Le Boudin

"Le Boudin" (), officially "Marche de la Légion Étrangère" (English "March of the Foreign Legion"), is the official march of the French Foreign Legion. "Le Boudin" is a reference to boudin, a type of blood sausage or black pudding. Le boudin colloquially meant the gear (rolled up in a blanket) that used to be carried atop the backpacks of Legionnaires.
Overview.
The song relates the Legion's feat of arms in Tuyên Quang (1884–1885) and in Camerone (1863), the date of which (April 30) is celebrated as the Legion's anniversary.
While the tune was composed prior to the Legion's departure for Mexico in the 1860s, the lyrics were progressively composed after the Franco-Prussian War since Alsatians and Lorrains flocked to the legion after the regions were annexed by Germany. The song makes also repeated reference to the fact that the Belgians are "lazy shirkers", which comes from the fact that Belgian King Leopold II, who wished to remain neutral in the Franco-German conflict, asked the French government not to commit the Belgian Legionnaires into the conflict. France agreed, and the Belgian Legionnaires remained in French Algeria, the Legion's home, to the dismay of the rest of the Legionnaires. The song thus says that there is no blood sausage ("boudin") for the Belgians. The song also mentions the Swiss who constituted the most important foreign contingent of the Legion in the 1870s.
Another hypothesis suggests that because the Legion accepted no Frenchmen (hence the adjective in its name), a Frenchman wishing to join could do so only by pretending to be a (French-speaking) foreigner, a Belgian. Since a person wishing to remain anonymous and lie about his identity often turned out to be a criminal wanting to evade the law and a prison sentence, and criminals rarely make the best soldiers, the "Belgians" ended up with a bad reputation.
Presentation.
"Le Boudin" is sung while standing to attention or marching by all ranks of the French Foreign Legion. The Legion marches at only 88 steps per minute, much slower than the 120 steps per minute of all other French military units. Consequently, the Legion contingent at the Bastille Day military parade march brings up the rear. Nevertheless, the Legion gets the most enthusiastic response from the crowd.