Achi Baba - Old Gallipoli's A Wonderful Place

There are many famous songs from the First World War, and while they have a universal appeal around the experiences of the troops or the families left behind, most of them are associated with the Western front. Old Gallipoli's A Wonderful Place is one of a smaller number of songs and tunes which are related to the Gallipoli campaign.

It is sung to the tune of Mountains of Mourne, we've used a version of the tune in our promo trailer for our Achi Baba graphic novel, although we have used a reading of the poem 'The Vision' by Patrick MacGill in place of the lyrics below.

Oh, old Gallipoli's a wonderful place
Where the boys in the trenches the foe have to face,
But they never grumble, they smile through it all,
Very soon they expect Achi Baba to fall.
At least when I asked them, that's what they told me
In Constantinople quite soon we would be,
But if war lasts till Doomsday I think we'll still be
Where old Gallipoli sweeps down to the sea.

We don't grow potatoes or barley or wheat,
So we're on the lookout for something to eat,
We're fed up with biscuits and bully and ham
And we're sick of the sight of yon parapet jam.
Send out steak and onions and nice ham and eggs
And a fine big fat chicken with five or six legs,
And a drink of the stuff that begins with a "B"
Where the old Gallipoli sweeps down to the sea.

The Achi Baba project was supported by Heritage Lottery Fund - First World War Then and Now programme. Copies of the book will be available from The Dutch Gable House on Saturday 11 July from 10 - 2.

As we move closer to the centenary, Inverclyde's Great War project is tweeting the progress of the the 5th Argylls on their journey towards Gallipoli/Dardanelles using #5argylls