Hitler Has Only Got One Ball - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" is a song that mocks Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

leaders using blue comedy in reference to their testicle

Testicle

The testicle is the male gonad in animals. Like the ovaries to which they are homologous, testes are components of both the reproductive system and the endocrine system...

s. Multiple variants of the lyrics exist, generally sung as four-line verses to the tune of the "Colonel Bogey March

Colonel Bogey March

The "Colonel Bogey March" is a popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts , a British army bandmaster who later became director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth...

Origin of the song

In his autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

Fringe Benefits, writer Donough O'Brien

Donough O'Brien (author)

Donough O’Brien is a marketing and public relations executive and author of books containing quirky facts.-Life:O'Brien was born in London, the son of E.D. O’Brien. His father helped to run Britain’s propaganda against the Nazis in World War II, was then the Conservative Party’s first...

says that the original was written by his father, Toby O'Brien

Toby O'Brien

Edward Donough "Toby" O'Brien was an Anglo-Irish journalist and public relations expert who spearheaded Britain's efforts to counter Nazi Germany propaganda during World War II.-Early life and education:...

, in August 1939 as British propaganda. Toby O'Brien was the publicist for the British Council

British Council

The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...

at the time. This version started with the words "Göring

Hermann Göring

Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...

has only got one ball", and went on to imply that Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

had two small ones. In virtually all later versions, the positions are reversed. The statement that Himmler

Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...

was "sim'lar" appears in all versions. The final line of this original and some later forms ends with the word play

Word play

Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...

that Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels

Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...

had "no balls". Both these variations argue strongly in favour of O'Brien's version being a very early version, and a Daily Mail

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

report of the time states that it was "attributed to someone not unconnected with our old friend the British Council".

O'Brien's claims have not been substantiated, and no author has ever been identified for the more popular versions that begin "Hitler has only got one ball". There is no known attempt by anyone to claim or enforce a copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

on the lyrics. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index

Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

, number 10493.

Song lyrics

All versions are sung to the tune of The Colonel Bogey March:

The Colonel Bogey March MIDI file

Claimed original version, credited to Toby O'Brien

Göring has only got one ball

Hitler's [are] so very small

Himmler's so very similar

And Goebbels has no balls at all

This version is thought, to be the original for two reasons:

Only this version is historically accurate in attributing the "one ball" description to Göring, who had lost one of his testicles during the Beer Hall Putsch
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund unsuccessfully tried to seize power...

in 1923. A lineage with this version as the origin would reflect at least some degree of inspiration by actual events
Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude is the quality of realism in something .-Competing ideas:The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be closer to the truth than another false theory...

, with the descriptions being later switched by exaggerators who wished to give the more-hated figure the less favorable description; by contrast, a lineage starting with Hitler's description as having "one ball" would require the assumption that all of the claims in the song were fabricated out of whole cloth without any external inspiration.
The rhyme of Goebbels with "no balls", together with the wide popularity of this version, suggests that the song was first written by a lyricist with some skill at wordplay and musical comedy; had the lyric been someone's later refinement of a heavier-handed version that was already widespread, it would be present in only a smaller portion of total attestations.

Variations on claimed original version

Popular alterations to the lines in this version, most of them apparently for the purpose of better fitting the "Colonel Bogey" rhythm, are similar to those discussed below and include:

Hitler "has two, but very small";
Himmler "has something sim'lar" or "is somewhat sim'lar"; and
"And Josef Goebbels..." or "And poor old Goebbels...".

Variant stanzas

Variant 1 (most common)

Hitler

Adolf Hitler

has only got one ball

Testicle

The testicle is the male gonad in animals. Like the ovaries to which they are homologous, testes are components of both the reproductive system and the endocrine system...

Göring

Hermann Göring

has two but very small,

Himmler

Heinrich Himmler

is somewhat sim'lar,

But poor Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels

has no balls at all.

For line 2, sometimes is heard "Göring

Hermann Göring

his balls are very small".

In line 3, "is somewhat" is sometimes replaced by "is rather" or "has something" (the latter keeps all lines using 'has'). The first line may also be one left ball, one brass ball, one big ball; approximately this version appears in Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...

's V.
V.
V. is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Whole Sick Crew, and the quest of an aging traveller named...

(page 325). Other alternatives to line 3 include: "Himmler's are somewhat simmler," and "Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...

has even less,"

For line 4, sometimes is heard "And Martin Bormann

Martin Bormann

Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...

has got none at all."

