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Lloyd George’s Beer

Ernie Mayne
Language: English


Ernie Mayne

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[1915]
Scritta da R. P. Weston e Bert Lee
Interpretata da Ernie Mayne, celebre cantante del music-hall dell’epoca.
Testo trovato su The Western Front Association



Nonostante l’introduzione patriottarda, questa canzone è uno sfogo contro le misure che il governo inglese prese sul “fronte interno” durante la Grande Guerra. Tra le più antipatiche, e a tutto discapito di una working class che già stava dando letteralmente il sudore, il sangue e la vita, il provvedimento che abbassava drasticamente la gradazione alcolica della bevanda nazionale e limitava gli orari d’apertura dei pub. Certo, l’alcolismo era una piaga ma la “temperance” quando non il moralismo proibizionista venivano abbracciati proprio mentre si costringevano i lavoratori a costruire cannoni e spolette e si mandavano i loro figli a provarli sul campo nel più grande macello mai escogitato prima. Inoltre, quanto più diminuiva la qualità della bevanda tanto più aumentavano le accise statali, tutte volte allo sforzo bellico (si pensi che tra il 1914 ed il 1916 il consumo di birra diminuì del 17% contro una spesa che aumentò del 24%!)… E senza poi contare che nelle trincee di ogni nazione, inglesi comprese, il comando dell’assalto mortale veniva sempre preceduto dalla consegna ai soldati di razioni supplementari di superalcolici, grappa, whisky o cognac che fosse, per stordirne il terrore…
We shall win the war, we shall win the war,
As I said before, we shall win the war.
The Kaiser's in a dreadful fury,
Now he knows we're making it at every brewery.
Have you read of it, seen what's said of it,
In the Mirror and the Mail.
It's a substitute, and a pubstitute,
And it's known as Government Ale (or otherwise).

Lloyd George's Beer, Lloyd George's Beer.
At the brewery, there's nothing doing,
All the water works are brewing,
Lloyd George's Beer, it isn't dear.
Oh they say it's a terrible war, oh law,
And there never was a war like this before,
But the worst thing that ever happened in this war
Is Lloyd George's Beer.

Buy a lot of it, all they've got of it.
Dip your bread in it, Shove your head in it
From January to October,
And I'll bet a penny that you"ll still be sober.
Get your cloth in it, make some broth in it,
With a pair of mutton chops.
Drown your dogs in it, pop your clogs in it,
And you'll see some wonderful sights (in that lovely stufo).

Lloyd George's Beer, Lloyd George's Beer.
At the brewery, there's nothing doing,
All the water works are brewing,
Lloyd George's Beer, it isn't dear.
With Haig and Joffre when affairs look black,
And you can't get at Jerry with his gas attack.
Just get your squirters out and we'll squirt the buggers back,
With Lloyd George's Beer.

Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2015/12/28 - 11:34




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