Can anyone tell me anything about this song -- I stumbled into a link to a song, "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition" and it said by Frank Loesser and also Kay Kyser And His Orchestra. I found a mp3 to the Kay Kyser big band song. It's a snappy, uptempo big band song with a human choir singing the chorus.

I'd like to know if anyone knows anything about what this song was meant to be... when it was done... was it popular... how did people take it... was it considered patriotic or sarcastic or what?

I found this...

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“PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION” –
Kay Kyser And His Orchestra

[ CHORUS: ]
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition
And we'll all stay free

Praise the Lord and swing into position
Can't afford to be a politician
Praise the Lord, we're all between perdition
And the deep blue sea

Yes the sky pilot said it
Ya gotta give him credit
For a sonofagun of a gunner was he, shouting

Praise the Lord, we're on a mighty mission
All aboard, we're not a-goin' fishin'
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition
And we'll all stay free

[ BREAK ]

[ CHORUS – REPEAT ] (2x)

Rare picture of Kay

Kay Kyser's version (along with vocals by the 'Glee Club') of "Praise the Lord & Pass the Ammunition" debuted 10/17/42 and charted on Billboard for 13 weeks peaking at #2 for 7 weeks. Kyser, born 6/18/06 in Rocky Mount, NC. Died 7/23/85, was among the most popoular of the 'sweet' dance bands. Best known as the "Old Professor" on his radio and TV shows Kollege of Musical Knowledge. His top hits included: 1) Jingle Jangle Jingle 2) Woody WoodPecker Song 3) Old Buttermilk Sky 4)Who Wouldn't Love You 5) On a Slow Boat To China. The Kay Kyser Orchestra top recording year was 1942.

In addition to Kay Kyser, the Merry Macs also recorded "Praise The Lord & Pass the Ammunition". Their version debuted 11/14/42 and charted for 4 weeks peaking at #8. The Merry Macs were a vocal quartet consisting of brothers Joe, Ted, and Judd McMichel, and Cherry MacKay. Joe was replaced during WWII by Lynn Allen. Female spot underwent many changes. Their top hits included 1) Mairzy Doats 2) Jingle Jangle Jingle 3) Sentimental Journey. Their top recording year was 1944.

All above information I got from my Joel Whitburn: "Pop Hits 1940-1954" & "Pop Memories 1890-1954" books. Highly recommended.

SemiLiveMusic: hope you found the above info useful.

Scott

Yep, ye old book is helpful indeed. Still wondering how people took the song... was it considered a patriotic, pro-war song.

I believe in WWII, most EVERY American was patrioticly behind the war effort, and supporting this song. In that war, we were not ONLY clearly attacked, but it was clear exactly which Country (Japan) had attacked us.

Scott

I found the answer... a site about the writer, Frank Loesser -- http://www.frankloesser.com/music_war.htm

Containing this...

PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION

“Loesser has created a song that had an American hymnlike character, rich with folk flavor.”
—David Ewen

From the cover of the original published version:
As sailors boiled from below decks of a U.S. Navy warship to fight off low flying Japanese planes, Chaplain William Maguire left his altar and ran to a gun station where one of the gunners had been killed and another wounded. In the unholy roar of that torrent of bombs, Chaplain Maguire shouted his now famous words: “I just got one of them!! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!!”
Frank Loesser donated his royalties from the sale of this song to the Navy Relief Society. The song sold over 2 million records and 1 million copies of sheet music. The Office of War Information restricted it’s performance over the airwaves to once every four hours, lest the public tire of it.

Wow, you just jogged my gray cells.
I played this song in the 40's and at a few Mother's recitals
My Uncle had a wire recording of me playing this song.
Did you Get that. WIRE RECORDING. It actually was Wire and boy if a spool got loose it was usually history.
Ours came from Sears and it was about 1945 or 6 or thereabouts.
Best to all
Bebop

LOL, that's funny Bebop; I still have a cassette tape copy of a recording made on my maternal grandfather's 82 birthday that was originally recorded on a Webcor wire recorder in 1952. And, yes, I too personally remember hearing and singing that song during WWII.

Tom

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Bigger is not always better

That song was very popular during WWII, as were all of the patriotic songs of the day.

I still have recordings made in 1942 of a friend, that I cut on a vinyl disc on a recording turntable that I built from scratch. Also a recording of my father and grandfather (made on the same machine) that was sent to me in 1944 while I was in the Navy.
It's almost unbelievable that they still play after all of these years.
Walt

You should consider getting those recordings digitized. A studio or a friend could do it if you can't.

You wouldn't happen to be related to "Moose" Meyer would you? My dad's bomber crewmate.