What’s a Jody call? It’s a song used to make a difficult job easier. In the armed forces, military members chant them during PT (Physical Training) to help everyone stay together on a long march or a run. Units also use jody calls to build up their sense of community.
In Operation Yes, Miss Loupe teaches her students jody calls because the back and forth rhythm is like the give and take of the improvisational theater games she’s introducing. But maybe she’s also stealthily building her team in Room 208!
Here are some real life jody calls:
They Say That in the Air Force
They say that in the Air Force, the chicken's mighty fine
One jumped off the table and started marking time
Refrain:
Oh, Lord I wanna go
But they won't let me go
hooooooooooooooome
(last word stretched out over 8 paces, and a "Hey" on the right foot to
end the refrain)
They say that in the Air Force, the biscuits are mighty fine
One rolled off the table and killed a friend of mine
They say that in the Air Force, the pancakes are mighty fine
You can try to chew them, but you're only wasting time
They say that in the Air Force, the bed's are mighty fine
But how the heck would I know, I've never slept in mine
They say that in the Air Force, the mail is so great
Today I got a letter dated 1948
They say that in the Air Force, the toilets are mighty fine
You flush them up at seven, they come back up at nine.
They say that in the Air Force, the tents are waterproof
You wake up in the morning and you're floating on the roof.
Jody calls don’t have to rhyme. But they do have to have a rhythm:
Alpha Flight
Everywhere we go - oh
People wanna know - oh
Who we are
Where we come from
So we tell them
We are Alpha Flight
Mighty Mighty Alpha Flight
Rough - n - tough Alpha
Straight shooting Alpha
Better than Bravo
Big baby Bravo
Better than Charlie
Chicken chicken Charlie
Better than Delta
Dumb-dumb Delta
Better than Echo
Icky icky Echo
We are Alpha
Mighty mighty Alpha
So here’s the challenge: Make up a jody call and post it in the comments. (Anywhere from 2-12 lines.)
RULES:
It must be related to children’s books in some way.
It doesn’t have to rhyme, but it must have rhythm.
Keep it PG clean
The drill sergeant says you may use one of these lines to start with, but you don’t have to:
I don’t know but I’ve been told... (or it’s been said...)
Every book we open...
They say that in the library the ____ is mighty ____ ...
Prize for the best three jody calls:
A signed copy of OPERATION YES, delivered to your door by a man or woman in uniform. (That would be the postal uniform.)
Deadline: October 16, 2400 hours, EST
(That’s midnight for you civilians.)
Judge: Brig. General Mike Holmes, who is unlikely to know any of the contestants, but is still a great reader of children’s literature. (Really. Not kidding. Don't try to slip War and Peace by him as a children's book.)