Variant 2

Hitler: he had but one left ball,

Mussolini: he had none at all,

Stalin: he was three-ballin',

And that's the dictator's rise and fall!

Variant 3

Hitler has only got one ball,

The other is on the kitchen wall, [or] (the other is in the Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

), or (in Northern England: The Leeds Town Hall

Leeds Town Hall

Leeds Town Hall was built between 1853 and 1858 on Park Lane , Leeds, West Yorkshire, England to a design by architect Cuthbert Brodrick.-Background:...

)

His mother, the dirty bugger,

Chopped it off when he was small.

She threw it, into the apple tree

The wind blew it into the deep blue sea

Where the fishes got off their dishes and ate scallops and bollocks for tea

Outside of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, the second line is often invoked as "The other is on the kitchen wall" or "The other is hanging on the wall". Some areas of the United Kingdom alter the second line to include local buildings. Mancunians

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

use "The other is in the Free Trade Hall", whereas Londoners use "the Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

", Loiner

Loiner

-History:Natives of Leeds are known as Loiners and there are several theories as to the origin of the term but nobody can be certain where the word comes from.There are three competing theories....

s (from Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

) have: "The Leeds Town Hall

Leeds Town Hall

Leeds Town Hall was built between 1853 and 1858 on Park Lane , Leeds, West Yorkshire, England to a design by architect Cuthbert Brodrick.-Background:...

". In Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, the Kelvin Hall

Kelvin Hall

The Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland, is a mixed-use arts and sports venue that opened as an exhibition centre in 1927. It has been a music hall, indoor arena and barrage balloon factory, and is currently home to the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena and from 1987 to 2010, Glasgow's Museum of...

. In Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, "The Ulster Hall

Ulster Hall

The Ulster Hall is a concert hall and grade B1 listed building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated on Bedford Street in Belfast city centre, the hall hosts concerts, classical recitals, craft fairs and political party conferences...

" is sometimes substituted. The fifth and sixth lines are occasionally replaced by, "She hung it on the washing line / It fell into the River Tyne

River Tyne

The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...

".

Other variations include use of the past tense, referring to Goebbels as Doctor, Hitler's other ball being "on the wall", mixtures of the variants above, and Hitler's life being "much simpler if he didn't have any at all".

Variant 4, as sung in Australia by schoolchildren in the 1950s and '60s, with phonetic spelling:

Hitler had only one brass ball,

Ger-ring had two but they were small,

Himmler had something simmler,

And poor old Go-balls had no balls at all.

Note the addition of Hitler having had a brass testicle. Sometimes "Go-balls" would be replaced by a fictional "Joe-Balls", possibly because by then young children were unaware of who Goebbels was.

Variant number 5, as sung by the Boy Scouts of America

Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...

Hitler - oh he had one big ball

Göring - had two but they were rather small

Himmler - had something similar

But mister Goebbels had no balls at all

or

Hitler he's only got one ball
The other is on the kitchen wall
His mother the dirty lover
Chopped it off when he was one

Variant 6

Hitler - he had just one big ball

Himmler - had two but they were small

Göring - had one ball-bearing

And Goebbels had no balls at all

Variant 7, as sung in New Zealand in the 1940s and 1950s, similar to the Australian version above in its use of "Go-balls". This version is noteworthy for the wordplay between "two" and "too small":

Hitler has only got one ball,

Göring has two but they're too small,

Himmler has something sim'lar,

But poor old Go-balls has no balls at all.

Variant 8, another version sung in Australia; note that 'Himmler has something sim'lar' is changed to '[Australian then-Prime Minister Robert] Menzies

Menzies

Menzies is a Scottish surname probably derived, like its Gaelic form Méinnearach, from the Norman name Mesnières.The name is historically pronounced , since the was a surrogate for the letter . Today it is often given its spelling pronunciation...

, he's in a frenzies':

Hitler has only one brass ball,

Göring has two but they're too small,

Menzies was in a frenzies,

But poor old Go-balls has no balls at all.

Variant 9

Hitler - had one fat ball

the other - is in the Albert Hall

His Mother - who ate the other

Is still lying dead in Albert Hall

Variant 10, sung by 1962 New York City kids and presumably learned from members of their fathers' generation who served in the U.S. military during WWII:

Hitler - has only one Big ball

Himmler - has two but they are Small

Göring - has a Ball Bearing

and... and... and Goebbels.. has No Balls...

At All !!!

In Songs from the Front & Rear, Anthony Hopkins gives the first verse of the song as:

Hitler,

Has only got one ball.

