The Moustache: From the Army to in the Navy ...

In the 19th Century, soldiers in the British army were forbidden from shaving their upper lip until 1916 … although considering 1916 was in the middle of the 1914-18 First World War – smack bang in the middle of one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th Century - you would think that the British Army had rather more to worry about than the shaving habits of it’s men!

However, with the moustache so heavily embedded in it's ideology of it's fighting forces, it's little wonder that when Britain stepped up it’s recruiting campaign to send young men to a pointless death in the finest traditions of the British Army, super-moustached cover boy Lord Kitchener became an icon in a series of posters ...


However this would not be the last appearance of the moustache in a recruitment drive for the armed forces! As in the 1980s, heavily moustached gay icons the Village People released their recruitment-friendly song “In the Navy” into the charts ….

Where can you find pleasure
Search the world for treasure
Learn science technology
Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true
On the land or on the sea
Where can you learn to fly
Play in sports or skin dive
Study oceanography
Sign up for the big band
Or sit in the grandstand
When your team and others meet

In the navy
Yes, you can sail the seven seas
In the navy
Yes, you can put your mind at ease
In the navy
Come on now, people, make a stand
In the navy, in the navy
Can't you see we need a hand
In the navy
Come on, protect the motherland
In the navy
Come on and join your fellow man
In the navy
Come on people, and make a stand
In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

If you like adventure
Don't you wait to enter
The recruiting office fast
Don't you hesitate
There is no need to wait
They're signing up new seamen fast
Maybe you are too young
To join up today
But don't you worry 'bout a thing
For I'm sure there will be
Always a good navy
Protecting the land and sea

In the navy
Yes, you can sail the seven seas
In the navy
Yes, you can put your mind at ease
In the navy
Come on now people, make a stand
In the navy, in the navy
Can't you see we need a hand
In the navy
Come on, protect the motherland
In the navy
Come on and join your fellow man
In the navy
Come on people, and make a stand
In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

Who me?

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

But, but, but I'm afraid of water.
Hey, hey look
Man, I get seasick even watchin' it on TV!

They want you, they want you in the navy

Oh my goodness.
What am I gonna do in a submarine?

They want you, they want you in the navy

All material copyrighted as bullsh*t ...