We Did It Before (and We Can Do It Again
Origins
At the offset of the Second World War in September of 1939, America was decidedly uninvolved in the conflict. Despite trading and providing supplies to member countries of the Allied forces, the decision to go directly involved in the state of war attempt would come later in December of 1941. Subsequently almost fifteen months of strained relationships and a year of planning on the offensive side, Japan ordered an airstrike on the American isle of Hawaii, at the naval base of operations of Pearl Harbor. This assail shook the nation as citizens were faced with the first strange attack directly targeting the The states since the First World War. As word of the assail spread and reactions began, "Nosotros Did Information technology Before And We Tin can Exercise It Again" was penned by popular songwriters Cliff Friend and Charles Tobias. The composition was written the same day every bit the attack, one of the firsts of its kind during American involvement in the war (Stickles 158). Just days after, the song hit the radio and the ears of America.
Lyrical Content
"We Did It Before And We Can Practise It Again" was written as a direct response to the Pearl Harbor attack. Written in a march-like style, the song is upbeat, entertaining, and simple enough for anyone to call back (Bush-league 125). The lexicon is uncomplicated, with minimal syllables per discussion, and few words per sentence. The repeated chorus, "we did it before and nosotros tin can do it once more" is an declaration that the United States has triumphed in face of adversity before, and if involved, they would again. A trend throughout the vocal, numerous threats and warnings are given to dissuade enemies from engaging in combat with the United States. Lyrics like "We'll knock them over and get the guy in the back" and "We'll costless the nations that had to kneel and bow their heads to a Nazi heel" play on the intimidation tactic of the song, helping to paint the movie of America as the "top canis familiaris" in the state of war effort. The song did not just romanticize the war, merely inspired anti-Japanese sentiments in a post-Pearl-Harbor America. Slurs regarded every bit highly offensive to today'south audience were used in the song like during the claim, "we'll take the 'nip' out of nipponese and chase them back to their reddish copse". The relationship between Americans and Japanese was riddled with strife, specially after America began to cake immigrants from entering the country and stopped all exports of oil to Japan. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese people were characterized as dangerous, untrustworthy individuals; they were discriminated against and often sent to Japanese internment camps throughout the duration of Earth State of war II. In add-on to the Japanese, the song strikes out at other opponents with "We'll put the ax to the Axis quick" and "We'll take the stooge with the jaw of glass and slap him over the brenner pass". The Brenner Laissez passer line is a play on words, referring to a mount laissez passer in Italy, another Axis member along with Germany and Japan. The composers use this language to infantilize and demean the Centrality powers. A "jaw of glass", a jaw easily cleaved, indicates that the fight, or in this case, the war will exist hands won. And if not, the lyrics reassure, "even though information technology may take a year or two or ten, we did it earlier – nosotros'll practice it again". Repeated 16 times through the form of the song, the message is unmistakable: although the opponent volition be dissimilar, and the state of war volition deport a dissimilar name, "We did it before and we tin do it once again".
Social Context
The rise of swing and large ring music began in the 1920s, and connected all the mode through World War Two. Several prominent musicians, such as Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw were drafted and brought their music to the warfront. At home, music was oft used as an escape or equally a source of comfort. These songs tended to embrace hope and optimism. They had uncomplicated themes and straightforward titles, a theme that connected in "We Did It Before (And We Can Exercise It Again)".
