March From The River Kwai And Colonel Bogey

Album

Single

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Film Score

Media Type

78

Duration

2:22

Composer(s)

Malcolm Arnold

Entered Chart

Jan 13, 1958

Peak Date

Feb 24, 1958

Released

18 Nov 1957

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Columbia 4-41066

B-Side

Hey Little Baby

The "Colonel Bogey March" is a British march composed in 1914 by Lieutenant Kenneth J. Alford (1881–1945), a British Army bandmaster who later became the Director of Music of the Royal Marines at Plymouth. The melody is often whistled. During the Second World War, British soldiers sang the lyrics "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" to accompany the tune. The march first appeared in film in 1938 when it was hummed by Michael Redgrave in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. For David Lean's 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai, set during World War II, English composer Malcolm Arnold added an orchestral march, which he titled "The River Kwai March", to accompany the Colonel Bogey march. Empire magazine included the melody in its list of 25 of Cinema's Catchiest Earworms English composer Malcolm Arnold added a counter-march, which he titled "The River Kwai March", for the 1957 dramatic film The Bridge on the River Kwai, set during World War II. The two marches were recorded together by Mitch Miller as "March from the River Kwai – Colonel Bogey" and it reached #20 in the US in 1958. The Arnold march forms part of the orchestral concert suite made of the Arnold film score by Christopher Palmer published by Novello & Co in London. On account of the movie, the "Colonel Bogey March" is often miscredited as the "River Kwai March". While Arnold did use "Colonel Bogey" in his score for the movie, it was only the first theme and a bit of the second theme of "Colonel Bogey", whistled unaccompanied by the British prisoners several times as they marched into the prison camp. The British actor Percy Herbert, who appeared in The Bridge on the River Kwai, suggested the use of the song in the movie. According to Kevin Brownlow's interviews with the film's director David Lean, it was actually Lean who knew of the song and fought during the screenwriting process to have it whistled by the troops. He realized it had to be whistled rather than sung because the World War II-era lyrics (see "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball") were racy and would not get past the censors. Percy Herbert was used as a consultant on the film because he had first-hand experience of Japanese POW camps; he was paid an extra £5 per week by Lean. Since the movie depicted prisoners of war held under inhumane conditions by the Japanese, Canadian officials were embarrassed in May 1980, when a military band played "Colonel Bogey" during a visit to Ottawa by Japanese prime minister Masayoshi Ōhira

Instrumental