Listed at No. 6 on RIAA’s Songs of the (20th) Century list, this ditty is interesting in that it perfectly suited it’s time, representing the war years of the early forties as no other song can, while prefiguring the uptempo jump blues of the fifties and containing a hint of the teasing sensuality of the rock era via the flirty show biz affectations of youthful Andrews Sisters, Maxene, LaVerne and Patty. This song was actually written in January 1941, nearly a year before the US entered the Second World War, by Don Raye and Hughie Prince, and is said to be reminiscent of “Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar,” an earlier boogie woogie song by the duo. The Andrews Sisters performed the song in the 1941 Abott and Costello film, Buck Privates. According to Wikipedia, there was an actual Army draftee trumpeter– or perhaps several– who may have been the inspiration for the fanciful subject of the song:
Articles published in Stars & Stripes, as well as Billboard Magazine, and The Cleveland Plain Dealer during WWII credit Clarence Zylman of Muskegon, Michigan, as the original Boogie Woogie Bugler. The lyrics in the song seem to agree with several aspects of Zylman’s life. Drafted at age 38, Clarence had been performing for 20 years, beginning with radio station WBBM in Chicago and moving on to several big bands, starting with Paul Specht and Connie Connaughton, and most recently with the Tommy Tucker Orchestra. He brought his playing style to England where he was a bugler for an engineer company, using his trumpet for taps and reveille, eventually being transferred to an army band. Articles in Billboard and The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) support this, including the fact that Clarence was sent to teach other buglers his techniques… – More may be found in the song’s Wikipedia entry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pfCFU3Mqww
