During the war Hubert Gregg served in the ranks of the Lincolnshire Regiment, and he composed this old favourite while on leave in 1944. It took, he later recalled, just 20 minutes to write.

The best known version of the song is by Bud Flanagan, although it has been recorded by Arthur Askey (a Liverpudlian), Danny Kaye, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster and the Omsk Siberia Choir (who sang it in Russian).