For the people of the then-far-flung British Empire, Alford's 1913 Colonel Bogey March arrived in time to set thousands of young men's feet in motion just before the Great War. The good colonel, however, did not come to the attention of the world at large until 1957, at which point the march became etched in popular memory as the theme from the Oscar-winning motion picture Bridge on the River Kwai. So popular did the tune become that a vocal arrangement became a Top 40 hit that year, and some record albums (even band compilations) simply listed the work as the River Kwai March or something similar. Most would agree that the curious, enigmatic title referring the colonel is more intriguing.

Colonel Bogey, as with so many of Alford's marches, has a jauntiness and cheekiness which complements the "stiff-upper-lip" British military stance. It is a superb example of the classic British "slow march," a term which causes confusion among outsiders. The slow march is actually at the steady brisk tempo of a Sousa or Goldman work, while a "quick march" moves at the tempo of a circus march. The present work is in a three-strain form (A-B-A C-C) and commences with an incisive introduction, a "snap-to." The famous opening theme is novel for its clipped notes and wide leaps, light-hearted and whimsical for a military march. The second theme, however, is of sterner stuff, in minor key and impetuous, but resolves back to the merry opening tune. The third theme is based around a single hesitating rhythmic figure against which the melody and harmony unwind in a kaleidoscopic manner, bringing this perky classic to a close.

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