MILITARY CADENCE

In the armed services, a 'military cadence' or 'cadence call' is a traditional call-and-response work song sung by military personnel while running or marching. In the United States, these cadences are sometimes called 'jody calls' or 'jodies', after ''Jody'', a recurring character who figures in some traditional cadences.
Requiring no instruments to play, they are counterparts in oral military folklore of the military march. As a sort of work song, military cadences take their rhythms from the work being done (compare ''sea shanty''). Many cadences have a call and response structure; one soldier initiates a line, and the remaining soldiers complete it.

Contents

History

''The Duckworth Chant'' (or ''Sound Off!'')

Some cadences

"Jody calls"

Politically incorrect

Non-military cadences

Police

Fire academy

External links

References

History

The mythical Jodie refers to a civilian who remains at home instead of joining the military service. Jodie is often presumed to be medically unfit for service, a 4F in World War II parlance. Jodie also lacks the desirable attributes of military men. He is neither brave nor squared-away. As Jodie calls often point out with ironic humor, Jodie will take advantage of your girlfriend in your absence. Jodie Calls are initiated as the left foot strikes the ground, whether marching at normal speed (quick time) or running in formation (double time). This serves the purpose of keeping the formation in step, and maintaining the correct beat or cadence.
The word "cadence" was applied to these chants because of an earlier meaning, in which it meant the number of steps a marcher or runner took per minute. The cadence was set by a drummer or sergeant, and discipline was extremely important as keeping the cadence directly affected the travel speed of infantry. There were other purposes: the ''close-order drill'' was a particular cadence count for the complex sequence of loading and firing a musket. In the Revolutionary War, Baron von Steuben notably imported European battlefield techniques which persist, greatly modified, to this day. Cadences also instill teamwork and camaraderie.

''The Duckworth Chant'' (or ''Sound Off!'')

A V-Disc issued in 1944 credits the origin of ''Sound Off'' (''The Duckworth Chant'') to Private Willie Duckworth; according to this story, in May of 1944, while returning to base with his exhausted unit, he began singing or chanting the first cadence, "Sound Off:"
:''Sound-off; 1 - 2; Sound-off; 3 - 4; Cadence count; 1 - 2 - 3 - 4; 1 - 2 — 3 - 4.''
This cadence, known as the "Duckworth Chant," exists with some variations in many different branches of the U.S. military. Duckworth's simple chant soon was elaborated by folk tradition among drill sergeants and the soldiers under their command, and the tradition of creating elaborate marching chants or songs spread to other branches of the military.

Some cadences

Some common cadences collected at the Naval Academy^[1] include:
:
★ Old King Cole
:
★ Blood Upon the Risers^[2]
:
★ I Wish All the Girls Were^[3]
:
★ Irene Irene (Air Force cadence)
As soon as 1952, the U.S. Army adopted ''The Army Goes Rolling Along'' as its service theme song, with the lyric "count off the cadence loud and strong" a reference to Duckworth's cadence. Its melody and lyrics derive from the traditional ''When the Caissons Go Rolling Along''.

"Jody calls"

In the United States, these songs get the name ''jody call'' or ''jody'' (also ''jodie'') from a recurring character, a civilian named "Jody" whose luxurious lifestyle is contrasted with military deprivations in a number of traditional calls. Jody is the person who stays at home, drives the soldier's car, and gets the soldier's sweetheart (often called "Susie") while the soldier is in boot camp or ''in country''. (Serendipitously, the name works just as well for female soldiers.)
The name derives from a stock character in African-American oral traditions. The character's name has been transcribed as "Joady," "Jody," "Jodie," "Joe D.", or even "Joe the ____" (in dialect, "Joe de ____") with Joe then identified by occupation. He was a stock anti-hero who maliciously took advantage of another man's absence. Enlisted African-American soldiers incorporated this character into cadence songs during the Second World War. When the military desegregated, these cadence songs spread service-wide.
Common themes in jodies include:

★ Homesickness.

★ Quotidian complaints about military life.

★ Boasts (of one's own unit) and insults (of one's competitor, which may be another unit, another service branch, or the enemy.)

★ Humorous and topical references.
One example used in the U.S. Army:
:My honey heard me comin' on my left right on left
:I saw Jody runnin' on his left right on left
:I chased after Jody and I ran him down
:Poor ol' boy doesn't feel good now
:M.P.s came a runnin on their left right on left
:The medics came a runnin' on their left right on left
:He felt a little better with a few I.V.s
:Son I told you not to mess with them ELEVEN Bs (the designation for infantry in the Army)
One from the U.S. Marine Corps:
:Jody, Jody six feet four
:Jody never had his ass kicked before.
:I'm gonna take a three-day pass
:And really slap a beating on Jody's ass!