Goering,

Has two, but they are very small.

Himmler,

Has something sim'lar,

but poor old Goebbels,

Has no balls at all.

Where possible Hopkins has indicated the author and composer. He also notes in the Preface that some songs were not included because of "copyright restrictions". It should also be noted that a number of variations use the German spelling of names. This would lend some credence that the words were created by an individual with knowledge of the proper spelling the individuals mentioned in the songs. However, English the typewriter of the time would not have included the umlaut mark(ö). Hand transcription or a typewriter with a German keyboard would have been necessary. Again this would support the notion that it was created as propaganda.

Variant 11

Hitler, has only got one ball

And that's no bloody good at all

Himmler, has something sim'lar

and Goebbels has no balls at all

Variant 12 (note return to historical accuracy of Goering's description):

Hitler only had one left ball,

Himmler had two but they were small,

Goering lost his in the beer hall,

And poor old Dr. Goebbels never had balls at all.

Variant 13, as sung in South Africa by schoolchildren in the 1950s and '60s:

Hitler had only one brass ball,

Churchill had two but they were small,

Rommel s'n was geskommel,

And Mussolini had no balls at all.

This is similar to the Australian version, however note the addition of Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

(sometimes also "Monty"

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC , nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General" was a British Army officer. He saw action in the First World War, when he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the 8th Army from...

) due to the ambivalent nature of Afrikaner sentiments to the British

Afrikaner nationalism

Afrikaner nationalism is a political ideology that was born in the late 19th century around the idea that Afrikaners in South Africa were a "chosen people"; it was also strongly influenced by anti-British sentiments that grew strong among the Afrikaners, especially because of the Boer Wars...

. Also note the addition of an Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

third line that translates as "Rommel's was shaken".

Second verses: Hitler's mother

When the first verse includes Hitler's mother, a second verse is generally added:

She threw it over West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

It landed in the deep blue sea,

The fishes got out their dishes,

And had scallops and bollocks for tea.

She threw it into a conker tree

It missed, and went into the sea,

The fishes got out their dishes,

And had scallops and bollocks for tea.

Verses about Germany and Germans

These verses mention neither Nazis nor Hitler:

Frankfurt has only one beer hall,

Stuttgart, die München all on call,

Munich, vee lift our tunich,

To show vee "Cherman" have no balls at all.

Hans Otto is very short, not tall,

And blotto, for drinking Singhai and Skol.

A "Cherman", unlike Bruce Erwin,

Because Hans Otto has no balls at all.

Alternative Version (2 verses)

As seen at the reference site:

Hitler has only got 1 ball!

Goering has 2 but they are small!

Himmler is somewhat similar!

and Jodl is too close to call!

Rommel

Erwin Rommel was a German World War II field marshal.Rommel may also refer to:*Rommel *Rommel Adducul , Filipino basketball player*Rommel Fernández , first Panamanian footballer to play in Europe...

has 4 or 5 i guess!

No ones quite sure bout Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...

Schmeling is always yelling!

But Goebbels

Goebbels

Goebbels, alternatively Göbbels, is a common surname in the western areas of Germany. It is probably derived from the Old Low German word gibbler, meaning brewer...

has no balls at all!

or another version

Hitler has only got one ball

Himmler has 2 but they are small

Bormann

Bormann is a Germanic surname most common in Germany and the Netherlands. People having this surname include:* Ernest Bormann , American academic* Ernst Bormann , German World War I flying ace and World War II Luftwaffe general...

has there just big hole

But Goebbels

Goebbels

Goebbels, alternatively Göbbels, is a common surname in the western areas of Germany. It is probably derived from the Old Low German word gibbler, meaning brewer...

has no balls at all

Rommel

Erwin Rommel was a German World War II field marshal.Rommel may also refer to:*Rommel *Rommel Adducul , Filipino basketball player*Rommel Fernández , first Panamanian footballer to play in Europe...

has 4 or 5

Hess

Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...

were cutten by his wife

There were no balls in Röhm

Ernst Röhm

Ernst Julius Röhm, was a German officer in the Bavarian Army and later an early Nazi leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was its commander...

's life

Cause Goering castrated him using knife

Introductory verse

(Sung to the tune of Land of Hope and Glory

Land of Hope and Glory

"Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar and lyrics by A. C. Benson, written in 1902.- Composition :...

, and followed by some variant of the Nazi verses, above.)

Land of soap and water,

Hitler's having a bath.

