"Smoke in the Water" (WWII version)
"There'll be nothing left but vultures
to inhabit all that land,
When our modern ships and bombers
make a graveyard of Japan."
!!!!
Anyone know where I could find the complete lyrics and music? Searching for SotW only turns up references to the 1973 Rock song.
"Smoke on the Water" was a WWII song named from the use of smoke by battleships to confuse the enemy. From Walter Lenk come the original words to the song:
Smoke on the Water
Oh, there is a sad day coming for the foes of all mankind,
They must answer to the people and it's troubling their mind,
Everybody who must fear them will rejoice on that great day,
When the powers of dictators shall be taken all away.
Chorus:
There'll be Smoke on the Water, on the land and the sea,
When our Army and our Navy overtakes the enemy,
There'll be smoke on the mountains where the heathen Gods stay,
And the sun that is rising will go down on that day.
Chorus:
For there is a great destroyer made of fire and flesh and steel,
Rolling toward the foes of freedom, they'll go down beneath it's wheel,
They'll be nothing left but vultures to inhabit all that land,
When our modern ships and bombers make a graveyard of Japan
Chorus
Hirohito 'long with Hitler will be riding on the rail,
Mussolini will beg for mercy, as a leader he has failed,
There'll be no time for pity when the screaming eagle flies,
It will be the end of Axis, they must dance away their lies.
Chorus
"Smoke on the Water" was written in 1944 by Zeke Clements and recorded shortly thereafter by Red Foley. A recording was aired in August 2001 on "Hillbilly at Harvard" (WHRB in Cambridge). This information came from a recording in the collection of Tillman Franks via Hutch Hutchinson, and was from an Armed forces radio broadcast in 1944 over WXLD on the island of Saipan where they were building the airstrip to be used to bomb Japan. The band was "The Rainbow Boys" featured on the "Calico Jamboree," and known members included Tillman Franks, Merle Clayton on Vocals, and Pete Seeger on Banjo.