Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

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"Hitler has only got one ball" redirects here. For the theories about Adolf Hitler's testicles, see Possible monorchism of Adolf Hitler.
"Hitler Has Only Got One Ball"
Song
Writtenc. 1939
GenreNovelty song
Composer(s)Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts as "Colonel Bogey March"
Lyricist(s)unknown

"Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" is a World War II British song that mocks Nazi leaders using blue comedy in reference to their testicles. Multiple variants of the lyrics exist, generally sung as four-line verses to the tune of the older "Colonel Bogey March", composed in 1914.

Lyrics[]

The most popular stanza consists of the following quatrain:[1]

Hitler has only got one ball,
Göring has two but very small,[a]
Himmler is rather sim'lar,[b]
But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.

The opening line is a reference to widespread rumors that Adolf Hitler suffered from monorchism. The truth of Hitler's monorchism has been debated during and after World War II, but was ultimately irrelevant to the song's popularity.[6] The second and third lines similarly attack Nazi Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring and SS chief Heinrich Himmler by suggesting they suffered from microorchidism.[7] In the fourth line, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels's name is often mispronounced "go-balls".[8]

Analysis[]

The lyrics attack Nazi leaders' masculinity by mocking and belittling their alleged testicular deformities.[9] In claiming that Hitler had only one testicle, the opening line suggests that Hitler had less than the normal amount of sexual prowess and, symbolically, courage.[7] Mad studies scholar Richard A. Ingram wrote that the accusation of monorchidism in the song alluded to the theory that monorchidism caused Hitler to be insane, in the same way that "'lone nut' retains the idea of a casual relationship between monotesticularity and madness."[10]

All known versions of the lyrics end with "no balls at all". Folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber writes, "... in this musical catalogue of testicular disorders, the definitive last entry is always anorchism – the physical signifier of a lack of courage or character."[11] In Kelley's analysis of the first verse:[7]

As a means of ridiculing the Nazis, "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" became immensely popular among Allied troops, who in transmitting this song were exercising something of a wartime convention by demeaning the sexual faculties of enemy leaders. But the mockery extended beyond just the Nazis' sexual capacities. Since the 1920s, the words balls or ballsy had come to denote notions of courage, nerve, or fortitude. In that sense, defective testicles rendered the Nazis defective soldiers. This song's itemized taxonomy of malformed German genitalia—the monorchid, the micro-orchid, the anorchid—was particularly forceful, and satisfying, to Allied soldiers in that it scattered satiric buckshot across the whole Nazi high command (Hitler; Hermann Göring, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe; Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the SS; and Goebbels, Reich minister of propaganda).

According to Brian O. Murdoch, a philologist with the University of Stirling, a notable aspect of the lyrics is that they attack enemy leaders, but not the enemy in general.[12] Jason Lee of De Montfort University wrote, "Just as Shakespeare used a disability based on some fact to construct Richard III's character, in the case of Hitler disability is equated with not just moral weakness but evil."[13] University of Stirling philosophy professor Rowan Cruft describes the song as an example of morally-appropriate disrespect, writing "Hitler's actions made it morally correct to show him disrespect" by singing the song.[14] University of Kent psychology professor Janet Sayers wrote that the song was a response by the Allies to the use of "male fantasy" in Nazi propaganda.[15]

According to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville philosophy professor Greg Littmann, the song is an example of political mockery used to build a "fighting spirit".[16] Maria Curie-Skłodowska University lecturer Joanna Jabłońska-Hood wrote that the song uses comedy to combat an enemy in wartime by attacking the masculinity of Nazi leaders, turning them from symbols of strength to objects of pity. According to Jabłońska-Hood, the apparent contradiction of high-ranking Nazi leaders being pitied mirrors the juxtaposition of the cheerful, upbeat tune of Colonel Bogey March with the "grim subject" of the lyrics.[17] University of Nottingham music professor Mervyn Cooke described the tune as "reflect[ing] the moods of humor in adversity and pride in the resilience of the underdog".[18]

Other versions[]

Additional British verses used regional vocabulary and focused on local landmarks:[19]

Hitler has only got one ball,
The other is in the Albert Hall,
His mother, the dirty bugger,[c]
Chopped it off when Hitler was small.[d]
She threw it, into the apple tree,
the wind blew it into the deep blue sea,
Where the fishes got out their dishes,
And ate scallops and bollocks for tea.

