The song may have inspired others, such as "Two Little Sailor Boys", also by Madden, 1906,[5] and The Four Virginians' "Two Little Lads", which used the same melody to tell a different story, as well as lesser lyric changes, such as the bluegrass band The Country Gentlemen referring to the fallen soldier as the other's "brother" instead of "comrade" in their 1962 version.
The song appears to have its origins in the fiction of the Victorian children's writer Juliana Horatia Ewing, whose book Jackanapes was a story about the eponymous hero and his friend Tom, who having ridden wooden horses as two little boys end up together on a battlefield.
The Boers made sure of their prey; but the Australians, riding without hesitation at the wire, cleared it, every one of them, the horse carrying two men as gallantly as the rest.
Needless to say, these were no Cape ponies or Argentines, but fine Australian horses; indeed it was impossible not to be filled with admiration at the way this contingent was mounted, many of the horses in the ranks being high-class steeplechase animals of bone and substance, and of a very fine stamp.The lyric "out from the ranks so blue" could also refer to the American Civil War, a reference to the blue uniforms worn by Union troops.
Alan Braden arranged and co-wrote the song for the TV show, and a favourable audience reaction prompted Harris to record and release it as a single.
[11] In October 2008, Harris announced he would re-record the song, backed by North Wales's Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir, to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.
[13] Harris was inspired to make the recording after participating in My Family at War, a short series of programmes in the BBC's Remembrance season, which was broadcast in November 2008.
Scottish comedian Billy Connolly recorded a parody of the song with new lyrics entitled "Two Little Boys in Blue" on his Raw Meat for the Balcony LP in 1977.
Appearing on his album Inside Folk Songs, it is sung from the perspective of a third prospective recruit, who decides instead of choosing the blue or gray uniform to "wear my tight blue pants and grey sport jacket", protest the war with a "picket sign and a bottle of wine", and "stay at home with the girls".
As the actors/characters are from Australia and New Zealand, this could also serve as a nod to the ANZAC spirit - the historic military brotherhood shared between the two countries since World War I.