Songs about Napoleon

Subject: Songs about Napoleon
From: NormanD
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 07:28 AM

On the wonderful new CD by Barry Dransfield ("Unruly" - you really must buy a copy!) there's a song called "Grand Conversation" which, although it sounds very New Labour (ha ha), is a broadsheet ballad about Napoleon Bonaparte. The song is a narrative ballad, and not particularly anti-Bonaparte or even anti-French. So, could anyone give me their views on why there were so many pro-Bonaparte songs in Britain that appear to celebrate the life of this dictator? Was it because he posed a threat and an alternative to "our" own despotic monarchy and ruling class of the early-19th Century?

Other ideas, and examples of other Bonaparte songs much appreciated.

Regards

Norman D.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 07:48 AM

Loads of stuff here.

And this about Gordon Hall from whom Barry Dransfield got the song.

Unruly isn't out till 16 May on the new Violin Workshop label. Tell your suppliers when placing your orders that it will be distributed by Proper. It is truly gorgeous.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: OtherDave
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 09:27 AM

Capercaillie sings one in Gaelic --
"Bonaparte" -- lyrics on this page in Gaelic and English.

O gu sunndach mi air m' astar,
Falbh gu siubhlach le bheag airtneul,
Do a chomhrag ri Bonaparte,
'S e bha bagairt air Righ Deors'.

"I'm happy on my journey,
Travelling swiftly without flagging,
Heading off to do battle with Bonaparte,
He it was who threatened King George."

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Severn
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 09:59 AM

Drummer Boy of Waterloo
Boneparte's Retreat
Plains Of Waterloo
Boney (Sea Shanty)
Bonaparte Crossing The Rhine (fiddle tune)


...immediately come to mind.


There's gotta be a site where you can pull up a netload of these things in one trawl.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:17 AM

Bonnie Light Horseman, Bonnie Bunch of Roses are both songs with a Napoleon reference. I seem to think of those songs a lot more these days with Bush's current folly.

A new Barry Dransfield album? Sign me up!

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:19 AM

There's gotta be a site where you can pull up a netload of these things in one trawl

...which is why I linked to Vic Gammon's paper on Napoleon and Popular Balladry above.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: NormanD
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:28 AM

Ta, richard, both links are really good and fill in a lot of the background to my query.
There are surely more songs about Bonaparte than any of his English contemporaries. Who'd want to sing about Wellington or Castlereagh (though Shelley did a good demolition job on the latter).

And the new Barry Dransfield album is as good as richard suggests

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:38 AM

Songs about Napoleon?

"Giddyup, Napoleon, it looks like rain!!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:51 AM

And if the horse counts, why not the pig?

Friend of fatherless!

Fountain of happiness!

Lord of the swill-bucket! Oh, how my soul is on

Fire when I gaze at thy

Calm and commanding eye,

Like the sun in the sky,

Comrade Napoleon!                                     -- George Orwell

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: When tempted to make a generalization about Christians, try it out on Communists, and vice versa. :||

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,sarah
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:52 AM

Try Waterson Carthy's 'Fishes and Fine Yellow Sand' album, Tim Van Eyken sings a song called 'Napoleons Death'. Sleeve notes tell you quite a bit about it as well.

Sarah

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: HuwG
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 11:09 AM

Slightly more modern, "Done with Bonaparte", by Mark Knopfler.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: belfast
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 11:11 AM

There is a double CD by Frank Harte on Hummingbird records. I hesitate to use the word 'definitive' but if I did I would use it here.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 12:19 PM

Good ole fiddle tunes:

Napoleon Crossing the Rhine
and
Buonaparte's Retreat

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,celtaddict at work
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 12:34 PM

I have read that there were more songs written about Napoleon Bonaparte than about any other person in history or legend except Jesus Christ.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: wildlone
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 01:01 PM

Thanks for the link richard,
Napoleon was a man who frightened the whole of Europe and ended up in control of most of it.
As a re-enactor with the 41st foot we had no dealings with the French tyrant.
We were keeping the dastardly johnathons out of Canada.
BTW some of the rebelious colonists that I have talked to in the UK like to think that the war of 1812 was won by America.
I like to point out,
Buckingham palace was never burned
Canada is not a state of the US.