Churchill's looking through the keyhole,

Having a jolly good laugh

Be..e..e..e..cause...

Hitler — has only [etc]

The song in other media

The song has frequently been heard and seen in other media:

The lyrics were not sung during the famous Colonel Bogey March sequence in the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William...

because they were considered to be too vulgar.In an early Smothers Brothers album Tommy declares "the words were dirty!" http://www.enotes.com/topic/The_Smothers_Brothers_at_the_Purple_Onion
The verse was obviously alluded to without actually using the words in episodes of It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum was a British sitcom about the adventures of a Royal Artillery Concert Party, broadcast on the BBC between 1974 and 1981, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army...

and Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the...

. In the former, the Sergeant complained that the band at the last concert had played, he then hummed the tune of Colonel Bogey, then he said "And we all know what the words to that are!". In an episode of the latter, a German officer sings the German lyrics.
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...

quoted the words in his novel V.
V.
V. is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Whole Sick Crew, and the quest of an aging traveller named...

by putting them in the mouths of British artillerymen on Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

.
Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...

sang the lyrics in her concert film Divine Madness!
Divine Madness!
Divine Madness is a 1980 concert film directed by Michael Ritchie, and featuring Bette Midler during her 1979 concert at Pasadena's Civic Auditorium...

.
The song is used to harass a Jewish student in School Ties
School Ties
School Ties is a 1992 film directed by Robert Mandel starring Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris O'Donnell, Cole Hauser, Randall Batinkoff, and Anthony Rapp....

, a 1992 film.
The lyrics were heard on the British TV sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes. It is a parody of another BBC programme, the wartime drama Secret Army, and was created by David Croft, who also wrote the theme music, and Jeremy Lloyd. Lloyd and Croft wrote the first 6...
The song is sung in the Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

film Dark Blue World
Dark Blue World
Dark Blue World is a 2001 film by Czech director Jan Svěrák about Czechoslovak pilots who fought for the British Royal Air Force during World War II. The screenplay was written by Zdeněk Svěrák, the father of the director....

(2001).
The lyrics were sung in the 1972 film adaptation of the John Knowles
John Knowles
John Knowles was an American novelist best known for his novel A Separate Peace. He died in 2001 at the age of seventy-five.-Early life:...

novel A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace is a novel by John Knowles. Based on his earlier short story "Phineas", it was Knowles' first published novel and became his best-known work.-Plot summary:...

(although they are not in the book, and the tune to which they are sung in the film is not the "Colonel Bogey March").
A verse combining the first two lines of Variant 2 and the last two lines of Variant 1 appears in the 2000 Vertigo miniseries Adventures in the Rifle Brigade by Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...

and Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra , who has also worked under the alias L. John Silver, is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra...

. The follow-on miniseries, Operation Bollock, uses the missing testicle as a central plot device.
The lyrics are alluded to in a 2003 advertisement for Spitfire Beer (the 'Bottle of Britain'), an English Ale. Hitler is shown photographed in full Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

Uniform with the caption 'Spot the ball'. The advertisement refers to print media spot the ball competitions in which readers were shown photographs of moments in football matches and asked to guess where the ball (which is edited out) would have been. See: Spitfire site
In one of the 'Head-to-Head' dialogue sketches in the BBC comedy series Alas Smith and Jones
Alas Smith and Jones
Alas Smith and Jones is a British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1984 to 1998...

Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones reminisce about the war and about the songs of the era. Smith sentimentally and poignantly sings the opening lines of "White Cliffs of Dover
(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover
" The White Cliffs of Dover" is a popular World War II song made famous by Vera Lynn with her 1942 recording—one of her best known recordings. Written in 1941 by Walter Kent and Nat Burton, the song was also among the most popular Second World War tunes...

", and "We'll Meet Again
We'll Meet Again
"We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 song made famous by British singer Vera Lynn, and it also may refer to:* We'll Meet Again , a musical starring Lynn that includes the song...

", and then (to avoid lowering the tone) has to interrupt Jones when he begins to sing, "Hitler has only got one..."
In an episode of the BBCTV comedy programme, 2 Point 4 Children the grandmother mentions Goebbels in conversation with a friend and - when queried - points out that "he was the one with no balls at all, if you remember".
In the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

radio series, The Bradshaws
The Bradshaws
The Bradshaws is a fictional family created and voiced by the comedian and musician Buzz Hawkins.'The family was created for The Gary Davies Show with Gary Davies on Piccadilly Radio in 1983 when Hawkins wrote a poem about a family's day trip to Blackpool, this soon developed into a series...