In addition to the common reference to Hitler's suspected monorchidism, these versions suggest he was abused by his mother, and that Hitler's severed testicle ultimately became a wartime trophy on public display in the Royal Albert Hall. Regional variations from other areas of the United Kingdom alter the location: "Free Trade Hall" was sung in Manchester; "Leeds Town Hall" in Leeds; "Kelvin Hall" in Glasgow; and "Ulster Hall" in Northern Ireland.[19] Variations of the "Albert Hall" lyrics were still sung by schoolchildren in the London neighborhoods of Finsbury in 1983 and Kensington in 1984.[22]

Later versions, after Hitler's death and the end of World War II, changed the first line to the past-tense: "Hitler, he only had one ball".[12] Other postwar variations of the first line included "only one big ball" and "only one left ball", which Kelley writes is "a curious description, given that having one left testicle is considered the norm". Another variation, "only one meat ball", emerged in the mid-1940s after The Andrews Sisters popularized a Tin Pan Alley song called "One Meat Ball".[23] Some variants popular among children replace "Goebells" with a fictional character, "Joe Balls".[11]

Second verse[]

According to folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber, there is a less-popular second verse:[11]

Rommel has four or five, I guess,
No one's quite sure 'bout Rudolf Hess,
Schmeling is always yelling,
But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.

In contrast to the Nazi leaders named in the first verse, Erwin Rommel, the decorated German field marshal known as the "Desert Fox" who was more respected (or at least less hated) than other members of the Nazi high command, is described as hypermasculine, having too many testicles rather than too few.[11]

The second verse's second line is a reference to the mystery surrounding the capture and imprisonment in 1941 of Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess. Hess secretly flew to Scotland to attempt to negotiate a peace treaty, but was arrested by the British and imprisoned for life.[24]

The second verse's third line was an American addition, referencing the 1938 defeat of German boxer Max Schmeling (whose success was touted by Nazi propaganda as a sign of Aryan superiority) by African-American boxer Joe Louis, when Schmeling "let out a high-pitched cry" after being hit with a decisive punch in the first round of the match. This "yell heard around the world" became a symbol of American victory over Nazism.[25]

Origin[]

An adaptation of the common World War I-era "Colonel Bogey March",[20] "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" first appeared among British troops in 1939.[26] According to Brian O. Murdoch, a philologist with the University of Stirling, the adaptation was an oral composition that likely originated in London.[27] The exact origins of the adaptation are unknown and there are several claims of authorship of the lyrics.[28]

Author Donough O'Brien wrote in his autobiography that his father, Toby O'Brien, then a publicist for the British Council, wrote the lyrics in August 1939 as British wartime propaganda.[29] The version purportedly authored by O'Brien begins "Göring has only got one ball, Hitler had two but very small", while almost all other versions have the order reversed ("Hitler has only got one ball, Göring had two but very small").[30]

British composer and broadcaster Hubert Gregg claimed to have written the lyrics and submitted them anonymously to the British War Office to be used as wartime propaganda.[7]

In his 2001 purportedly-nonfiction BBC radio play Dear Dr. Goebbels, British screenwriter Neville Smith suggested that an undercover MI6 agent in Germany named Philip Morgenstern wrote the lyrics and used the song as a means to transmit intelligence to Britain concerning private details about Joseph Goebbels (the last line of the adaptation's first verse is "But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all").[31]

According to folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber, while the song was widely sung by Allied troops to boost morale, claims by O'Brien, Gregg, and others suggesting the adaptation was a piece of intentional wartime propaganda initiated by the British government are "dubious" because governments generally do not use humor or humorous songs as propaganda because such efforts are largely unsuccessful.[32]

