. Sanders, 86. New York: F. C. Stechert, 1915.

Rehbach, Rudolf Edmonth. “It’s a long way to Tipperary.” In Aus ruhmreicher Zeit: Deutsch-amerikanische Dichtungen aus dem ersten Jahre des Weltkrieges, compiled by Irving T. Sanders, 86. New York: F. C. Stechert, 1915.

WWI American

Immigrant Poetry

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It’s a long way to Tipperary

With the next verse, lyrics from a British music hall song wildly popular during World War I, after being recorded by Irish tenor John McCormack (1884–1945) in November 1914. British colonial troops adapted and translated the song: “‘Tipperary’ reveals the potential and reality of cultural exchange throughout the empire.”


amaguire. “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary: Colonial Troops and First World War Music.” Imperial War Museum Blog, June 26, 2015. https://blogs.iwm.org.uk/research/2015/06/its-long-way-tipperary-colonial-troops-and-first-world-war-music.


Judge, Jack, and Harry Williams. “It’s a long, long way to Tipperary.” New York: Chappell, 1912. Notated Music. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100007109/.

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Two-step

Round dance with a sliding step in march or polka time.

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Britanias

The female personification of Britain, depicted wearing a helmet and holding a shield and trident, symbolizes Britain as an imperial or sea power.


“Britannia, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2021. https://www-oed-com.www2.lib.ku.edu/view/Entry/23451?redirectedFrom=britannia./div.

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Marseillaise

“La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem, was written by Rouget de Lisle (1769–1836) in 1792. A battalion from Marseiiles sang the song when they marched into Paris later that year.


Latham, Alison. “Marseillaise, La.” In The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press, 2011. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199579037.001.0001/acref-9780199579037-e-4234.


De Lisle, Rouget. Marseilles hymn. New York: S. T. Gordon & Son, 1861. Notated Music. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200001807/.

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Rudolf Edmonth Rehbach

F. C. Stechert & Co., the New York book dealer that published Julius Segall’s Gedichte, published Meine Höllenfahrt in 1915, a volume of poetry by Rudolf Edmonth Rehbach. Rehbach published a second anthology that same year, Deutsche Kriegsgedichte, which includes the notation für den Deutschen Hilfs–Fonds (for the German relief fund). Both volumes include the poem “It’s a long way to Tipperary.”


Rudolf Edmonth. Meine Höllenfahrt und andere Gedichte. F. C. Stechert, 1915. https://archive.org/details/meinehllenfahrtu00rehb/mode/2up.


———. Deutsche Kriegsgedichte. Baltimore: self–published, 1915. https://archive.org/details/deutschekriegsge00rehb/mode/2up.