The one from Night Watch. It was truly an excellent song, and the book was one of the best I've read. I liked it how all the usual Ankh suspects were joining in with the lilac and all that.
http://www.lspace.org/fandom/songs/all-the-little-angels.html That is the best I could find. Thanks anyway.
I posted about this on the old boards. There is a similar folk song to the tune of 'Ah! My dear old Augustine' (sorry, can't remember the German name) that Pterry probably got the idea from. There is no full version given in NW, but one can be extrapolated. If the old boards ever come back up, I'll get the posts from there. Edit: Apparently they're available again. Here's my post from over there.
Yar, thanks for posting that. I thought it was genius myself. Especially how, as you say, it started pleasant (young Vimes actually says this), but people use it to remember the people they're not singing it with. Really sad and thought provoking.
My version of the song made up from the snippets in the book. I believe the verses are in the wrong order though as I seem to remember, as stated above, that they should start at the head and work down the body. I’ll have to check next time I read the book and correct. ALL THE LITTLE ANGELS (soldiers song) All the little angels rise up, rise up; All the little angels rise up high. How do they rise up, rise up, rise up; How do they rise up, rise up high? They rise knees up, knees up, knees up, All the little angels rise up high. See the little angels rise up, rise up; See the little angels rise up high. See how they rise up, rise up, rise up; See how they rise up, rise up high? They rise hands up, hands up, hands up, See the little angels rise up high. All the little angels rise up, rise up; All the little angels rise up high. How do they rise up, rise up, rise up; How do they rise up, rise up high? They rise feet up, feet up, feet up, All the little angels rise up high. See the little angels rise up, rise up; See the little angels rise up high. See how they rise up, rise up, rise up; See how they rise up, rise up high? They rise heads up, heads up, heads up, All the little angels rise up high. All the little angels rise up, rise up; See the little angels rise up high. How do they rise up, rise up, rise up; See how they rise up, rise up high? They rise ARSE up, arse up, arse up, See the little angels rise up high.
there are no official full words to the song but i beleive it starts at the head and does everything going down the body. so im gonna create an unofficvial version and get posting
This is an "army" version of the song from around the early 1900's. I seem to remember seeing it referenced somewhere as being of German origin around the time of a plague(?) and was sung during the early morning as the body collectors went about their tasks. Funnily enough the simple school tune "Oh My Little Augustine" fits the words ideally. All the little angels rise up, rise up, All the little angels rise up high. How do they rise up, rise up, rise up? How do they rise up, rise up high? They rise heads up, heads up, heads up, They rise heads up, heads up high. All the little angels rise up, rise up, All the little angels rise up high. How do they rise up, rise up, rise up? How do they rise up, rise up high? They rise knees up, knees up, knees up, They rise knees up, knees up high. All the little angels rise up, rise up, All the little angels rise up high. How do they rise up, rise up, rise up? How do they rise up, rise up high? They rise arse up, arse up, arse up, They rise arse up, arseup high. See how they rise up, rise up, rise up, See how they rise up, rise up high. All the little angels ascend up to Heaven All the little angels ascend up on high Which end up? Ascend up Which end up? Ascend up All the little angels ascend up on high.
Seeing the Joculator return once more is worth seeing a two year old thread being risen from the dead. And as for the song, I mean while we're at it anyway, the German version of "Oh, my dear Augustin" was sung during the plague. Now I don't know the lyrics of the English version, but the German text (of Austrian origin, with the well known melody) went "Oh, dear Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. Money's lost, girl is lost, Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. Oh, dear Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. Skirt is lost, stick is lost, Augustin's lying in the dirt. Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. Oh, dear Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. And even rich Vienna Is lost like Augustin. Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. Oh, dear Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. Now we have the pest What a big corpse fest Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. Oh, dear Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost. Augustin, Augustin, Just lay down into the grave Oh dear Augustin, everything's lost." Original: Ach, du lieber Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Geld ist hin, Mädl ist hin, alles ist hin, Augustin! Ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Ach, du lieber Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Rock ist weg, Stock ist weg, Augustin liegt im Dreck. Ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Ach, du lieber Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Und selbst das reiche Wien, hin ist's wie Augustin. Ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Ach, du lieber Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Jetzt haben wir die Pest, welch großes Leichenfest. Ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Ach, du lieber Augustin, Augustin, Augustin, ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin! Augustin, Augustin, leg' nur ins Grab dich hin! Ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin!