THE NAVY GETS THE GRAVY, BUT THE ARMY GETS THE BEANS
From the film "At War With The Army" (1951)
(Jerry Livingston / Mack David)

Jerry Lewis


In the Navy they get steak, caviar and whipped cream cake
They have fancy cooks who know what cooking means
In the Army we get mess, and it really is a mess
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the beans
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)

Send a salami, to your boy in the army
Yes, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the beans
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans beans
beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Nothing but beans

Navy service is ideal, printed menus ev'ry meal
And they decorate your plate with parsley greens
In the Army we get chow that you wouldn't feed a Chow
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Beautiful beans, gorgeous beans, succulent beans

Send a baloney `cause I'm skinny and boney
Yes, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans
nothing but beans)
Loving those beans, loving those beans, liking those beans
Know what I mean, mammy I love you
Nothing but beans
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)

Oh, I was born at the age of three, as might' as I could be
Sure it takes a great mentality to dish out all the
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)

Oh, it seems bell bottomed pants are conducive to romance
They are wined and dined and loved by movie queens
But you wear a khaki frame and you get a wacky dame
Oh, the Navy gets the, the Army gets the
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)

I hit the jackpot, but it's always a crackpot
Yes, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the beans
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)

Did you know that the Navy gets all of the gravy
Did you know that the Army gets all of the beans
Oh, a soldier's a coward if he doesn't lick the platter clean
Oh, a soldier's a coward if he leaves a solitary bean
Oh, it isn't the fighting that will make a soldier cross and mean
It is only the beans!
You can grab a marine and you show him a bean
He says : "what does it mean, that I never have seen"
So you grab a civilian, and one in a million can identify
So I say to you : "why do we got to have beans ?"
Multiple beans, ??? beans, succulent beans
Nothing but beans
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans,
beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans) 


(Transcribed by Ferda Dolunay & Bill Huntley - March 2005)