
This light-hearted recruitment tune composed in 1915 by Tom Mellor and Harry Gifford was a British wartime hit and claimed a uniform was all it took to attract 'nice' girls
All the Boys in Khaki Get the Nice Girls was recorded in 1915 by F.W Ramsey, the pseudonym of Fred Douglas, who was also the lead singer in a comedy duo called the ‘Two Gilberts’. The song exemplifies what the great British lyricist Herman Darewski said about songwriting; ‘The opening sentence of the chorus should form a catchphrase…every word must be simple, childish in its simplicity in fact’.
The lyrics are set to a distinct marching beat punctuated by an instantly recognizable military-sounding trumpet interlude.
All the Boys in Khaki Get the Nice Girls – lyrics
Little Johnny Brown was a dandy in the town
Wore a stuck up collar and spats and every latest tie
All the girls were crazy over Johnny for years and years
Until there came a day when all of them passed him by
He wondered why they passed him by
When they always used to give him a beautiful glad, glad eye
He stood on the corner in sweet meditation and looking so terribly sad
Till a lady recruitment sergeant said, ‘Look here, young fellow, my lad,
All the boys in khaki get the nice girls
And the boys in blue get the nice girls too
Maidens by the score
Flappers galore
Every time you give them a kiss they shout ‘Encore!’
All the boys in khaki get the nice girls
Eyes of grey, eyes of brown, eyes of blue
So John, John, John put a bit of khaki on
And you’ll get the nice girls too!’
She said, ‘Johnny Brown, say goodbye to the life in town
Get up, boy, at boy at five in the morning with the rising sun
All the little girls you know will follow you everywhere
When once they see you boy, shouldering up your gun
Twill be such fun, to use a gun
And your mother will be ever so proud of her great big son’
Johnny went off and he very soon came back with khaki and everything on
Kissed the lady recruiting sergeant shouting, ‘This is the life for John!
All the boys in khaki get the nice girls
And the boys in blue get the nice girls too
Maidens by the score
Flappers galore
Every time you give them a kiss they shout ‘Encore!’
All the boys in khaki get the nice girls
Eyes of grey, eyes of brown, eyes of blue
So John, John, John put a bit of khaki on
And you’ll get the nice girls too!’
Repeat chorus
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.