, Alf taught Billy the song.
The Hector Scott character (played by Donald Moffat) sings this ditty to Shirley MacLaine's character in the movie The Evening Star
The Evening Star
The Evening Star is a 1996 sequel to Academy Award for Best Picture-winning Terms of Endearment, starring Shirley MacLaine, who reprises the role of Aurora Greenway she played in the original film. The movie takes place about fifteen years after the original following the characters from 1988 to...

(1993).
In the Camp Dance episode of 'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes. It is a parody of another BBC programme, the wartime drama Secret Army, and was created by David Croft, who also wrote the theme music, and Jeremy Lloyd. Lloyd and Croft wrote the first 6...

where Captain Geering
Captain Hans Geering
Captain Hans Geering is a fictional character from the British sitcom series Allo 'Allo!. He was played by actor Sam Kelly.- First episode :Hans is Colonel Kurt Von Strohm's assistant and usually comes with him to the café...

is disguised as a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

POW due to circumstances, he starts singing the first verse upon inspection by German officers so as to seem genuinely British and avoid detection, since he was illegally present in the POW camp.
The main character of the 2003 movie Wondrous Oblivion
Wondrous Oblivion
Wondrous Oblivion is a 2003 British film directed and written by Paul Morrison and produced by Jonny Persey.Set in suburban south London in 1960, several themes run through the film, though the main storyline concerns the friendship between a young boy, David Wiseman who is the son of European...

, a British teen who is the son of Jewish Holocaust survivors, sings this song for a friend.
In Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...

' stand-up tour Fame
Fame (comedy)
Fame was the third stand-up show written and performed by Ricky Gervais which took place in in 2007 .'Fame' has run for over 100 shows across the UK mainland, including a long stint at London's Hammersmith Apollo and was followed by a number of shows at New York's Madison Square Garden...

, he speaks about the version of the song which refers to the Albert Hall. He states that when he went to the Albert Hall he couldn't find it and he had even looked for it which is "suspicious". Gervais continues stating that "if I had that, I'd have it in the foyer. On a plinth. In an eggcup". He ends it by questioning why "His mother has got the other", which would mean Hitler had three.
In the Vertigo DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

2001 3-issue miniseries Adventures in the Rifle Brigade
Adventures in the Rifle Brigade
Adventures in the Rifle Brigade is the name of two Vertigo comic book limited series created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Carlos Ezquerra. The first series, Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, was released in 2000...

, "Operation: Bollock", the Rifle Brigade is sent on a mission to retrieve Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

's missing testicle.
The song was sung in the Chinese/German film John Rabe
John Rabe
John Rabe was a German businessman who is best known for his efforts to stop the atrocities of the Japanese army during the Nanking Occupation and his work to protect and help the Chinese civilians during the event...

by actor Steve Buscemi as an American Doctor Robert Wilson in 2009. However, this represents an anachronism as the movie's events take place in late 1937, two years before the song first appeared.
The song was used in Episode 5 of Series 3 of The Armstrong and Miller Show
The Armstrong and Miller Show
The Armstrong and Miller Show is a British sketch comedy television show produced by Hat Trick Productions for BBC One. It features the double act Armstrong and Miller and a number of notable scriptwriters including Andy Hamilton and The League of Gentlemen's Jeremy Dyson.The series followed four...

, as it comically depicted the writing of it.
The Jim Steranko
Jim Steranko
James F. Steranko is an American graphic artist, comic book writer-artist-historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator....

History of Comics includes an anecdote about artists working on Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...

who reworked the song to satirize the demands of the publishing house's censors: "Captain Marvel Has No Balls At All."
The song was included in the movie "Joe Maddison's War" (2010) with Robson Green, Kevin Whately and Derek Jacobi as the Home Guard was marching to exercise.

External links

The Colonel Bogey March MIDI file
Did Hitler have only one testicle? from The Straight Dope
A British Soldier Remembers, songs and lyrics of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Weebls Stuff: On The Moon 2 Reference to Hitler's missing left testicle
NY Times: Insane or Just Evil? A Psychiatrist Takes a New Look at Hitler

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Origin of the song

Song lyrics

Claimed original version, credited to Toby O'Brien

Variant stanzas

Second verses: Hitler's mother

Verses about Germany and Germans

Alternative Version (2 verses)

Introductory verse

The song in other media

See also

External links