Politically incorrect

Obscene, scatological, politically incorrect and violent jody calls exist, and were typical, especially during and before the Vietnam War. The use of such calls is now discouraged by the U.S. military, which instead emphasizes "clean" versions of traditional jodies. The flexibility of jodies is nearly unlimited, and old jodies have always been revived or rewritten as times and wars change.
An example of one such call is the first stanza of ''Yellow Bird'':
:A yellow bird with a yellow bill
:Was perched upon my window sill
:I lured him in with a piece of bread
:And then I smashed his little head
:(REPEAT)
In the last line, the word 'little' is frequently used to replace profanity. This is an example of the minor tweaks that frequently occur in cadences depending on the particular military unit or installation they are used at. A particular cadence, when used by an infantry or other combat arms unit may include explicit profanity, while the same cadence, when used by a training or medical unit, may be censored to a degree, as above.
The second verse to the preceding cadence:
:The moral of,
:The story is,
:To get some head -
:You need some bread
{REPEAT}
And that's an example of a more politically incorrect verse. Differences in politeness vary from unit to unit. In the US Army, the general rule is as follows: The more "hardcore" of a unit, the less PC the verses shall be. Of course, they also change to extoll the virtues of whichever unit is singing.
One from the U.S. Navy:
:I wanna be a Navy pilot
:I wanna fly an F-14
:I wanna fly with the cockpit open
:I wanna hear those commies scream
An excerpt from the popular "When I Go to Heaven", also known as "How'd Ya Earn Your Living" or "When I Get to Heaven"
:When I go to bars
:The girls they will say
:How did you earn your living
:How did you earn your pay
:And my reply was with a cold kind of nod
:I earn my living killing commies for my God
:When I go home
:The hippies they will say
:How did you earn your living
:How did you earn your pay
:And I replied as I pulled out my knife
:Get out of my way before I take yo' life
Another, more modern example of a politically incorrect cadence popular through the US Navy:
:Running through the desert with my M-16,
:I'm a mean Seabee from the green machine!
:Osama bin Laden, where you at?
:I'm going to stick my bayonet in your ass!
:I'm gonna twist it turn it and watch you cry,
:I'm gonna twist it turn it until you die!
:I don't know, but it's been said
:Air force wings are made of lead
:I don't know, but I've been told
:Navy wings are made of gold
:He-ey Ar-rmy
:Ba-ack packing Ar-my
:Put on your packs and follow me
:I'm in the U.S. Navy
:He-ey Air Force
:Lo-ow flying Air Force
:Get in your planes and follow me
:I'm in the U.S. Navy
:He-ey Coast Guard
:Pud-dle pirate Coast Guard
:Get in your boats and follow me
:I'm in the U.S. Navy
:He-ey Marines
:They don't even hygiene
:Pick up your rifles and follow me
:I'm in the U.S. Navy

Non-military cadences

Police

Police personnel who train in para-military fashion also have acquired the tradition for its recruits in the police academy.
However, the "lyrics" are changed for law enforcement, for example:
:A six gun a tin star a horse named Blue.
:In 1890 a cop held these true.
:In 1930 the tommy gun.
:It made police work a lot more fun.
:A big block Dodge Polara it's true.
:In sixty six it came out of the chute.
:We got night vision on our M14's.
:We're the ones they call to secure the scene
:In 20 years, who knows what it will be.
:Phaser guns mounted on my HumVee.
:From a horse named Blue to a big HumVee
:We'll still PT in the Academy!
: (Last line yelled)

Fire academy

Fire academies in the U.S. often train in a para-military style. The following is a common cadence heard in the Fire Academy.
:When my grand mama was 91
:She did PT just for fun
:When my grand mama was 92
:She did PT better than you
:When my grand mama was 93
:She did PT better than me
:When my grand mama was 94
:She did PT more and more
:When my grand mama was 95
:She did PT to stay alive
:When my grand mama was 96
:She did PT just for kicks
:When my grand mama was 97
:She up, she died, she went to heaven
:When my grand mama was 98
:She meet St. Peter at the Pearly Gate
:She said St. Peter, sorry I'm late

External links

★ Actual Mp3s of cadences

★ Collection of Military Cadences

★ more background on the Duckworth cadence

★ Link to mp3 and a full text of the Jody Cadence

★ Special Operations.com Cadence Database

★ Military Cadence Calls, Military Songs and Jody Calls Forum

References

★ Burke, Carol. 1989. "Marching to Vietnam," ''Journal of American Folklore'' 102(406): 424-441.
1. Burke, Carol. 1989. "Marching to Vietnam," ''Journal of American Folklore'' 102(406): 424-441.
2. Burke. pg. 439.
3. Burk. pg. 425