Colonel Bogey March

"Colonel Bogey March"
March
Written	1914
Writer(s)	F. J. Ricketts
ISWC	T-913.432.659-3

The “Colonel Bogey March” is a popular march that was composed in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts (1881–1945) (a.k.a. Kenneth J. Alford), a British Army bandmaster who later became the director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth.

Since at that time service personnel were not encouraged to have professional lives outside the armed forces, British Army bandmaster F. J. Ricketts published "Colonel Bogey" and his other compositions under the pseudonym Kenneth Alford. Supposedly, the tune was inspired by a military man and golfer who whistled a characteristic two-note phrase (a descending minor third interval  Play ) instead of shouting "Fore!" It is this descending interval that begins each line of the melody. The name "Colonel Bogey" began in the later 19th century as the imaginary "standard opponent" of the Colonel Bogey scoring system, and by Edwardian times the Colonel had been adopted by the golfing world as the presiding spirit of the course. Edwardian golfers on both sides of the Atlantic often played matches against "Colonel Bogey."Bogey is now a golfing term meaning "one over par."

The sheet music was a million-seller, and the march was recorded many times. At the start of World War II, "Colonel Bogey" became part of the British way of life when the tune was set to a popular song: "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" (originally "Goering Has Only Got One Ball" after the Luftwaffe leader suffered a grievous groin injury, but later reworded to suit the popular taste), with the tune becoming an unofficial national anthem to rudeness. "Colonel Bogey" was used as a march-past by the 10th and 50th Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the latter perpetuated today by The King's Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC) of the Canadian Forces, who claim "Colonel Bogey" as their authorised march-past in quick time.

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