According to Kelley, another possible explanation for the song's origin is that the lyrics developed organically, originating from the difficulty English speakers had pronouncing Goebbels's name properly (in the song, "Goebbels" is pronounced "go-balls" instead of the correct "ger-bells").[11]

Murdoch writes that the opening line may have originated from various folk sources, such as the Irish ballad Sam Hall (which, in some versions, includes the lyric "Oh my name it is Sam Hall / and I've only got one ball"[3]). According to Scottish poet Alan Bold, the last line may have been influenced by an earlier song called "No Balls At All", itself a parody of an Air Force song called "No Bombs At All", which in turn was a parody of a song about women's clothing called "Nothing to Wear".[12]

There has been no known attempt by anyone to claim or enforce a copyright on the lyrics, which are listed in the Roud Folk Song Index, number 10,493.[33]

Legacy[]

One of the most significant postwar appearances of the song came in David Lean's 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which the film's composer Malcolm Arnold won an Oscar. A recording by the Mitch Miller band became a best-selling record. The song was often referred to as The River Kwai March, based on the mistaken but popular belief that it had been written specifically for the film. Lean wanted to have soldiers sing the lyrics, but the widow of the original "Colonel Bogey March" tune's composer refused to allow the song to be used in the film with bawdy lyrics. Lean decided to omit the lyrics, knowing the audience would remember them anyhow. In the film, Allied soldiers in a Japanese prisoner of war camp maintain morale by whistling the tune as a subtle act of defiance.[34] University of Minnesota music theory professor Sumanth Gopinath and Jason Stanyek, a lecturer of ethnomusicology at Oxford University, have described the River Kwai scene as "sonic control over space ... produced collectively".[35] Since Bridge on the River Kwai, the song has been the subject of numerous cultural references, both comedic and scandalous, throughout the 20th and into the 21st century.[36]

In 1980, when The King's Own Calgary Regiment Band played its official march, the Colonel Bogey March, upon a visit to Canada by Japan's then-prime minister, it was perceived as an insult to Japan, because of the song's use in Bridge on the River Kwai and its association with the "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" lyrics.[37][38] Views of the song may have changed, however; in 2007, the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet Band played the tune in Japan without incident.[39]

A 2003 advertisement for Spitfire ale showed a picture of Hitler in military uniform with the caption "Spot the ball".[40]) In 2007, The Armstrong and Miller Show aired a comedy sketch mocking theories that the song had originated as a British intelligence report.[41] In the sketch, a military officer reads the incoming report, which an intelligence agent describes as "possibly the single biggest intelligence coup of the war" (brackets in the original):[42]

But this is dynamite [reading, as from a Morse code communique]
Hitler. One ball. [audience laughter throughout]
Goring. Two but small.
Himmler. Similar.
Goebbels. No balls at all.

At the 2016 Winnipeg Comedy Festival, comedian Lara Rae referenced the song in a joke about the dangers of cats being neutered by non-professionals who might not complete the task: "It might start out okay, but you really have to finish the job. A cat with no balls is mellow; a cat with one ball is Hitler."[40]

These comedic references have been effective for nearly a century after the war because of the popularity of the lyrics, which in turn have engendered theories of Hitler's actual monorchism in the public consciousness.[43]

The song has also become popular in Germany, where it has been used in advertisements for the digestif Underberg, and in Japan, where it has been used in game shows and children's shows. Thomas Jefferson School of Law professor Aaron Schwabach described the song's appropriation not just by Britain's allies but also by its former enemies, whom the lyrics attack, as a form of "cultural transformation" that is "an essential tool of cultural survival in a global era".[44]

See also[]

  • Discrediting tactics

Notes[]

