The Thing-Ummy Bob

"It's a ticklish sort of job making a thing for a thing-ummy-bob,
Especially when you don't know what it's for.
But it's the girl that makes the thing that drills the hole that holds the ring
That makes the thing-ummy-bob that makes the engines roar.
And it's the girl that makes the thing that holds the oil that oils the ring
That makes the thing-ummy-bob that's going to win the war.
It is 'n all."

"The Thing-ummy-Bob", a British song made popular by Gracie Fields ^[1]

A woman machining an engine block on the home front during World War II.

"The Thing-ummy-Bob [That's Going To Win The War]" is a 1942 song, written by Barbara Gordon and Basil Thomas with music by David Heneker, which celebrates the female production-line workers of World War II making components for complex weapons to win the war. ^[1] Its chorus is

I'm the girl that makes the thing
That drills the hole that holds the ring
That drives the rod that turns the knob
That works the thing-ummy-bob

A thingumabob or thingummy is an extended form of the word thing which the Oxford English Dictionary records being used as far back as 1751. ^[2]

The song was popularized by performers Arthur Askey and Gracie Fields. ^[3]

See also

• This Is the House That Jack Built
• Total war
• Willful blindness

References

1. Bush Jones, John (2006). The Songs That Fought the War: Popular Music and the Home Front, 1939-1945. Brandeis University Press. ISBN   1584654430. (Google Books)
2. Oxford English Dictionary, 2009
3. Craig Gerrard (15 September 2004), The Foreign Office and Finland, 1938-1940, Taylor & Francis, ISBN   9780203322765