h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The regimental march of the Seventh Cavalry was originally an Irish rebel song, of sorts, from somewhere in the North. It has a jaunty and very whistleable "tara-tarra-ta-tarra-ta-diddle-om-pom" beat about it, and most people who know thwe tune will, I guess, have first come accross it from its use in the Dustin Hoffmann movie "Little Big Man".

Just when the Hoffmann character has settled into a happy, but exhausting, family life in the Indian village with four wives, he is awoken one morning by its playing in the distance. this gets nearer and louder, and the next thing he is aware of is Custer's men perfoming an act of genocide with musical accompaniment. He escapes, and later in the movie, is present when the Seventh Cavalry rides down the Big horn valley with "Garryowen" playing in the background, only to run into much-needed retribution from the Indian nation.

"Garryowen" was also the regimental march of the British cavalry regiments in the Crimea: the Light Brigade rode down that particular valley with their bands playing it to cheer them on. Again led by a complete cretin called Lord Cardigan, whose immediate boss (Raglan) was an ineffectual twerp who could not exert sufficient control over a known to be reckless subordinate..

So the thought occurs that this is surely a very unlucky piece of music for any military formation to have as its signature tune? Soldiers tend to be very practical down-to-earth people with a few deeply entrenched superstitions: knowing the history of this piece, I should imagine I'd be deeply worried to hear it just before a battle (unless the other side were playing it...)