41st Foot web page
dave [waiting with fixed bayonet for the attack]***BG***

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: The Walrus
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 01:33 PM

"Boney Was a Warrior"

The 'popularity' of the Napoleon theme for songs seem to me, to be based partly on disaffection with the changing society (this was the era of the Industrial Revolution and Ludditism in Britain), Irish disaffection, and post war low level 'passive rebellion' in the era of 'Peterloo' from the dis-enfranchised.


Wildlone,

"...Buckingham palace was never burned..."
But York (Toronto) was - hence the burning of Washington.

More importantly, The US invaded Canada ...and were repulsed.
The conditions of the peace treaty were Status ante bellum - or no change from the situation before the war.
The American claim sems to be based on the fact that the Royal Navy never pressed American seamen into service again, but that was probably due to the fact that, by the time the American ar was over, the (more important) European war was also over and there was no need for additional sailors.

Walrus

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 01:39 PM

Good timing for this thread, I've just rec'd the latest newsletter from Newport (South Wales) Folk Club. They're having a 'Theme Night' 16th June 2005 and the theme? . . .

Drinking & The Napoleonic War

Nigel

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 01:44 PM

1812 Overture?

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: michaelr
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 02:17 PM

Slight thread creep: Has anyone seen the film "The Emperor's New Clothes" with Ian Holm as Napoleon? The premise is that Bonaparte was replaced with a double who then sneaks back to France to reclaim his throne -- but no one in France wants him back.

It's a pretty funny film.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: HuwG
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 03:00 PM

Napoleon's retreat from Wigan by Mike Harding.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,Spence
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 03:09 PM

William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience includes 'Tyger Tyger' (in the 'Experience' section), which has been reckoned a commentary on the French Revolution. Blake used to wear a red cap to show sympathy for the revolutionary cause, until 'The Terror' started, and he became aware just what a ghastly, bloodthirsty business it was.

One can see how the French republic and Boney would have become romantic rallying points for the Brit commoners, stuck under the yoke of an idle, corrupt, self-interested monarchy, and whose struggles towards self-emancipation eg the Tolpuddle Martyrs had been dealt with cruelly. The fact that Napoleon himself was a tyrant and warmonger would have been conveniently overlooked, just as the modern British left have lionised Castro and Trotsky while refusing to 'fess up to their police state methods.

So, plus ca change, plus la meme chose. Except they arguably got better songs out of it in the old days.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: OtherDave
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 03:36 PM

Napoleanic contribution sung by Mary Black:
Isle of St. Helena

No more in St.-Cloud will he appear in great splendor
Nor step forth from the crowd like the great Alexander
He may look to the east while he thinks on Lucana
With his heart full of woe on the Isle of St. Helena...

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 04:18 PM

Actualy most Britons weren't pro-Napoleon. He was popularly thought of as the little Corsican ogre.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Santa
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 05:27 PM

I think that most of the pro-Napoleon songs are from Irish sources rather than British. I don't offhand recall any English ones, downtrodden masses or not. Aggro was directed against our own tyrants..."we have bigger Boney's of our own" springs to mind. Unfortunately the title of this song doesn't - one of the Strawhead pieces (Perhaps from The Old Lamb and Flag? I think I can hear Pat Ryan's voice....). "Little Bantam Emperor" is rather more of the English attitude.

On a similar line, why did Santiana (Santa Anna) of Alamo fame become such a popular star of sea shanties? Were the Americans that unpopular then?

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Bearheart
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 05:32 PM

I have the Frank Harte CD and it is excellent. There are some very good liner notes on the history of Europe at the time, including a section on Napoleon and the Irish-- who were struggling to free themselves from British rule, and had the example of America' war for independence in front of them. Many of the pro-Napoleon ballads are of Irish origin for this reason.