  1. ^ In some versions, "rather small"[2] or "they are small".[3]
  2. ^ In some versions, "is very sim'lar"[4] or "has something sim'lar".[5]
  3. ^ In some versions, "brother" rather than "mother".[20]
  4. ^ In some versions, "Cut it off when he was small".[21]

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ Cooke 2020, p. 91; Kelley 2020, p. 28; Schwabach 2016, p. 76; Pennell 2013, p. 177; Proctor 1999, p. 140; Murdoch 1990, p. 200.
  2. ^ Pennell 2013, p. 177.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Ashley 1977, p. 148.
  4. ^ Proctor 1999, p. 140.
  5. ^ Pennell 2013, p. 177; Ashley 1977, p. 148.
  6. ^ Kelley 2020, pp. 33-34; Murdoch 1990, p. 200.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Kelley 2020, p. 28.
  8. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 30; Murdoch 1990, p. 200.
  9. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 28; Littmann 2019, p. 64; Jablonska-Hood 2016, pp. 96-97; Murdoch 1990, pp. 200-201.
  10. ^ Ingram 2007, p. 210.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Kelley 2020, p. 30.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c Murdoch 1990, p. 201.
  13. ^ Lee 2018, p. 233.
  14. ^ Cruft 2013, pp. 203-204.
  15. ^ Sayers 1995, p. 123.
  16. ^ Littmann 2019, p. 64.
  17. ^ Jablonska-Hood 2016, pp. 96-97.
  18. ^ Cooke 2020, p. 92.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Kelley 2020, p. 32.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b Kelsey 2019, p. 693.
  21. ^ Kelsey 2019, p. 693; Rothwell 2016.
  22. ^ Kelsey 2019, pp. xlii, 693.
  23. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 34.
  24. ^ Kelley 2020, pp. 30-31.
  25. ^ Kelley 2020, pp. 31-32.
  26. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 27; Littmann 2019, p. 64; Jablonska-Hood 2016, pp. 96-97; Rothwell 2016; Pennell 2013, p. 177.
  27. ^ Murdoch 1990, p. 200.
  28. ^ Kelley 2020, pp. 28-30; Murdoch 1990, p. 200.
  29. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 28; Jablonska-Hood 2016, p. 96.
  30. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 28; Pennell 2013, p. 177.
  31. ^ Kelley 2020, pp. 28-29.
  32. ^ Kelley 2020, pp. 29-30.
  33. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 29.
  34. ^ Cooke 2020, pp. 91-92; Kelley 2020, pp. 34-35; Schwabach 2016, pp. 75-77; Whiteley 2010, p. 133; Ashley 1977, p. 148.
  35. ^ Gopinath & Stanyek 2014, p. 31.
  36. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 35.
  37. ^ Cooke 2020, pp. 91-92; Schwabach 2016, p. 77.
  38. ^ The Canadian Press (6 May 1980). "Our band hit sour note for Japan's prime minister". Montreal Gazette. p. 1. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  39. ^ Schwabach 2016, p. 77.
  40. ^ Jump up to: a b Kelley 2020, p. 36.
  41. ^ Kelley 2020, pp. 37-39; Lee 2018, p. 233.
  42. ^ Kelley 2020, pp. 37-39.
  43. ^ Kelley 2020, p. 39.
  44. ^ Schwabach 2016, p. 78.

Works cited[]

