Chapter 5: Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here

      In this post, I wanted to talk about a topic that I was more curious about rather then it being important to the novel. When I was reading chapter five, I came across the passage, "The door was flung open from inside. Light leaped out through the door, escaped from prison at 186,000 miles per second. Out marched fifty middle-aged Englishmen. They were singing 'Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here' from the Pirates of Penzance" (Vonnegut 93). After coming across this passage, I was instantly curious on what this song even was, so I decided to do some more research on the song. The lyrics go something like this:

Hail, hail, the gang's all here

What the heck do we care

What the heck do we care

Hail, hail, the gang's all here

What the heck do we care now

      According to the Wikipedia article that I read, this song was popular in the United States, being written in 1917. When I read this, I found it quite odd. Why would Englishmen be singing a song that was popular in America? Could it be because they are trying to make the American prisoners of war feel comfortable and welcomed? Honestly, I believe that is what they are doing. Anyways, I will place a link of the Wikipedia article below just in case anyone wants to read it.

                           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail,_Hail,_the_Gang's_All_Here