Ten German Bombers
"Ten German Bombers'" is a patriotic children's song, originally sung by British schoolchildren during World War II but controversially adopted in recent years by English football fans at matches against Germany. The song uses the same tune and verse pattern as She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain. The verse pattern also follows the format of the song Ten Green Bottles, of which it is effectively a derived variant:
- There were ten German bombers in the air,
- There were ten German bombers in the air,
- There were ten German bombers, Ten German bombers,
- Ten German bombers in the air.
- And the RAF from England shot one down,
- And the RAF from England shot one down,
- And the RAF from England, RAF from England,
- The RAF from England shot one down.
These verses are then repeated with one more bomber being shot down each time, the tenth verse becoming "There was one" and "shot it down", until there are none left. The final (eleventh and twelfth) verses of the song are:
- There were no German bombers in the air,
- There were no German bombers in the air,
- There were no German bombers, No German bombers,
- No German bombers in the air.
- 'Cos the RAF from England shot them down,
- 'Cos the RAF from England shot them down,
- 'Cos the RAF from England, RAF from England,
- 'The RAF from England shot them down.
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Famous quotes containing the words ten, german and/or bombers:
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—Richard Chenevix Trench (1807–1886)
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“In bombers named for girls, we burned
The cities we had learned about in school—
Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among
The people we had killed and never seen.”
—Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)