Martha and the Vandellas "Bless You" (1969-1972)
What was Bless You?
What was Martha and the Vandellas, "Bless You?"
Reeves, out of the group temporarily due to illness, recovered and returned; Ashford was replaced by another former member of the Velvelettes, Sandra Tilley, and the group continued to release albums and singles into the early 1970s, although they could not reignite the fire that had made their records successful in the 1960s. Among their late 1960s hits was "I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playing", which featured singer Syreeta Wright singing the chorus, and peaked at number forty-two. Reeves reportedly hated singing the song sensing it "close to home". In 1970, the group issued Motown's first protest single, the controversial anti-war song, "I Should Be Proud", which peaked at a modest forty-five on the R&B singles chart. The song was uncharacteristic of the Vandellas and did nothing to promote the group. On some stations, the flip-side "Love, Guess Who" was played instead.  In 1971, the group scored an international hit with "Bless You" (produced by the Jackson 5's producers The Corporation). The song peaked at number fifty-three on the American pop singles chart (the biggest peak of Vandellas' seventies singles), and number twenty-nine on the R&B singles chart. "Bless You" was their first UK Top 40 hit since "Forget Me Not", with the song reaching number thirty-three there. "Bless You" became a top 20 hit in Canada. It was to be the last Billboard Hot 100 hit single for the group. That record also signaled the end of the Motown era. After two successive Top 40 R&B singles, the ballad "In and Out of My Life" (#22 US R&B) and the Marvin Gaye cover, "Tear It On Down" (#37 US R&B), the group disbanded following a farewell concert, held at Detroit's Cobo Hall on December 21, 1972.  The next year, Reeves announced plans of starting a solo career. At the same time, Motown Records moved its operations to Los Angeles. When Reeves did not want to move, she negotiated out of her contract with Motown, signing with MCA in 1974, and releasing the critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, Martha Reeves. Despite rave reviews of her work, neither of Reeves' post-Vandellas/Motown recordings produced the same success as they had the decade before. After living what she called "a rock & roll lifestyle" of prescription pills, cocaine and alcohol, Reeves sobered up in 1977, overcoming her addictions and becoming a born-again Christian. CANNOTANSWER
In 1971, the group scored an international hit with "Bless You" (produced by the Jackson 5's producers The Corporation).
Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown.

An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind Ashford and Gloria Williams, the group eventually included Martha Reeves, who moved up in ranks as lead vocalist of the group after Williams' departure in 1962. The group signed with and eventually recorded all of their singles for Motown's Gordy imprint.

The group's string of hits included "Come and Get These Memories", "Heat Wave", "Quicksand", "Nowhere to Run", "Jimmy Mack", "I'm Ready for Love", "Bless You" and "Dancing in the Street", the latter song becoming their signature single.

During their nine-year run on the charts from 1963 to 1972, Martha and the Vandellas charted over twenty-six hits and recorded in the styles of doo-wop, R&B, pop, blues, rock and roll and soul. Ten Vandellas songs reached the top ten of the Billboard R&B singles chart, including two R&B number ones, and six Top Ten Pop Hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Selected members of the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.

History

Early years (1957–1962)
Teenagers Rosalind Ashford and Annette Beard first became acquainted after a local music manager hired them to be members of a girl group he named the Del-Phis. Ashford, Beard, and lead vocalist Gloria Williams, performed at local clubs, private events, church benefits, YMCA events and school functions. They were also being coached by Maxine Powell at Detroit's Ferris Center. One of the group's first professional engagements was singing background for singer Mike Hanks.

The group originally had up to six members, subsequently reduced to four. When one of the four left the group, she was replaced by Alabama-born vocalist Martha Reeves, a former member of two groups, the Fascinations and the Sabre-Ettes. In 1960, the group signed their first recording contract with Checker Records, releasing the Reeves-led "I'll Let You Know," which flopped. The Del-Phis then went to Checkmate Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, recording their "There He Is (At My Door)" featuring Williams on lead vocals, which also flopped.