Whatever you think of all of this political stuff, some of the best ballads in the English language are in this catagory, and not a few of them are on this cd. (Many of them I'd catagorize as anti-war ballads...) And if you like simple, unadorned (but not unornamented!)traditional Irish singing, this is some of the finest. Much of it is unaccompanied; where it is accompanied, Donal Lunny never takes center stage but always gives the singer the preference.
It took me a long time to track the cd down but it was well worth it.

Bekki

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 05:44 PM

The songs in the Harte CD are wonderful, but they don't hold up his arguments that well.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Snuffy
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 06:11 PM

Santa

"we have bigger tyrants and Boney's of our own" is from The Handloom Weavers Lament which I (and probably you) learned from the Deep Lancashire LP 35-odd years ago

You tyrants of England,
Your race may soon be run
You may be brought unto account
For what you've sorely done

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,cromdubh
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 06:21 PM

Sean Garvey does a great version of the Bonnie Bunch of Roses on his recent album of the same name I think.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Santa
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 06:48 PM

Thanks, Snuffy, Tyrants it is. However, I wasn't in Lancashire 35 years ago. I certainly have heard it by Strawhead but it could well have been the Taverners before them.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 07:26 PM

Warlike Lads Of Russia

Around here you might hear "Bonaparte Crossing The Ozarks" every now and then. I'm not too sure how factual that might be.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: The Walrus
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 07:57 PM

I suspect that some of the English pro-Boney songs might post date the War, when there was still unrest but no French threat. More a sort of 'we need a Napoleon of our own' theme.

By the bye,
"...and whose struggles towards self-emancipation eg the Tolpuddle Martyrs had been dealt with cruelly..."
Wasn't Tolpuddle post 1815?

W

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 08:30 PM

Louis Killen sings 'A Grand Conversation on Napoleon' on his CD 'The Rose In June' (2001). According to the liner notes, he first learnt it from Harry Boardman.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:53 PM

About the Frank Harte album historical notes, reviewer Geoff Wallis at the Musical Traditions site had this to say:

They are inaccurate, tendentious, chronologically confused and confusing, poorly edited, repetitive and littered with typographical errors.

So, a word of caution. Fine songs and singing though. :-)

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:56 PM

Sorry, that link gets you to the last part of that review. Here it is from the top.

~ B in T

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 03:03 AM

It used to be "received wisdom" that songs that dealt more-or-less sympathetically with Napoleon must somehow be Irish, but this is to ignore political developments in Britain at that time. Certainly some are Irish at least in part (The Bonny Bunch of Roses was set specifically to an Irish tune) but others don't appear to be, and were if anything more popular in England and Scotland.

There is more work to be done on the whole subject, and the identity of George Brown (credited on some broadsides as writer of various songs, including The Bonny Bunch of Roses) is one question that I'd like to see answered. We won't be getting much reliable information from Frank Harte, though, it seems.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,Songsmith
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 06:48 AM

You must remember that Frank Harte didn't set out to release a cd to educate folk about Napoleon he wanted to share his collection of Napoleonic Ballads, and didn't he do it well!
I collect Napoleonic ballads in written and recorded form and as yet on cd I have not come across anything to match 'My name is Napoleon Bonaparte' by Frank Harte.
One more that springs to mind:
Fallen Boney

There are so many that it is difficult to pick which I prefer but if pushed 'The Bonny Light Horseman'

cheers Songsmith

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Emma B
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 07:41 AM

The Isle of St Helena is possibly my favourite but has anyone mentioned the shanty "Boney"?

