[carrie-ann smith]

SANDS OF THE NILE


Oh mother this egypts a terrible land
Tis nothing but flies and acres of sand
The sun is so hot and the wind when it blows
piles dust till its inches thick on your clothes
But for all of these hardships, we've no worries and cares
and the newspapers call us militis millionaires
So perhaps I should say we are living in style
Where the sands of the desert roll down to the nile


The east and west a poet once said
Are as different in ways as the quick and the dead
You wouldn't believe all the tales I can tell
NO, nor imagine a pure eastern smell
We've all read the tales of arabian nights
and since we've been round and seen all the sights
We just live for the day where we sitback and smile
Dreaming dreams of the days on the banks of the nile

Theres some beautiful girls but fear not mother dear
cause most of them smell like a purified pear
They look all alluring and soft to the touch
But we really don't know cause there taste costs too much
So tell our sweethearts we're faithful and true
And will be till we're back home safely with you
And this is the feeling of all rank and file
Where the sands roll down to the bank of the nile

Oh mother dear if the truth must be known
we are all very homesick and want to be home
and when its all over, and we're there once again
we'll talk and we'll talk till we drive you insane
Perhaps no greta stories of deeds we have done
Perhaps no great stories of battles we have won
But we will tell you with pride how cunning and quile
we gaurded with safety the banks of the nile


Just thought I would share this
Carrie

[Leeds Andy]

Thanks for sharing this Carrie

[carrie-ann smith]

Thanks for sharing this Carrie

My pleasure, It's stuck in a drawer with only me and my family to read so I'm glad other people get to see it aswell. I'm not sure who the soldier was that wrote it but he was one who served with my grandad.

Carrie

[Auimfo]

Excellent Carrie.

I found a slightly different version called 'Egyptian Holiday' on the BBC's WW2 Peoples War website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/60/a4170160.shtml

It attributes the poem to George Smith and claim's it was written during WW2 but I can find no more about him.

Did your grandad serve in WW1 or WW2 (or both)? Perhaps the version you have is the original and it was later reworked during WW2.

Cheers,
Tim L.

[carrie-ann smith]

Excellent Carrie.

I found a slightly different version called 'Egyptian Holiday' on the BBC's WW2 Peoples War website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/60/a4170160.shtml

It attributes the poem to George Smith and claim's it was written during WW2 but I can find no more about him.

Did your grandad serve in WW1 or WW2 (or both)? Perhaps the version you have is the original and it was later reworked during WW2.

Cheers,
Tim L.

To be honest with you i don't know which war it was and it is hand writtenso your guess is as good as mine lol

Carrie

[Ray(T)]

I don't think its intended to be a poem. It scans perfectly as a parody of the Percy French song "Mountains of Mourne" - the first line gives it away which has been changed from "Oh Mary this London's a beautiful sight".
Ray

[carrie-ann smith]

I don't think its intended to be a poem. It scans perfectly as a parody of the Percy French song "Mountains of Mourne" - the first line gives it away which has been changed from "Oh Mary this London's a beautiful sight".
Ray

Thankyou for that information
Carrie

[brianel]

Very nice post with a ton of informative information. I really appreciate the fact that you approach these topics from a stand point of knowledge and information
instead of the typical “I think” mentality that you see so much on the internet these days.

[museumtom]

To the air of 'The mountains of Mourne' by Percy French and even Don McClean and a nice version of it also.
Regards.
Tom.

[JulesW]

Many riskier versions of highly adaptive troop marching song

Oh mother this ................'s a wonderful place
But the organisation's a ........... disgrace
The corporal, the sergeant and officers too
Stand on the drill square with ......... all to do

etc etc etc

So if this is the army I'd much rather be
Shovelling ..........on the Isle of Capri


With apologies to Mother Aug 1905/April 2005 and any relevant