Reeves reverted to a solo artist under the name Martha LaVaille in the hope of getting a contract with emerging Detroit label Motown. After Motown staffer Mickey Stevenson saw Reeves singing at a Detroit club, he offered her an audition. Reeves showed up at Motown's Hitsville USA studios on a Tuesday rather than Thursday, Motown's usual audition day. Initially upset with Reeves, Stevenson soon assigned her as his secretary eventually responsible for handling Motown's auditions. By 1961, the group, now known as The Vels, were recording background vocals for Motown acts. Prior to her success as lead singer of The Elgins, Sandra Edwards (then going by her surname Maulett) recorded the song "Camel Walk", in 1962, which featured the Vels in background vocals. That year, the quartet began applying background vocals for emerging Motown star Marvin Gaye, singing on Gaye's first hit single, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" After Mary Wells failed to make a scheduled recording session feigning a short illness, the Vels recorded what was initially a demo recording of "I'll Have to Let Him Go". Motown was so impressed by the group's vocals – and Martha's lead vocals in the song – that the label CEO Berry Gordy offered to give the group a contract. Figuring that being in show business was too rigorous, Williams opted out of the group. With Williams out, the remaining trio of Ashford, Beard and Reeves were told by Gordy that they would need a new name. After failing to come up with a name on their own, Gordy gave the group the name The Vandellas. As stated in an interview with The History Makers, Ashford emphatically states that contrary to popular belief, The Vandellas were not named after Della Reese and Van Dyke Avenue, nor did Reeves come up with the name.

Motown major hit years (1962–1968)
Following their signing to Motown's Gordy imprint in 1962, the Vandellas struck gold with their second release, the first composition and production from the famed writing team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, titled "Come and Get These Memories". It became the Vandellas' first Top 40 recording, reaching number twenty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaking at number six on the R&B chart. Their second hit, "Heat Wave", became a phenomenal record for the group, reaching number four on the Hot 100 and hitting number one on the R&B singles chart for five weeks. It became their first million-seller and eventually got the group their only Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Performance.  On the single and album, the song was titled "Heat Wave".  It was sometime later that the song was retitled to avoid confusion with the Irving Berlin song.

The group's success continued with their second Top Ten single and third Top 40 single, "Quicksand", which was another composition with Holland-Dozier-Holland and reached number eight pop in the late fall of 1963. Around that time, Annette, who was pregnant with her first child and set to get married, chose to leave her singing career behind by 1964. Betty Kelley, formerly of the Velvelettes, was brought in shortly afterward to continue the Vandellas' rise.

The next two singles, "Live Wire" and "In My Lonely Room" (#6 R&B Cashbox) were less successful singles, failing to reach the Pop Top 40. However, their next single, "Dancing in the Street", rose up to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also found global success, peaking at No. 21 on the UK Singles Chart in 1964. In 1969, "Dancing in the Street" was re-issued and it was plugged heavily on radio stations. It did not take long for the song to peak at No. 4 in the UK, thus making the song one of the all-time favourite Motown single releases ever. The song became a million-seller, and one of the most played singles in history.

Between 1964 and 1967, singles like "Wild One" (US #34), "Nowhere to Run" (US #8; UK #26), "Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things)" (US #70; R&B #22), "You've Been in Love Too Long" (US #36), "My Baby Loves Me" (US #22; R&B #3), "I'm Ready for Love" (US #9; R&B #2; UK #29) and "Jimmy Mack" (US #10; R&B #1; UK #21) kept the Vandellas on the map as one of the label's top acts.  The Vandellas' popularity helped the group get spots on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, American Bandstand and Shindig!. Throughout this period, the Vandellas had also become one of the label's most popular performing acts.  On June 28, 1965, the group appeared with several other popular acts of the period on CBS-TV's Murray The K-It's What's Happening, Baby.  Martha, Rosalind and Betty performed "Nowhere to Run," as they skipped through a Ford auto plant and sat in a Ford Mustang convertible as it's being assembled.

Personnel changes
Motown struggled to find good material for many of their acts after the exit of Motown contributor and Reeves' mentor William "Mickey" Stevenson in 1967 and Holland–Dozier–Holland in early 1968, but after their former collaborators left the label, the Vandellas initially continued to find success with the Richard Morris-produced singles "Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone" (US #25; R&B #14) and "Honey Chile" (US #11; UK #30; R&B #5) added to their already extended list of charted singles. In the summer of 1968, the group joined The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops and Marvin Gaye in performing at the Copacabana though much like albums from the Four Tops and Gaye, a live album of their performance there was shelved indefinitely.

That same year, label changes had started to take effect, and Gordy focused much of his attention on building the Supremes' as well as Diana Ross' burgeoning upcoming solo career that would follow in 1970. The Vandellas' chart performance (and the chart performance of many Motown acts with the exception of Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, and Stevie Wonder) suffered as a result.

