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Don't start that talking
I could talk all night
My mind goes sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right
Call careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation?
CHORUS:
Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
There was a checkpoint charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile
Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white nigger
CHORUS
Hong Kong is up for grabs
London is full of arabas
We could be in palestine
Overrun by the chinese line
With the boys from the mersey and the thames and the tyne
But there's no danger
It's a professional career
Though it could be arranged
With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear
If you're out of luck you're out of work
We could send you to johannesburg
CHORUS
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
I could talk all night
My mind goes sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right
Call careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation?
CHORUS:
Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
There was a checkpoint charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile
Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white nigger
CHORUS
Hong Kong is up for grabs
London is full of arabas
We could be in palestine
Overrun by the chinese line
With the boys from the mersey and the thames and the tyne
But there's no danger
It's a professional career
Though it could be arranged
With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear
If you're out of luck you're out of work
We could send you to johannesburg
CHORUS
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
Lyrics submitted by JamesD
Track duration: 03:00
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Oliver Lyttelton was Churchill’s minister for trade in the early stages of the Second World War, and as a result of protected occupations act, any man not compelled to join the forces due to critically required trade skills were dubbed to be part of ‘Oliver’s Army’
The title is significant because Lyttleton later became Secretary of State for the Colonies during the early to mid 50’s which coincided with multiple military deployments to quell independence movements at a time when the sun was finally setting on the empire.
If the song was written about 1977 (?) the use of the term on a widely watched programme predates the song and puts it in the frame as the likely origin of the term 'Oliver's Army'
Because of that, I'm inclined to say bollocks to the Oliver Cromwell and the lazy historians that credit him as the aforementioned 'Oliver'
Firstly, the title. The term "Oliver's Army" is a reference to the history of British occupation of Ireland, starting with Cromwell. Cromwell's New Model Army was also the first professional army and drew soldiers from the working class.
The song is about British imperialism, and the British army recruiting working class young men to occupy foreign territories.
The first verse is about recruitment to the Army - young men in big cities were often advised by careers/ unemployment offices to join the army as a way out of unemployment. As someone else pointed out, the line 'Have you got yourself an occupation' could equally apply to potential recruits to the British army, and to the citizens of lands they occupied.
The second verse references the fact that young men were thrown into the front line, and were often scared and jumpy. As a result, they were prone to 'itchy triggers'. As other posters point out, Checkpoint Charlie was a famous crossing point of the Berlin Wall: In this case, however, I would assume that Costello uses the term to refer to a soldier manning a checkpoint. The phrase 'white nigger' is an extremely racist term for the Irish. The connotations are clear.
The last verse then expands the song to talk about the history of (British) imperialism, rather than simply Ireland. It includes references to Hong Kong, the British Mandate for Palestine, South Africa, and Korea. It also reinforces the message of unemployed men from working class cities (Newcastle, Liverpool and London) being advised to join the army. The reference to Churchill is because, as much as he's primarily remembered as a great war time leader, he also held some pretty unsavoury views. He was known to be an advocate of British imperialism and saw other races as 'uncivilized.' He was responsible, among other things, for the dispatch of British soldiers to put down the Mau Mau rebellion.
Oliver Cromwell's "new model army" was the first to remove social standing from the heirarchy of command, instead promoting men on merit. Not even the Romans' post-Marian army managed this - low plebs and free men could only rise so far. However, this also reflects the deception inherent in the system - even now with the promise of giving the men some worth of their own, they are manipulated by politics at a much higher level. Cromwell was also notorious in Ireland and Costello supposedly wrote this after seeing young men on the border. It's a good reference and clever double-meaning.
other than neil, costello is kind of the master of that.
That could well have some relevance to the references.
Also, if he was refering to the musical Oliver, wouldn't it be Fagin's army?