Boney was a warrior, Way-aye-yah
A war-ri-or, A ter-ri-or John-ny Fran-swor

Stan Hugill in "Shanties from the Seven Seas" comments on the arguments why British sailors sang about a famous enemy but concluded it was probably simply for the pleasure of using "furrin" words and phrases

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 10:18 AM

Napoleon, like Stalin, inherited a revolution with liberal & internationalist pretensions, and turned it into an instrument of imperial foreign policy. He had the use of fellow travelers in foreign countries, who took a lesser or greater while to catch on to his betrayal.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Deficient contact with reality is called mania. Excessive contact with reality is called depression. :||

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 04:41 PM

The late Tony Capstick could sing The Bonny Bunch of Roses really beutifully.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 04:43 PM

There's an American Old Time tune called Bonaparte Crossing the Rockies that the Volo Bogtrotters recorded a few years back. Not historically accurate, but a great tune.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Tradsinger
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 04:55 PM

Drink old England Dry has England worrying about Boney taxing English beer.

There's a song called "Pompalarie Jig" about Napoleon. I learnt it from Ray Driscoll. Anyone out there come across it?

Gwilym

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 10:44 AM

Certainly some are Irish at least in part (The Bonny Bunch of Roses was set specifically to an Irish tune) but others don't appear to be, and were if anything more popular in England and Scotland.

One other song which clearly has developed from an Irish tune is Sam Larner of Norfolk's "Napoleons Dream" which, to my ear is certainly musically related to The Minstrel Boy.

Strangely I don't think it appears on The Frank Harte CD, possibly because it may only have been found in England, Irish tune notwithstanding.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:21 AM

I've always loved this poem, but never heard it set to music. It certainly expresses some of the pro-Napoleon British sentiments, though:

Napoleon and the British Sailor.

Also, there's a thread somewhere here about the above mentioned tune, Napoleon Crossing the Rockies.

kat

Subject: ADD Version: Napoleon's Dream
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Feb 22 - 05:28 PM

NAPOLEON'S DREAM

One night sad and languid I went to my bed
And I scarcely reclined on my pillow
When a vision surprising came into my head
I thought I was crossing the billow,
I thought as my vessel sped over the deep,
I beheld that rude rock that grows so craggy and steep
Where the willow, the willow is now seen to weep
Or the grave of the once famed Napoleon.

I thought as my vessel sped near to the land
I beheld clad in green his bold figure
With the trumpet of fame he had clasped in his hand,
On his brow there shone valor and vigor.
He said noble stranger you have ventured to me
From the land of your fathers who boast they are free
If so then a tale I will tell unto thee
'Tis concerning the once famed Napoleon

You remember the time so immortal he cried
When I crossed o'er the Alps famed in story,
When the legions of France whose sons were my pride
I marched them to honor and glory
On the fields of Marengo I tyranny hurled
Where the banners of France first to me were unfurled
As a symbol of liberty all over the world
And a symbol of fame cried Napoleon.

Like a hero I've born both the heat and the cold
I've marched to the trumpet and symbol
But by the dark deeds of treachery I now have been sold
Though monarchs before me have trembled
You princes and rulers who my station demean
Like scorpions you spit forth all your venom and spleen
But Liberty all over the world shall be seen.
As I woke from my dream cried Napoleon.

From Holdstock & MacLeod's Deepwater Songs recording
https://dickholdstock.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/deepwatersongslyrics.pdf


We have a version in the Digital Tradition called "the Dream of Napoleon" https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=6186

Subject: Lyr Add: DONE WITH BONAPARTE (Mark Knopfler)
From: gillymor
Date: 27 Feb 22 - 10:38 AM

The Green Linnet ,sung by Dick Gaughan.

Lyrics to the aforementioned Done with Bonaparte-

DONE WITH BONAPARTE
(Lyrics Mark Knopfler; air trad. )

We've paid in hell since Moscow burned
As Cossacks tear us piece by piece
Our dead are strewn a hundred leagues
Though death would be a sweet release
And our Grande Armee is dressed in rags
A frozen, starving beggar band
Like rats we steal each other's scraps
And fall to fighting hand to hand

cho:: Save my soul from evil, Lord
And heal this soldier's heart
I'll trust in thee to keep me, Lord
I'm done with Bonaparte

What dreams he made for us to dream
The Spanish skies, Egyptian sands
The world was ours, we marched upon
Our little corporal's command
And I lost an eye at Austerlitz
The sabre slash yet gives me pain
My one true love awaits me still
The flower of the Aquitaine (CH)

I pray for her who prays for me
A safe return to ma belle France
We prayed this war would end all wars
In war we know there's no romance
And I pray our child will never see
A little corporal again
Point towards a foreign shore
And captivate the hearts of men (CH)

Subject: Lyr Add: BONAPARTE'S LAMENT / NAPOLEON ON THE ISLE
From: GUEST,Greum
Date: 22 Jun 24 - 05:25 AM

I read somewhere that Napoleon is the most sung-about folk hero/villain with over 50 songs about him.

