Anyone knows the full words to 'All the Little Angels'

drunkymonkey · **Anyone knows the full words to 'All the Little Angels' -** 09-13-2006, 14:07

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.

Electric_Man · *Last edited by Electric_Man; 03-20-2007 at 20:56.*

I think the lyrics are on l-space somewhere, probably on the Night Watch pages (surprisingly

)

drunkymonkey · **Anyone knows the full words to 'All the Little Angels' -** 09-13-2006, 20:13

http://www.lspace.org/fandom/songs/a...le-angels.html

That is the best I could find. Thanks anyway.

Buzzfloyd · **Anyone knows the full words to 'All the Little Angels' -** 09-19-2006, 23:20

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.

Quote:

This could be completely erroneous, but I'm sure I've heard something similar to Pterry's words being sung to the tune of Ah, My Dear Augustine (Ach, Du Lieber, Augustin).
I only knew the one chorus, for which you have to use the UK English slang:
Now all the little angels are sent up, are sent up,
Now all the little angels are sent up on high.
Which end up? Arse end up.
Which end up? Arse end up.
All the little angels arse end up on high.

I assumed that Pterry took it and extended it, unless there are other verses I don't know about.

Buzzfloyd · **Anyone knows the full words to 'All the Little Angels' -** 09-19-2006, 23:26

Additional stuff:

From Samantha Vimes:

Quote:

Full version never given, but it starts with "heads up" and works it's way down, including naughty bits.
Why is it there at all? Layers of meaning, I think, but some things it makes me think of...

Reg does actually rise up, not as an angel, either.
"Rise up" can refer to the spirits rising from the bodies of the dead, or it can mean the "rise up" as in rising up in revolt-- the 'angels' or innocents of the city are rising up to demand some justice.
The song is a song of mourning, though, essentially, as the book centers around seven graves that Vimes doesn't want to see filled. Men who died because they did what they felt was right rather than what was safe. While the song had been used as a war song, the meaning that impressed itself on Vimes and the other survivors was that of mourning, and while the People's Republic barely merits a few sentences in the history books, to the people who were there, "All the Little Angels", the scent of lilacs, and the small plot in Small Gods are all the memorial ever needed.

From me:

Quote:

An indication of what Pterry was trying to do with the song lies in how he changed the words from the traditional.
The trad version (which I think I posted in another thread) says:
All the little angels are sent up, are sent up etc
Hence 'Which end up? Arse end up?' And the other variations Pterry uses.
However, he's changed the line that gives rise to all the amusing wordplay, and made it 'rise up'. Which has the connotations Samantha suggests above.
A rude, soldiers' marching song, the reasons behind the words lost or forgotten, that has turned into something else, more serious and thought-provoking. Like soldiers who go to war, or people starting a rebellion; they start off all cheerful and full of hope, then when people start to get killed, reality hits home.

drunkymonkey · **Anyone knows the full words to 'All the Little Angels' -** 09-22-2006, 23:58

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.

KaptenKaries · **Anyone knows the full words to 'All the Little Angels' -** 09-23-2006, 10:44

Night Watch was a good book.

JAK · **Anyone knows the full words to 'All the Little Angels' -** 11-08-2006, 21:25

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.

helibago · 07-05-2008, 11:27

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

Joculator · 07-09-2008, 01:12

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.

Hsing · 07-09-2008, 09:54

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!

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