Bugle Call - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

Many of the familiar calls have had words made up to fit the tune. For example, the US Reveille goes:

I can't get 'em up,

I can't get 'em up,

I can't get 'em up this morning;

I can't get 'em up,

I can't get 'em up,

I can't get 'em up at all!

The corporal's worse than the privates,

The sergeant's worse than the corporals,

Lieutenant's worse than the sergeants,

And the captain's worst of all!

< repeat top six lines >

and the US Mess Call:

Soupy, soupy, soupy, without a single bean:

Coffee, coffee, coffee, without a speck of cream:

Porky, porky, porky, without a streak of lean.

and the US Assembly:

There's a soldier in the grass

With a bullet up his ass

Take it out, take it out

Like a good Girl Scout!

Irving Berlin wrote a tune called, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning". In a filmed version of his musical, This Is the Army, he plays a World War I doughboy whose sergeant exhorts him with this variant of words sung to "Reveille": "Ya gotta get up, ya gotta get up, ya gotta get up this morning!" after which Berlin sang the song.

"Taps" has been used frequently in popular media, both sincerely (in connection with actual or depicted death) and humorously (as with a "killed" cartoon character). It is the title of a 1981 movie of the same name.

First call is best known for its use in thoroughbred horse racing, where it is also known as the Call to the Post. It is used to herald (or summon) the arrival of horses onto the track for a race.

Another popular use of the "Mess Call" is a crowd cheer at football or basketball games. The normal tune is played by the band, with a pause to allow the crowd to chant loudly, "Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! Rah! Rah! Rah!"