Gunga Din

This article is about the poem by Rudyard Kipling. For the film based on the poem, see Gunga Din (film). For The Libertines' song, see Anthems for Doomed Youth.

"Gunga Din" is a 1892 poem by Rudyard Kipling, set in British India. It was the inspiration for a 1939 film of the same title.

Background

"Tho' I've belted you and flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!”

“
”

from "Gunga Din".

View the full poem on Wikisource.

The poem is a rhyming narrative from the point of view of an English soldier in India, about an Indian water-bearer (a bhishti) who saves the soldier's life but is soon shot and killed. In the final three lines, the soldier regrets the abuse he dealt to Din and admits that Din is the better man of the two. The poem was published as one of the set of martial poems called the Barrack-Room Ballads.

In contrast to Kipling's later poem "The White Man's Burden", "Gunga Din" (/ˌɡʌŋɡə ˈdin/) is named after the Indian, portraying him as a heroic character who is not afraid to face danger on the battlefield as he tends to wounded men. The English soldiers who order Din around and beat him for not bringing them water fast enough are presented as being callous and shallow, and ultimately inferior to him.

Although "Din" is frequently pronounced to rhyme with "pin", the rhymes within the poem make it clear that it should be pronounced /ˈdin/ to rhyme with "green".

Adaptations

The poem inspired a 1939 adventure film of the same name from RKO Radio Pictures starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Fontaine, and Sam Jaffe in the title role. The movie was remade in 1961 as Sergeants 3, starring the Rat Pack. The locale was moved from British-colonial India to the old West. The Gunga Din character was played in this film by Sammy Davis, Jr.. Many elements of the 1939 film were also incorporated into Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.[1]

A much shorter animated version of the poem and film was made as an episode of The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, with the ultra-myopic Mister Magoo in the title role. He was voiced by Jim Backus.

In 1958, Bobby Darin wrote and recorded the song "That's the Way Love Is" in which, referring to the unsolved riddle of love, he sings "And if ya come up with the answer, You're a better man, sir, than I … Gunga Din".[2]

In 1962, Sonny Gianotta recorded a novelty song "The Last Blast of the Blasted Bugler" based on Gunga Din.

In 1963, Flanders and Swann recorded "At the Drop of Another Hat", which in the song "Sounding Brass" includes the line, "The object is to Gunga-din your neighbor". This means to one up your neighbour in the context of the song.

In 1966, Jim Croce adapted the poem into a song and was later published in the album Facets.

In 1969, The Byrds recorded a song named "Gunga Din" written by Byrds drummer Gene Parsons for the 1969 Byrds album Ballad of Easy Rider.

In 1973, the TV show M.A.S.H. shows Hawkeye Pierce reciting part of this poem in the episode, "Dear Dad... Three". Also in 1973, Gunga Din was included in the title song of the film "'The Adventures of Barry McKenzie sung by Smacka Fitzgibbon. "Barry McKenzie was a better man than you are, Gunga Din".

In the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Gunga Diner is a restaurant chain. It was founded by an Indian who left the country during the famine in the 1960s.

In 1996, the TV show Animaniacs parodied the poem in the episode "Gunga Dot" narrated by Tony Jay.

In 1998, Ian Gillan recorded a song named "Gunga Din" on the album Dreamcatcher.

In December 2012, in the Downton Abbey special Christmas episode, Isobel Crawley preempts a marriage proposal from a slightly inebriated Dr. Clarkson with the retort: "Are you thinking of getting married Dr. Clarkson? Because if you are, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din."

In 2015 British rock band The Libertines released a song titled "Gunga Din", their first in 11 years. The band are big Kipling fans and have referenced his poems in previous songs.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jaap van Ginnekan, Screening Difference: How Hollywood's Blockbuster Films Imagine Race, Ethnicity, and Culture, p.143. ISBN 978-0-7425-5584-6 "Spielberg conceded that Gunga Din was one of the major sources of inspiration for the second Indiana Jones movie, and it does indeed contain many of the same elements."
  2. ↑ Bobby Darin "That's The Way Love Is"

Sources

External links

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