  • Leonard R. N. Ashley (1977), "Rhyme and Reason: the Methods and Meanings of Cockney Rhyming Slang, Illustrated with Some Proper Names and Some Improper Phrases", Names, Volume 25, Issue 3, pp. 124–154, doi:10.1179/nam.1977.25.3.124.
  • Mervyn Cooke (2020), "A Bridge Too Far? Music in the British War Film, 1945-80", Chapter 4 in Michael Baumgartner and Ewelina Boczkowska, eds., Music, Collective Memory, Trauma, and Nostalgia in European Cinema after the Second World War, Routledge, pp. 86-108, ISBN 9781315298450.
  • Rowan Cruft (2013), "XI—Why is it Disrespectful to Violate Rights?", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 113, Issue 2, Part 2, pp. 201–224, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9264.2013.00352.x.
  • Sumanth Gopinath and Jason Stanyek, eds. (2014), The Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies, Volume 2, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780199913657.
  • Richard A. Ingram (2007), "Double Trouble", in Kimberly R. Myers, ed., Illness in the Academy: A Collection of Pathographies by Academics, Purdue University Press, pp. 209-219, ISBN 9781557534422.
  • Joanna Jabłońska-Hood (2016), "Humour as a Carrier of Memory within Culture. A few Remarks on the English Sense of Humour and its Relation to the Collective Memory of the British Society, seen from the Perspective of Cognitive Integration Theory", Horyzonty Wychowania [Horizons of Education], Volume 15, Issue 36, pp. 87-105, doi:10.17399/HW.2016.153605.
  • Greg Kelley (2020), "Colonel Bogey's Parade of Parody", Chapter 1 in Unruly Audience, Utah State University Press, pp. 24-44, ISBN 9781607329909, previously published as "Colonel Bogey's March through Folk and Popular Culture", Chapter 10 in Eric A. Eliason and Tad Tuleja, eds., Warrior Ways: Explorations in Modern Military Folklore (2012), Utah State University Press, ISBN 9781492000426.
  • N. G. N. Kelsey (Janet E. Alton and J. D. A. Widdowson, eds.) (2019), Games, Rhymes, and Wordplay of London Children, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 9783030029104.
  • Jason Lee (2018), "Smile, Hitler? Nazism and Comedy in Popular Culture", Chapter 13 in Helen Davies and Sarah Ilott, eds., Comedy and the Politics of Representation: Mocking the Weak, Palgrave Studies in Comedy, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 223-240, ISBN 9783319905068, also published as "Nazism, Neo-Nazism, and Comedy", Chapter 3 in Jason Lee (2018), Nazism and Neo-Nazism in Film and Media, Amsterdam University Press, pp. 75-88, ISBN 9789048528295.
  • Greg Littmann (2019), "The Waldo Moment and Political Discourse: What's Wrong with Disrespect in Politics?", Chapter 6 in David Kyle Johnson, ed., Black Mirror and Philosophy: Dark Reflections, Wiley, pp. 59-68, ISBN 9781119578277.
  • Brian Murdoch (1990), "My Lilli of the Lamplight: Songs of the Second World War", Chapter 6 in Fighting Songs and Warring Words, Routledge, pp. 175-208, ISBN 0415031842.
  • Richard Pennell (2013), "Propaganda and its target: The venom campaign in Tangier during World War II", Chapter 9 in Driss Maghraoui, ed., Revisiting the Colonial Past in Morocco, Anoushiravan Ehteshami and George Joffé, series eds., History and society in the Islamic world, Routledge, pp. 157-183, ISBN 9780203366950.
  • Robert N. Proctor (1999), The Nazi War on Cancer, Princeton University Press, ISBN 9780691070513.
  • James Rothwell (22 February 2016), "Hitler 'had tiny deformed penis' as well as just one testicle, historians claim", The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  • Janet Sayers (1995), "Consuming male fantasy: feminist psychoanalysis retold", Chapter 7 in Anthony Elliott and Stephen Frosh, eds., Psychoanalysis in Contexts: Paths between Theory and Modern Culture, Routledge, pp. 123-141, ISBN 0203162021.
  • Aaron Schwabach (2016) [Orig. 2011], "The Second Question: If the Underlying Works or Characters are Protected, does the Fan Work Infringe upon that Protection?", Chapter 3 in Fan Fiction and Copyright: Outsider Works and Intellectual Property Protection, Routledge, pp. 59-92, ISBN 9780754679035.
  • Sheila Whiteley (2010), "Dad's Army: Musical Images of a Nation at War", Chapter 8 in Ian Inglis, ed., Popular Music and Television in Britain, Ashgate Publishing, pp. 123-136, ISBN 9781409419587.

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