However it was the infighting among the members of the Vandellas that led to their problems. Kelley was the first to be let go after reportedly missing shows, as well as getting into altercations with Reeves. There were many instances where these "fights" happened on stage. Kelley was fired in 1967 and was replaced by Martha Reeves' sister Lois. Simultaneously, the group's name was officially changed to Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, to conform with the company's recent changes of The Supremes' and The Miracles' names to reflect their featured lead singers. During this time, Vandellas records including "(We've Got) Honey Love", "Sweet Darlin'" and "Taking My Love and Leaving Me" were issued as singles with diminishing success.

"Bless You" (1969–1972)
Reeves, out of the group temporarily due to illness, recovered and returned; Ashford was replaced by another former member of the Velvelettes, Sandra Tilley, and the group continued to release albums and singles into the early 1970s. Although they could not reignite the fire they had made in America they continued to have successful records the UK and abroad. Among their late 1960s hits was "I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playing", which featured singer Syreeta Wright singing the chorus, and peaked at number forty-two. Reeves reportedly hated singing the song sensing it "close to home". In 1969 a reissue of "Nowhere To Run" reached the top 40 in the UK.  In 1970, the group issued Motown's first protest single, the controversial anti-war song, "I Should Be Proud", which peaked at a modest forty-five on the R&B singles chart. The song was uncharacteristic of the Vandellas and did nothing to promote the group. On some stations, the flip-side "Love, Guess Who" was played instead, however the group reached the top 20 that year in the UK with a reissue of "Jimmy Mack".

In 1971, the group scored a top 11 hit in the UK with "Forget Me Not".  later that year they scored an international hit with "Bless You" (produced by the Jackson 5's producers The Corporation). The song peaked at number fifty-three on the American pop singles chart (the biggest peak of Vandellas' seventies singles in the US), and number twenty-nine on the R&B singles chart. "Bless You"  reached number thirty-three in the UK giving the group two big hits that year in England. . "Bless You" reached number 16 in Canada and went all the way to number 2 in Puerto Rico .  It was to be the last Billboard Hot 100 hit single for the group. After two successive Top 40 R&B singles, the ballad "In and Out of My Life" (#22 US R&B) and the Marvin Gaye cover, "Tear It On Down" (#37 US R&B), the group disbanded following a farewell concert, held at Detroit's Cobo Hall on December 21, 1972, but Martha Reeves is still often billed as ‘Martha Reeves& The Vandellas’.

The next year, Reeves announced plans of starting a solo career. At the same time, Motown Records moved its operations to Los Angeles. When Reeves did not want to move, she negotiated out of her contract with Motown, signing with MCA in 1974, and releasing the critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, Martha Reeves. Despite rave reviews of her work, neither of Reeves' post-Vandellas/Motown recordings produced the same success as they had the decade before. After living what she called "a rock & roll lifestyle" of prescription pills, cocaine and alcohol, Reeves sobered up in 1977, overcoming her addictions and becoming a born-again Christian.

Epilogue
After the Vandellas' split, Reeves' sister Lois sang with the group Quiet Elegance and sang background for Al Green, while Tilley retired from show business in the late 1970s, suddenly dying of a brain aneurysm in 1981 at the age of thirty-eight. Original member Gloria Williams, who retired from show business when she left the group, died in 2000. In 1978, Reeves and original Vandellas Ashford and Beard reunited at a Los Angeles benefit concert for actor Will Geer. In 1983, Reeves successfully sued for royalties from her Motown hits and the label agreed to have the songs credited as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas from then on. That year, Reeves performed solo at Motown 25, which alongside some of their songs being placed on the Big Chill soundtrack, helped Reeves and the Vandellas gain a new audience. In 1989, original members Ashford and Beard also sued Motown for royalties. During this time, the original trio were inspired to reunite both as a recording act and in performances. They were offered a recording contract with Ian Levine at Motorcity Records who issued the group's first single since the Vandellas disbanded seventeen years earlier called "Step Into My Shoes."

Although they are no longer singing together full-time, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas have occasionally reunited for various concerts. Currently, Ashford, whose full name now is Rosalind Ashford-Holmes, and Beard, whose full name now is Annette Beard-Helton, continue to perform with other singers, most notably Roschelle Laughhunn, as "The Original Vandellas." Reeves, with her sisters Lois and Delphine Reeves, tour as "Martha Reeves and the Vandellas."

From 2005 to 2009, Reeves held the eighth seat of Detroit's city council. She has since lost her seat and told the press that she would continue performing.