Here is BONAPARTE'S LAMENT or NAPOLEON ON THE ISLE OF ST HELENA

Oh Boney he has gone from his wars and his fighting
He has gone to a land he can take no delight in
He may sit him down and tell of the battles he’s been in
While forlorn he may mourn on the Isle of St. Helena.

And Louisa she do weep from her husband departed
She dreams when she sleeps and she wakes broken-hearted
Not a friend to console, and no one to turn to
But she mourns when she thinks of the Isle of St. Helena.

Oh ye gentlemen of great wealth beware of ambition
For some twist of fate could soon change your condition
Be steadfast in time, for what’s to come you know not
And your days they may end on the Isle of St. Helena.

The wild rushing waves round our rocks they are washing
And the high billows heave round our shores they are dashing
He may look to the moon, to that great Mount Diana
While alone he do mourn on the Isle of St. Helena.

Ye Parliament of England and your Holy Alliance
To that prisoner of war you may now bid defiance
For your base intrigues, and your baser misdemeanours
Have caused him to die on the Isle of St. Helena.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: gillymor
Date: 22 Jun 24 - 07:11 AM

Battle of Waterloo- Jim Malcolm

Click here

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FUNERAL OF NAPOLEON (McPhail, White)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Jun 24 - 10:00 PM

From the sheet music at the Library of Congress, published in Boston by Geo. P. Reed, 1845:


THE FUNERAL OF NAPOLEON
Words by Leonard C. McPhail, music by John M. White.

[1] He comes! He comes! the muffled drums announce his solemn march
Hark! Hark! the cannon’s roar, See! See! the banners dance.
The Circeuil rests beneath the triumphal Arch,
Hear! Hear! the cry! “Napoléon Vive la France!”

[2] They bring him from his Island grave, far o’er the distant sea,
To the place he sigh’d for, where doth lave, the Seine, its waters free;
There follow in that lengthen’d line, His comrades brave and true,
They bow them down, at Glory’s shrine, Nor think of Waterloo,
But Lodi’s bridge, Marengo’s field, Spread all their Trophies out,
And Austerlitz, and Moscow’s shield, Are born amid the Shout
Of thousands who in line advance, “Napoléon, Vive la France.”

[3] He rests! He rests! beneath the dome of Glory’s Temple now;
Once more! Once more! returns he home, with Laurels on his brow;
His last great Triumph now is gained, Is heard his dying pray’r,
The Conq’ror sleeps where once he reign’d, By banks so green and fair.
Unheeded pass the Holy man, With flambeau burning bright,
The flashing spear, and scimeter, Full senseless on his sight,
As on this ear the cry, “Napoléon, Vive la France.”

[4] The Organ’s peal, nor Clarion’s sound, disturb his deep repose,
His arms are rusting in their sheath, He heeds no fleeting shows,
But hark! they chant his Requiem, The Cerceuil seems to swell,
As distant sounds the rolling Drum, And tolling of the bell,
Yet not for this, the Hero wakes from out his lengthen’d dream,
’Tis the stirring cry, that often breaks, from mountain and from stream,
A Cry, which makes each hearts blood dance, “Napoléon, Vive la France.”

Subject: Lyr Add: NAPOLEON (Brown, Ayer)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Jun 24 - 10:46 PM

From the sheet music at Baylor University, published in New York by M. Witmark & Sons:


NAPOLEON
Words by A. Seymour Brown, music by Nat. D. Ayer, 1908.
From the musical play, “The Newlyweds and Their Baby,” book by Aaron Hoffman and Paul West.

