Gunga Din

"Gunga Din" (1892) is one of Rudyard Kipling's most famous poems, perhaps best known for its often-quoted last stanza, "Tho' I've belted you and flayed you, By the livin' Gawd that made you, You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!" [ [http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/rudyard_kipling/poems/14458 Gunga Din - Poem by Rudyard Kipling ] ] The poem is a rhyming narrative from the point of view of a British soldier, about a native water-bearer (a 'bhisti') who saves the soldier's life but dies himself. Like several Kipling poems, it celebrates the virtues of a non-European while revealing the racism of a colonial infantryman who views such people as being of a "lower order". The poem was published as one of the set of martial poems called the 'Barrack Room Ballads'.

Film

The poem inspired a 1939 adventure film from RKO Radio Pictures starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Fontaine, and Sam Jaffe in the title role.

A much shorter "animated" version of the poem and film was made as an episode of "The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo", with the beloved ultra-myopic character in the title role. He was voiced, as always, by Jim Backus.

Influence

The name "Gunga Din" is sometimes used in the musical instrument world; brass instruments, particularly bugles, of low or questionable quality produced in India are often called "Gunga Din" horns, as well as "junkers", or more appropriately, "wall-hangers".fact|date=February 2007

"The Ballad of Gunga Din" was recorded by Jim Croce in 1966. The song appears on the albums "Facets" (1966) and "The Faces I've Been" (1975).

"Gunga Din" is also the title of a 1969 song by The Byrds written by Gene Parsons.

"The Gunga Din Highway" is also a novel by Frank Chin, the polemical Chinese American playwright and fiction writer who deals with themes of "authentic" Asian American identity.

The famous last line is also used in a song titled "Gunga Din" on the 1998 solo album "Dreamcatcher" by Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan.

In the 1993 movie "Dave," senator Alan K. Simpson in a cameo appearance said, "...I've carried more water for him than Gunga Din..."

The song "That's The Way Love Is'", written and performed by popular vocalist Bobby Darin (recorded 1958), features the lyrics, "If you come up with the answer / You're a better man, sir, / Than I, Gunga Din."

The Gunga Dins, a Springfield, Illinois, alternative/punk band, takes its name from the poem's title.

The poem is parodied as "Gunga Dot" on an episode of "Animaniacs".

The 2006 movie The Contract made frequent reference to Gunga Din.

During the "Magnificent Muttley" theme song of the cartoon "Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines", Dick Dastardly melodically tells Muttley, "You're not Robin Hood, and you're not Gunga Din."

Forward Prize-winning poet, Daljit Nagra parodies his own frequent use of Indian accents, in the poem "Booking Khan Singh Kumar", when he asks, "Should I read for you straight or Gunga Din this gig?"

The movie Gunga Din was remade in 1961 as Sergeants 3, starring the Rat Pack. The locale was moved from British-colonial "Injia" to the Old West. The Gunga Din character, originally played by Sam Jaffe was played in this film by Sammy Davis, Jr. Unlike Jaffe's character, Davis' character survives after being shot while sounding the charge that warns his fellow soldiers of the trap.

South African singer/songwriter Warwick Lobban adapted the Kipling Gunga Din poem in his song "Gunga Din".

In the film "Black Belt Jones" a character trying to stop the sale of drugs in the community refers to a drug dealer as a "Black Gunga Din."

The character Livia references it in the Sopranos, Season 1, Episode 06: "I'm living next door to Gunga Din" (34:00)

Guy Gardner (comics) references it at the beginning of Green Lantern Corps #19

Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) quotes an extract of the poem in the M*A*S*H Episode "Dear Dad 3" in Season 2.

The Alan Moore graphic novel "Watchmen" features an eatery named Gunga Diner, which is advertised by an elephant blimp.

In the song "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (the easy chair)", Bob Dylan makes a reference to the movie: "gonna see a movie called Gunga Din."

Hellboy quotes the final line when his partner Roger sacrifices himself during a mission.

In an episode of The Venture Bros., Hank calls his brother, Dean, "Gunga Din" while making him wear a makeshift turban and be his servant for losing a bet.

Has now become an I.T. term used in complaints to system administrators as in: "I entered my username and password correctly but I still Gunga Din."

References

* George Robinson: "Gunga Din" (article on the 1939 Hollywood film). Soldiers of the Queen (journal of the Victorian Military Society). September 1994.