A remake of the song "Nowhere To Run," sung by Arnold McCuller, is heard in the film "The Warriors" during the scene in which the Gramercy Riffs call a hit on the Warriors.

In a Season One episode of the television show The Golden Girls, Blanche described her car as the "noisiest thing to come out of Detroit since Martha & The Vandellas.".

Candice Bergen, who hosted the Saturday Night Live episode on which Martha Reeves appeared in its inaugural season, made sure that Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were a presence throughout her "Murphy Brown" series. The group's picture was displayed prominently in Murphy's office. When Aretha Franklin guest starred and Murphy tried to sing with her, Franklin stopped her, saying, ". . .I'm not Martha, and you ain't no Vandella."

The group is briefly portrayed in the 2017 film Detroit, performing "Nowhere To Run" at the Fox Theatre, Detroit.

Awards and accolades
Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 (they were nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for the song in 1964). In 1993, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were awarded the Pioneer Award by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. Except for pre-Vandellas member Gloria Williamson and Vandellas member Sandra Tilley, all members of the group were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, becoming the second all-female group to be inducted. They were inducted by rock group The B-52's, whose frothy dance music was inspired by the Vandellas. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003. Two of their singles, "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave" and "Dancing in the Street" were included in the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the group No. 96 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2005, Martha & The Vandellas were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

Always concert favorites, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were nominated for UK Festival Awards in 2010 and 2011 as "Best Headliner."

Martha and the Vandellas was inducted into the inaugural class of the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame at Cleveland State University August 2013

Lineups

The Del-Phis
1957–1962
Martha Reeves 
Rosalind Ashford-Holmes 
Annette Beard-Helton 
Gloria Williams

Martha & the Vandellas
1964–1967
Martha Reeves 
Rosalind Ashford-Holmes 
Betty Kelly

Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
1969–1972
Martha Reeves 
Lois Reeves 
Sandra Tilley

The Original Vandellas
2000s-present
Rosalind Ashford-Holmes 
Annette Beard-Helton 
Roschelle Laughhunn

Martha & the Vandellas
1962–1964
Martha Reeves 
Rosalind Ashford-Holmes 
Annette Beard-Helton

Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
1967–1969
Martha Reeves 
Rosalind Ashford-Holmes 
Lois Reeves

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas 
2010–present
Martha Reeves 
Lois Reeves 
 Delphine Reeves

Discography

For a detailed listing of albums and singles, see Martha and the Vandellas discography

Albums 

 Come and Get These Memories (1963)
 Heat Wave (1963)
 Dance Party (1965)
 Greatest Hits (1966)
 Watchout! (1966)
 Martha and the Vandellas Live! (1967)
 Ridin' High (1968)
 Sugar 'n' Spice (1969)
 Natural Resources (1970)
 Black Magic (1972)

Top 10 singles 
The following singles reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 song chart in the U.S.

 "Heat Wave" (1963)
 "Quicksand" (1963)
 "Dancing in the Street" (1964)
 "Nowhere to Run" (1965)
 "I'm Ready for Love" (1966)
 "Jimmy Mack" (1967)

Awards and recognition
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave" and "Dancing in the Street" were inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame and were both included in the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
They were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 becoming just the second all-female group to be inducted and the fifth group in the Motown roster to be inducted.
They were inducted to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.
They were nominated for a Grammy Award for Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance in 1964 for their hit song "Heat Wave"
"Dancing in the Street" was included in the United States Library of Congress' National Recording Registry for its historical, artistic and cultural significance in 2006.

References

External links
 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame page on Martha and the Vandellas
 'Martha and the Vandellas' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
 History of Rock page on Martha and the Vandellas
 The Original Vandellas (Rosalind Ashford-Holmes & Annette Beard-Helton) page
 Martha and the Vandellas History, Charts and Songs
 Martha & The Vandellas at Doo Wop Heaven
 Martha & The Vandellas bio on the Soulwalking U.K. website.

African-American girl groups
American soul musical groups
Motown artists
Musical groups from Detroit
Northern soul musicians
1957 establishments in Michigan
Musical groups disestablished in 1972
Singers from Detroit
"Bless 'Em All", also known as "The Long and the Short and the Tall" and "Fuck 'Em All", is a war song. The words have been credited as being written by Fred Godfrey in 1917 to music composed by Robert Kewley. It was first recorded by George Formby, Jr. in 1940.

