{"id":10735,"date":"2021-05-21T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T10:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=10735"},"modified":"2025-12-16T07:11:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T07:11:49","slug":"jolly-good-luck-to-the-girl-that-loves-a-soldier","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/jolly-good-luck-to-the-girl-that-loves-a-soldier\/","title":{"rendered":"Jolly good luck to the girl that loves a soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Find the military man who’s really worthy of the name<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1906<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>FW Leigh \/ Kenneth Lyle<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RNV26370<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Vesta Tilley<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>none?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Find the military man who's really worthy of the name\nHe's never behind hand when duty's to be done\nHe's the fellow you can trust to try\nAnd win the game whatever the prize waiting to be won\nBy Jingo don't the girls know that as well as I\ndo? Isn't the fact made plain every day\nWhen you see them strolling by a soldiers side\nWho could ever be more proud than they?\n\nJolly good luck to the girl that loves a soldier\nGirls - have you been there?\nYou know we military men\nAlways do our duty everywhere\nJolly good luck to the girl that loves a soldier\nReal good boys are we\nGirls - if you'd like to love a soldier you can all love me.<\/em>\n\nDon't you think I'm a hero from the wars, because I'm not\nBut nevertheless I've faced powder don't you see\nI've been in some engagements, too,\nAnd some were duced hot, for one of the girls, nearly captured me\nGreat Scott! When I reflect how nearly I was done\nFor. well I could call myself horrible names\nIt would have been most unfair to marry one\nFor some other girl had equal claims.\n\nGirls, I want to advise you will you please attend to me?\nWhen choosing a sweetheart, pray choose the proper sort\nDon't you have anything to do?\nWith men who sail the sea, they're regular flirts! Wives in every port\nYou'll never find a soldier act in such a way\nI think to be hard on him's nothing but cheek\nPerhaps you won't believe what I'm about to say\nI was true to one girl all last week.\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Vesta Tilley<\/a> sang this one dressed as a soldier and directed the words to the young women in her audience. Like many performers in the halls, she enthusiastically supported World War I, sometimes in ways that feel uncomfortable today. During the war she was often referred to as “Britain’s best recruiting sergeant” and legend has it that  at one performance so many young men signed up that they talked forming a “Vesta Tilley Brigade”. The lyrics were written by the prolific Fred W Leigh<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the centenary of the war, Bella Hardy recorded an introspective response to the original, check it out below\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Vesta sings it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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