Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1914


Hurrah! Hurrah for the Christmas Ship

Buy Hurrah! Hurrah for the Christmas Ship now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




"'Hurrah! Hurrah for the Christmas Ship'" was a World War I era song that encouraged kids to donate money, food, and clothing for European children affected by the war. It was written and composed by Henry S. Sawyer and produced by McKinley Music Co. in 1914.

Soon after war broke out in Europe, the editor of the 'Chicago Herald', James Keeley, published an appeal to American children to donate gifts to Europe's soon to be war orphans. Two hundred newspapers across the country reprinted the appeal and together, the press coordinated a humanitarian aid campaign.

Collection efforts went on for months amassing upwards of 5,000,000 items of clothing, food, and gifts. Donations were sorted, repacked, and marked for Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Greece, and Russia. The Red Cross was in charge of distributing the goods.

US Army soldiers at Fort Hamilton loaded the cargo onto the US Navy's collier, the 'Jason', which it loaned to transport the goods. The 'Jason' was known as both the 'Christmas Ship' and the 'Santa Claus Ship'.

Lyrics



Come, boys and girls, just listen to

This news for you and me:

They're going to send a Christmas Ship

Across the great blue sea!

It's going to be filled with gifts

For families abroad

Who've suffered in this cruel war

From fire, gun, and sword

Now all the boys and all the girls

Will ev'ry effort bend

To see how many useful things

They to the ship can send;

But I was thinking we could do

About as much real good

By sending money from our banks

As well as clothes and food

CHORUS

Hurrah! Hurrah for the Christmas Ship

As it starts across the sea

With its load of gifts and its greater load

Of loving sympathy.

Let's wave our hats and clap our hands

As we send it on its trip;

May many a heart and home be cheered

By the gifts of the Christmas Ship!

The paper say there's thousands who

Are homeless thro' the war;

That Santa Claus can't half get 'round

As he has done before.

So this year we'll help Santa Claus

Remember each poor child,

And bring a smile of happiness

Amid those terrors wild.

Let Dorothy and Mary send

A pair of shoes apiece,

And little Jane can send the dime

She got from Aunt Bernice,

While Tom and all the boys and girls

Are eager to pitch in

To make this Christmas time the best

The world has ever seen.

REPEAT CHORUS



See also



* Downloadable PDF of original sheet music from York University's Scott Library Special Collections - Sheet Music Collection. [https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10315/20456/JAC002746.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Hurrah! Hurrah for the Christmas Ship!]

References



Category:Songs of World War I

Category:1914 songs

Category:Songs about children

Category:Songs about boats

Category:American Christmas songs

Buy Hurrah! Hurrah for the Christmas Ship now from Amazon

<-- Return to songs from 1914



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1069358899.