The song has also been credited to Jimmy Hughes, Frank Lake and Al Stillman.

History
Godfrey claimed to have thought up the lyrics for the song while serving with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) at Dunkirk during the First World War, recalling in a 1941 letter to the Daily Mirror: "I wrote “Bless 'Em All” while serving in the old RNAS in France in 1916. And, furthermore, it wasn't 'Bless'." Although the song is credited to him, it is unclear if he actually wrote the lyrics, and his service record indicates that he joined RNAS in January 1917. Les Cleveland (1984) writes that a version of the song titled "Fuck 'Em All" was a popular protest song by airmen serving on India's North West Frontier during the 1920s, and may have originated from there. It later gained popularity among British and Commonwealth troops during the Second World War, and with a change of lyrics became a patriotic tune after being performed by singers such as Gracie Fields and Vera Lynn. It was also recorded by George Formby and others. Ward Brown noted that "(...) The line You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean seems to reflect the point of view of soldiers about to be sent to a fighting front on the other side of an ocean - presumably the Atlantic. This would point to an American origin for the song, rather than a British one, though there is no clear evidence for such an origin". However the 'ocean' referred to, given a British-Indian origin, is much more likely to be the Indian Ocean - although the English Channel would do just as well for the purposes of the song.

Lyrics 
Bless 'em all,
Bless 'em all.
The long and the short and the tall,

Bless all those Sergeants and WO1's, 
Bless all those Corporals and their blinkin'/bleedin' sons,
Cos' we're saying goodbye to 'em all.
And back to their Billets they crawl,
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean,
So cheer up my lads bless 'em all

Lyrics from lyrics.com 

They say there's a troopship just leavin' Bombay, bound for old Blighty shore,
Heavily laden with time-expired men, bound for the land they adore.
There's many an airman just finishing his time, there's many a twerp signin' on.
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless 'em all.

Bless 'em all, bless 'em all, the long and the short and the tall.
Bless all the sergeants and W. O. 1s,
Bless all the corp'rals and their blinkin' sons,
'Cos we're sayin' goodbye to them all, as back to their billets they crawl.
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless 'em all.

They say if you work hard you'll get better pay.
We've heard all that before.
Clean up your buttons and polish your boots,
Scrub out the barrack room floor.
There's many a rookie has taken it in, hook, line, and sinker an' all.
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless 'em all. 

Bless 'em all, bless 'em all, the long and the short and the tall,
Bless all the sergeants and W. O. 1s,
Bless all the corp'rals and their blinkin' sons,
'Cos we're sayin' goodbye to them all, as back to their billets they crawl.
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless 'em all.

Now they say that the sergeant's a very nice chap, oh what a tale to tell.
Ask him for leave on a Saturday night; he'll pay your fare home as well.
There's many an airman has blighted his life through writing rude words on the wall.
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless 'em all.

Bless 'em all, bless 'em all, the long and the short and the tall,
Bless all the sergeants and W. O. 1s,
Bless all the corp'rals and their blinkin' sons,
'Cos we're sayin' goodbye to them all, as back to their billets they crawl.
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless 'em all.

Nobody knows what a twerp you have been, so cheer up my lads bless 'em all

Irish version
A satirical version of the song became very popular in Ireland during the Second World War (known in neutral Ireland as the Emergency). The song was a reaction to the widespread rationing of tea, sugar, tobacco and other goods due to the drastic drop in imports, particularly from Britain. It poked fun at Ireland's Taoiseach Éamon de Valera and Minister Seán MacEntee who were blamed for the shortages and rationing. The line "the long and the short and the tall" had particular sarcastic resonance because De Valera was tall while McEntee was very short.

