Run Rabbit Run

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Run Rabbit Run is a song written by Noel Gay and Ralph Butler. The music was by Noel Gay and the song was sung by Flanagan and Allen.

This song was written for Noel Gay's show 'The Little Dog Laughed' which opened on 11th October 1939, at a time when most of the major London theatres were closed. It was a popular song during World War II, especially after Flanagan and Allen changed the lyrics to poke fun at the Germans (eg. Run Adolf, Run Adolf, Run, Run, Run........)

On the farm, every Friday

On the farm, it's rabbit pie day.

So, every Friday that ever comes along,

I get up early and sing this little song

Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Goes the farmer's gun.

Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run.

Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run!

Don't give the farmer his fun! Fun! Fun!

He'll get by

Without his rabbit pie

So run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run!

The lyrics were used as a defiant dig at the allegedly ineffectual Luftwaffe. On 13 November 1939, soon after the outbreak of the Second World War and also soon after the song was premiered, Germany launched its first air raid on Britain, on flying boats that were sheltering in Sullom Voe, Shetland. Two rabbits were supposedly killed by a bomb drop, although it is suggested that they were in fact procured from a butchers' shop and used for publicity purposes^[1]^[2].

Until recently, the song was a popular nursery rhyme still sung by children in many parts of Britain, although its popularity has declined substantially over the past few decades.

The song later influenced one by the popular band Pink Floyd. The first track on the album Dark Side of the Moon, "Speak to Me/Breathe", included the lyrics "Run, rabbit. Run." The same lyrics are also included in Bankrobber by The Clash.

[edit] Popular References

Walter H. Thompson's tv biography "I Was Churchill's Bodyguard" rates the song as Winston Churchill's favorite as Prime Minister. ^[3]

In Which We Serve, a movie about the Royal Navy in World War II, uses the tune on a pianola, which torments a sailor who was cautioned for cowardice in the face of the enemy.