1. My son was born a year ago and now he rules the house,
And if we give him what he wants, he’s quiet as a mouse.
We have a picture of Napoleon hanging on the wall.
If we don’t let him play with it, then he begins to bawl.
The likeness is remarkable to this great man of fame.
You couldn’t tell the diff’rence, if my boy was in the frame.

CHORUS: That’s why I called my son Napoleon,
After history’s most famous man.
Though he’s a little geezer, greater than Julius Caesar,
Got more brains than fill the Roman Clan.
He’ll have a tablet in the hall of Fame.
Nations will cheer him when they hear his name.
Same build as Bonaparte, My son, Napoleon.

2. The head is just identical; his mouth is just the size.
He even seems to have the same expression in his eyes.
He has Napoleon’s lock of hair; he has Napoleon’s nose,
And when we stand him on his feet, he takes Napoleon’s pose.
When I first saw the likeness, it just threw me in a daze.
The baby saw the likeness too and sang the “Marseillaise.”

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 23 Jun 24 - 04:36 AM

Nobody has mentioned "Napoleon's Farewel to Paris" yet.
I have not heard anyone else perform it in full. Jim Mageean and Johnny Collins used to do a shortened version as did Mick Tems, in both cases starting with the chorus.

NAPOLEON’S FAREWELL TO PARIS

CH. Oh. My name’s Napoleon Bonaparte, I’m the conqueror of nations,
I’ve vanquished German legions and sent kings from their thrones.
I’ve banished Dukes and Earls, and splendid congregations,
But now I am transported to Saint Helena’s shore.

Farewell, you splendid citadel, metropolis called Paris,
Where Phoebus every morning shoots refulgent beams,
Where Flora’s bright auroras advancing from the orient
With radiant light adorning the pure and shining streams.

At eve when Centaur doth retire while the ocean gilds like fire
And the universe admires her merchandise and store,
Commanding Flora’s fragrances the fertile fields to foliate
A vision of the Corsican’s return to the French shore.
CH.

Some say the cause of my downfall was the parting with my consort
To wed the German’s daughter who wounded my heart sore.
But the female frame I do not blame for she did never me disdain.
She saw my sword in battle flame and she did me adore.

I severely felt the rod for meddling with the house of God,
Coin and golden images in thousands down I tore.
I stole Malta’s golden gates, I did the work of God negate,
But, would he give me time and state, to him I would restore.        
CH.

I am a true and hardy oak, with fire and sword I made them smoke.
I’ve conquered Dutch and Dane and surprised the Grand Signor,
Routed Austrians and Prussians, then both Portuguese and Russians
Like the great King Alexander, or Caesar of yore.

Like Hannibal I crossed the peaks, the burning sands and rocky reeks,
O’er Russian hills, through frost and snow I still my laurels wore,
This desert island is my plight where the rats himself the Devil would fright,
Yet I hope to shine in armour bright through Europe once more.        
CH.

For full three days I stood the plain my freedom’s cause for to maintain.
And thousands there I did leave slain and covered in their gore.
My golden eagles were torn down by Wellington’s armies of renown.
Now I’ve forfeited my crown and Paris is no more.

Now I’m here in forced exile, on this lonely windswept isle
To view the wild commotion and the flowing of the tide.
Banished from the Royal court from Imperial promotion brought
The crown of France has come to naught; now I watch the billows glide.
CH.

I have performed it from time to time but always have to brush up on the words again as they don't seem to stick in my head for too long!

Robin

Subject: Lyr Add: WHO ATE NAPOLEONS WITH JOSEPHINE?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Jun 24 - 04:32 PM

From the sheet music at Baylor University:


WHO ATE NAPOLEONS WITH JOSEPHINE
(WHEN BONAPARTE WAS AWAY)?
Words by Alfred Bryan, music by E. Ray Goetz, 1920.
From the Revue “As You Were,” adapted from Rip’s “Plus Ça Change.”

