[78-L] Old Soldiers Never Die

[Michael Biel]

  Was there REALLY an "old barracks ballad of that day" that Gen 
MacArthur actually remembered??

When I go to check the Vaughn Monroe recording I discover that the sheet 
music says that words and music by Tom Glaser,
http://image2.onlineauction.com/auctions//56164/znch-1244661-1.jpg

and I assume he is given like credit on the RCA Victor record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyDldGPTDNQ

The lyrics of this song could very well be an "old barracks ballad", but 
Tom Glaser isn't that old!  Unless he is just copyrighting a song that 
actually is old.  They did that a lot.

On the web there are lyrics of another song which certainly could not be 
old.
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiOLDSLDD2.html

Credited to Gene Autry, William Burch and Carl Cotner, I guess this was 
a recording Gene Autry made on Columbia.  The lyrics are all about WW II 
battles in the Pacific.

So, does anybody have reference to a song with this refrain in a source 
prior to MacArthur's speech, or one that could reliably solve that 
dilemma -- such as an explanation by Glaser in something like Sing Out 
that cites his source of the song?

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com