First World War.com - Vintage Audio - While They Were Dancing Around

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Sheet music to "While They Were Dancing Around" Vintage Audio: While They Were Dancing Around
Updated - Saturday, 30 August, 2003

Available below is a version of While They Were Dancing Around, lyrics by Joseph McCarthy and music by James V Monaco.

Published in New York in 1913 the song consequently bore no references to the war in Europe but was nevertheless a popular tune in the war's first year (albeit in the U.S.).

It proved enduring: it was subsequently used by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their final film together The Story of Irene and Vernon Castle in 1939.

The version are available here was recorded in 1914 by Henry Burr and the Peerless Quartet (click here) (MP3 format 993kb).

A "Dixie" (from the Hindi degci) was an army cooking pot.