The Songs They Sang: Give Me Operations
The props they counter-rotate
You'll loop, roll, and spin, but then auger right in,
Don't give me a P-38!
Give me operations, way out on some lonely atoll
For I am too young to die,
I just want to go home!
Roy Rogers and Gene Autry used to sing songs about their horses.
Military pilots of the 20th century sang about their airplanes.
Kinda strange, when you think about it. One rarely hears songs
about other military weapons. Ditties about the Colt .45
pistol or M-1 Garand rifle are non-existent, and if there are songs
about the M4 Sherman or M48 Patton tanks, I certainly haven't come
across them.
It might be because the dual nature of flight—a plane might give the
pilot limitless freedom, but it's also the venue of a fight to the
death. It might be that the idiosyncrasies of the different
aircraft types give them personalities that lend themselves to
songwriting.
Or it might just be that the pilot has more spare time to write songs
than the ground-pounder does.
Whatever the reason, there are lots of songs about airplanes.
Tunes came from a wide variety of sources, some common, some a bit
esoteric. An early-century song called "The Great Ship
Titanic" was turned into "The Boeing Tanker." Country tunes
like "Wabash Cannonball" are used for several, such as this one
about the Republic F-105 Thunderchief of the Vietnam era:
As she rolls along the runway, by the BAK-9 and the trees.
Hear the mighty roaring engine as you leap off in the fog,
You're flying through the jungle in Republic's Ultra Hog....
Probably the
strangest was Edith Piaf's "Mi'Lord," a song about a French
courtesan mocking the pretensions of a potential English customer,
being used for a song about the OV-10 Bronco forward air control
aircraft:
He crashed his OV-10 on the Ho Chi Minh highway
It was a rocket pass, when he busted his [biblical beast of burden]
Hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmm....
The "Grand Old Man," though, of the airplane-song clan is the classic, "Give Me Operations." It's not a song about a single aircraft. It provides a simple lyrical framework to give an aviator/songwriter a hook to write about any aircraft they flew. Or are about to fly. Or knows someone who flew one. Or once heard about.
Bill Getz's 1982 book, The Wild Blue
Yonder: Songs of the Air Force, gives thirty two verses,
for about twenty-five different aircraft types (several versions exist
for some planes). A cursory glance online finds lyrics for
aircraft types not included in Getz' book, such as the F-4C Phantom and
the F-82 Twin Mustang:
Don't give me an
F-82,
that monster from out of the blue
You won't understand, just who's in
command
Don't give me an F-82!
"Give Me Operations" lends itself to just about
any aircraft—even homebuilt ones. A few years back, I attended a
Missouri fly-in where Chuck Slusarczyk, EAA Hall of Famer and the
designer of the CGS Hawk, was one of the attendees. Chuck,
whose nickname is "El Pollo Loco" ("The crazy chicken"...don't ask!) is
a real character; famed for his hilarious stories as well as his killer
homemade brandy (aka, "Muzzleloader").
Like me, he's a fan of the old pilot songs. When we knew we were
going to see each other at the fly-in, we both sang "Give Me
Operations" verses for each others' planes at the late-evening party:
It’s got a Rotax, and I’d rather walk
It’s ugly and slow, like El Pollo Loco
Don’t give me a CGS Hawk!
It might be an indicator of how well the party went that night from the
fact that Chuck doesn't
remember singing a verse about the Fly Baby....
Probably for the better, really.
Lyrics for "Give Me Operations" almost always blast the
aircraft named, but let's end this article with one of the few known
lyrics that are positive about a certain airplane.
With praise for the work it has done,
It's tried and it's true, and will take care of you,
Just give me an old '51!
Just give me my old Mustang
For defending democracy's cause
For I am too young to die
I just want to go home....
For more Information:
- Excerpt from "Give Me Operations" from Oscar Brand's "Wild Blue Yonder" (Order the 2-CD "Military Songbook")
- Dick Jonas
has recorded a long version of "Give Me Operations," as well as the
Thunderchief and Bronco songs mentioned above, plus many traditional
pilot songs. You can download individual songs on Amazon.com.
- Bill Getz's The Wild
Blue Yonder: Songs of the Air Force is no longer in print,
but is available used at various sources
Questions? Email Ron Wanttaja .