In popular culture
Films
The first verse of the song was sung in the propaganda film Tunisian Victory released by the US and the UK in 1944 at 40:38.
The song was used as the title theme to the 1961 film The Long and the Short and the Tall.
The song was sung and used as an instrumental theme in the 1941 film Confirm or Deny
The song is sung by the characters in Captains of the Clouds (1942).
"Bless' Em All" is sung by the pilots of the Polish Brigade of the Royal Air Force in the 1942 comedy film To Be Or Not To Be
In the 1943 Canadian film Corvette K225 the song is sung by members of the crew and is used in an instrumental version as part of the score.
The song is heard as a snippet in Guadalcanal Diary (1943), sung by the Marines on the island as well as Marine Raiders (1944).
The song is heard being sung in the Officer's Club in the 1949 film Twelve O'Clock High with Gregory Peck and Dean Jagger. In the AFI Catalog of Feature Films, the song is credited as "words and music by Jimmy Hughes, Frank Lake and Al Stillman".
The song is featured in the film Chain Lightning with Humphrey Bogart, released in 1950. It is sung twice, and the melody is used as instrumental backing for the film's climax. As with Twelve O'Clock High, the AFI Catalog credits the song to Jimmy Hughes, Frank Lake, and Al Stillman.  
 A version of the song was sung by United States Marines on the march to the Hungnam Evacuation after the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.  
The song is sung by the POWs in The Colditz Story (1954).
An instrumental version is heard in the 1955 Clark Gable / Lana Turner movie Betrayed.
The song is heard as a snippet in the Red Cross Service Club scene in the 1956 William Holden and Deborah Kerr film The Proud and Profane.
"Fuck 'Em All" is heard in the 2007 film Atonement being sung by soldiers as they wait to be evacuated from Dunkirk.
 A variation with lyrics "Ring them all, Ring them all" is used at the conclusion of Paul McCartney's "Give My Regards to Broad Street (film)".
Television
Archie Bunker sings a few lines of the song in the final seconds of the season one episode "Success Story" of the TV show All in the Family.
In the Magnum, P.I. episode "Echoes of the Mind Part I" Jonathan Higgins listens to a record of the song.
The song was sung several times in the pub scene of a 1980 NBC television movie, The Secret War of Jackie's Girls, set in England in World War II.

Literature
 William Hjortsberg's biography of Richard Brautigan, Jubilee Hitchhiker, includes an account of Brautigan in 1967 joining several other poets and artists in a Chinese restaurant to celebrate Basil Bunting, who'd been invited to read at the San Francisco Museum of Art. Bunting led everyone in "an old British-army or service-person-overseas kind of song where everybody gets screwed." Hjortsberg calls it "Troop Ships Are Leaving Bombay," the first line of Formby's original lyric.

References

External links
Bless ’Em All page from Bless ’Em All: The Songs of Fred Godfrey
George Formby recording 

1917 songs
Songs of World War I
Songs of World War II
George Formby songs
Songs written by Fred Godfrey
Songs about politicians
Songs about celebrities
Cultural depictions of Éamon de Valera Go Bananas! is the 30th album released by the Australian children's music group, the Wiggles. Kylie Minogue guest stars as the pink Wiggle. This album won the 2009 Aria Award for Best Children's Album.

Track listing
 Introduction
 Monkey Man (featuring Kylie Minogue)
 The Chicken Walk
 Kangaroo Jumping
 Bless You, Bless You, Bonnie Bee
 The Unicorn (featuring Morgan Crowley)
 The Monkey, The Bird And The Bear
 Little Robin Redbreast
 The Dingle Puck Goat
 One Monkey Who
 Wags The Dog Is Chasing His Tail
 Cock-A-Doodle-Doo
 The Lion Is King
 Rusty the Cowboy (featuring John Waters)
 Sing, Sing!
 The Poor King
 Here Comes A Camel
 Dickory, Dickory, Dare
 Frankie The Blue Eyed Koala
 I’m A Scary Tiger
 Hodley Podley
 Standing Like A Statue
 Kangaroo, Kangaroo, What Do You See?
 Tassie Devil
 Once I Saw A Little Bird
 Hippo, Hippo!

Video

Go Bananas! was released on ABC DVD in 2009.

Song List
Monkey Man (Featuring Kylie Minogue) 
The Chicken Walk 
Kangaroo Jumping 
Bless You, Bless You, Bonnie Bee 
The Monkey, the Bird and the Bear 
Little Robin Redbreast 
The Dingle Puck Goat 
One Monkey Who 
Wags the Dog Is Chasing His Tail 
Cock-A-Doodle-Doo 
The Lion Is King 
Rusty The Cowboy (Featuring John Waters) 
Sing, Sing! 
The Poor King 
Here Comes a Camel 
Dickory, Dickory, Dare 
Frankie the Blue-Eyed Koala 
I'm a Scary Tiger 
Hodley Podley 
Standing Like a Statue 
Kangaroo, Kangaroo, What Do You See? 
Tassie Devil 
Once I Saw a Little Bird 
Hippo, Hippo!

References

External links

The Wiggles albums
The Wiggles videos
2009 albums
ARIA Award-winning albums
2009 video albums
Australian children's musical films