I was watching a program on A&E or the History Channel some years ago
on patriotic songs of World War One. One of the songs had some lyrics
that said: "when that fighting wop goes over the top, etc., etc."
Since the Italians were our Allies in World War One I assume that the
use of the word "wop" was not intended as a term of derision. However,
my question is: I would like to know the name of the sog. Thank you.

Hello tils-ga,

To my amazement, I've found the song.  It's called "When Tony Goes
Over the Top".  It is indeed patriotic, though certainly insulting to
modern ears (and maybe even insulting to some people then).  You can
listen to a clip of it, which includes the line, "When Tony goes over
the top / keep your eye on that fighting wop."

"World War One Songs - Early Recordings from 1918 Victrola" [song 2 of
"World War One Songs Tape/CD 9"]
Old Time Victrola Music
http://www.besmark.com/ww1b.html

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used on Google:

"world war i" songs "over the top"
"when tony goes over the top"

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Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 20 May 2003 17:54 PDT

You might be interested in the writers and performers of the song,
listed here:

"Alvah Sulloway: Sheet Music and Theater Program Collection (MC 127) -
Series I: World War I Sheet Music" [entries beginning with "W"]
University of New Hampshire Library - Milne Special Collections and
Archives
http://www.izaak.unh.edu/specoll/mancoll/sulloway2.htm#W

Billy Murray also performed this song.

"VVL-02-0077 - Arch Farmer - An Inventory of Spoken Word Audio
Recordings in the Vincent Voice Library, Michigan State University"
[under "The Sound Age
1914-1919", about 1/10 of the way down the page]
Michigan State University Libraries
http://www.lib.msu.edu/digital/vincent/findaids/ArchFarmer.html

Very prompt and very thorough and good. As you started out your
answer, I was amazed that you were able to find an answer so quickly
and right on the money. I rate it 5 stars without reservation. One bit
of irony, I actually found the website myself some time ago, but there
were so many patriotic songs from WW1 that I never played the right
one. Thanks again, since this question has been bugging me for
sometime.