However, the tone and bulletin of these songs changed in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. After the attack, the publishers in Manhattan'due south Can Pan Alley rushed the product of an astonishing number of songs so that they were printed days or fifty-fifty hours after the news reached the public. "We did it before" was the commencement of these songs to be played on air, only 3 days later. Because of its early arrival it quickly became one of the first pop state of war-themed songs of the 2nd World State of war in America. Despite the fact that "We Did It Before" is 1 of many songs revolving around one event, it is much more upbeat and less viciously racist than some of its successors. The assail on Pearl Harbor brought race to the forefront of the public centre in all new means. While anti-High german lyrics mainly focused its ridicule solely on Hitler and the Nazis, anti-Japanese sentiment extended to the civilians every bit well as the war machine. The characteristically straightforward 1940s titles made a reappearance with songs like "Let's Have A Rap at the Japs," "We'll Knock The Japs Right Into the Laps of The Nazis," and "We're Going To Find A Swain Who Is Yellowish And Beat Him Red White And Blue." While the terminal two verses of "We Did It Earlier (And We Can Exercise It Again)" as well contained racial slurs and stereotyping, the overall intent was to remind the people of this country'southward efforts and to human activity as a unifying force rather than an accusatory 1. A vocal recorded by Kate Smith (also in December of '41) serves as a cracking parallel to "We did it earlier." It's titled: "They Started Somethin' (Merely We're Going to End It)," foreshadowing the ascent in hostilities that would eventually pb to the catastrophic detonation of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Source: Physical Characteristics
The canvas music cover shows a delineation of Uncle Sam with his arms raised in a fighting pose, underneath the title and authors of the song. The background is solid red, and Uncle Sam is outlined in blueish while wearing ruddy and white wear. In fact, the merely colors on the front page are blood-red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag. This goes along with the patriotic bulletin of the song every bit a whole, only was likely a practical characteristic due to the costs and availability of colored inks during the mid- 20th century. Surrounding Uncle Sam are six blue squares with a large appointment and script-like text. The date and words betoken famous American battles where the United States was a victor. For case, the poster above
Sam'southward head reads: "1777, Valley Forge"; a reference to the wintertime that the continental army spent in valley forge Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. During this winter, supplies were so depression and conditions were so terrible that literally a quarter of the army died from affliction or starvation. However, it was during this time that the troops received the training to become a fighting forcefulness strong
plenty to defeat the British Army. In brusque, after a time of extreme hardship, Americans emerged stronger and more unified than ever earlier. This could be a hopeful apologue for America's shift from the Great Low into World State of war Ii. The other v notes continue in this mode, referencing
other moments of American bravery and victory in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Despite these shining examples, it's worth noting that the fourth dimension menses of the Civil War is completely omitted. The designers of the cover most likely felt that a reminder of a major division between the American people would be unwelcome and counterproductive to creating a feeling of unity.
The music inside the cover is in good status. The pages are slightly yellowed but there's no tears or damage to the newspaper, and the blackness ink is clearly legible.The only written markings inside are in pencil and for library cataloging purposes. The music itself has parts for voice, guitar, and pianoforte. There are six pages in total, including front and back covers, four of them with the actual sheet music. Two extra
verses are printed on the dorsum page. The margins of each page are filled with text. On the lesser of the first page is copyright information for Witmark & Sons, the publishers. However, the correct margin contains ad for something called a "kaleidophone," which continues onto the left margin of page five. The bottom margins of pages three four and v are taken up past advertisements for other song compilations, ane of them for children, one of them of 'pop songs' and i of them of 'American Patriotic Songs.' It is likely that because "Nosotros did it before" was such a popular song at the time, it
would be profitable for other businesses to use this as a kind of piggyback to attempt and sell similar products. This demonstrates how closely tied commercialization and patriotism were at the time of this song's publication. Businesses were using the war endeavour to sell their products while keeping civilian morale high. This also represents the means that propaganda could be easily marketed to the youth. If this could be used to advertise "Victor Herberts Piano Albums For the Youth," it's likely that there were several other albums for the youth that advertised songs as patriotic, if not more then, than this one.
Works Cited
Friend, Cliff, Charles Tobias, Albert Lewis, Eddie Cantor, Joe Quillan, Irving Elinson, John Cecil Holm, George Abbott, Hassard Short, and Vernon Knuckles. 1941. "Nosotros did information technology earlier : and we can do it over again." n.p.: New York : M. Witmark & Sons, c1941., 1941.
Jones, John Bush. The Songs That Fought the State of war: Popular Music and the Habitation Front, 1939-1945. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2006.
Sickels, Robert. The 1940s. Westport, CT: Greenwood Printing, 2004.
Wells, K. A. "Music as War Propaganda." Music As Propaganda In World War I. 2004.
Accessed March 06, 2016. http://parlorsongs.com/bug/2004-4/thismonth/feature.php.
"What Happened at Valley Forge." Ushistory.org. Accessed March 05, 2016.
http://www.ushistory.org/march/phila/valleyforge.htm.
"WWII In American Music: Pearl Harbor & Reaction." WWII In American Music: Pearl
Harbor & Reaction. July 21, 2012. Accessed March 06, 2016.
http://www.authentichistory.com/1939-1945/3-music/04-PH-Reaction/index.html.
Monica Bello, Lynelle Freeman, Grace Shim
Source: https://musicpolitics.as.ua.edu/projects/primary-source-projects/primary-source-study-of-we-did-it-before-and-we-can-do-it-again/
0 Response to "We Did It Before (and We Can Do It Again"
Post a Comment