It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier

"It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier" is a song from humorist Tom Lehrer's album "An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer". It satirizes the way that the U.S. Army"has carried the American ideal to its logical conclusion, in the sense that not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed, and color, but also on the grounds of ability".

In his introductory comments, he says he wrote this song during a time when the Army was looking for an official song to replace the "Caisson Song". The "Caisson Song" was ultimately reworked as "The Army Goes Rolling Along", and became the official Army song. Lehrer remarked that the Army's rejection of his entry was due to "blatant favoritism" on the part of the judges.

Selected jokes

"When Pete was only in the seventh grade he stabbed a cop,/He's real R.A. material, and he was glad to swap/His switchblade and his old Zip gun/For a bayonet and a new M1", and "Our Captain.../He used to be, so rumor has,/The dean of men at Alcatraz": satirize the army's acceptance of soldiers with criminal records.

"Fred's an intellectual, brings a book to every meal,/He likes the deep philosophers, like Norman Vincent Peale": a joke about self-help expert Norman Vincent Peale who had released several self-help guides.

"Our old mess sergeant's taste buds were shot off in the war,/But his savory collations add to our esprit de corps:/To think of all the marvelous ways/They're using plastics nowadays": a reference to the many jokes about the state of food in the army.

Parody version

Unusual for a comedic song, at least one parody version of "Soldier" exists: "It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be An Astro," the work of Houston Astros pitcher (and later manager) Larry Dierker. Written in 1969, the lyrics focus on Astros then-manager Harry "The Hat" Walker:

"Now Harry Walker is the one who manages the crew."

"He doesn't like it when we drink and fight and smoke and screw."

"But when we win our games each day"

"What the hell can Harry say!"

"It makes a fellow proud to be an Astro (too)!" [http://www.tbhof.org/features/feature-20051218.htm]

Actually, the '69 Astros only won their games every "other" day; they finished exactly at .500, 81-81.