1. The love affairs of famous men have led me to believe
That ev’ry woman beautiful was born just to deceive.
The female of the specie [sic] is more deadly to the male,
Who thinks he is the only one—and thereby hangs a tale.
I know about the love affairs of men of history,
But there is just one mystery that always puzzles me:

CHORUS 1: Who ate Napoleons with Josephine when Bonaparte was away?
Who said “Do zis for me
And I’ll do zat for you,”
While “Nap” was fighting Prussians,
Austrians, and Russians?
I told you once when Rip Van Winkle to the mountains went.
His missus ate her grapefruit with someone who paid the rent;
But who ate Napoleons with Josephine when Bonaparte was away?

2. There are a lot of foolish men who never realize
Their little wives are fooling them and right before their eyes.
Queen Catherine of Russia had some brains within her head.
She always found a burglar hiding underneath the bed.
If they’ll double-cross such famous men like bold Mark Antony,
Image how they’ll hand it to a chap who looks like me!

CHORUS 2: Who ate Napoleons with Josephine when Bonaparte was away?
Who leaned back in the throne,
As if it was his own,
While Nap played Philopena
Out in St. Helena?
When Walter Raleigh left Queen Lizzie like a gallant kid,
Did she walk on someone else’s coat? You bet your life she did!
But who ate Napoleons with Josephine when Bonaparte was away?

CHORUS 3: Who ate Napoleons with Josephine when Bonaparte was away?
When he took Austerlitz,
Who took her to the Ritz,
While he sat in the trenches
Eating goulash off the benches?
King Solly had a thousand wives to dinner in his den,
But each one brought a cousin home for breakfast now and then;
But who ate Napoleons with Josephine when Bonaparte was away?

CHORUS 4: Who ate Napoleons with Josephine when Bonaparte was away?
Who told her maid to go
Each night to see a show
While Nap was fighting Prussians
Austrians and Russians?
When Romeo left Juliet back in the ages dim,
She had another leading man who understudied him;
But who ate Napoleons with Josephine when Bonaparte was away?

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 23 Jun 24 - 07:17 PM

The late Pete Wood wrote a very good book on Napoleon Songs called 'The Green Linnet' and here are some reviews :    https://www.livingtradition.co.uk/webrevs/9780957618756.htm
https://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/g_linnet.htm

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jun 24 - 07:58 PM

The Bonny Light Horseman

Oh, Napoleon Bonaparte, you're the cause of my woe
Since my bonny light horseman in the war he did go
Broken hearted I'll wander, broken hearted I'll remain
Since my bonny light horseman, in the war he was slain

And if I was some small bird and if I had wings to fly
I would fly over the ocean where my own true love does lie
I would fly over the ocean, and I'd lie upon the plain
Where my bonny light horseman, in the war he was slain

Oh, Napoleon Bonaparte, you're the cause of my woe
Since my bonny light horseman in the war he did go
Broken hearted I'll wander, broken hearted I'll remain
Since my bonny light horseman, in the war he was slain

And the white dove laments for her mate as she flies
"Tell me, where in this wide world, is my own true love," she cries
"And where in this wide world is there one who can compare
With my bonny light horseman, who was slain in the war?"

Oh, Napoleon Bonaparte, you're the cause of my woe
Since my bonny light horseman in the war he did go
Broken hearted I'll wander, broken hearted I'll remain
Since my bonny light horseman, in the war he was slain

Oh, Napoleon Bonaparte, you're the cause of my woe
Since my bonny light horseman in the war he did go
Broken hearted I'll wander, broken hearted I'll remain
Since my bonny light horseman, in the war he was slain

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 27 Jun 24 - 01:32 PM

I am sure Iain Ingram composed a Napoleon song, I just need time to trawl through his fairly large songbook,,,,!!

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: Thompson
Date: 28 Jun 24 - 05:07 AM

I think that most of the pro-Napoleon songs are from Irish sources rather than British. I don't offhand recall any English ones, downtrodden masses or not. Aggro was directed against our own tyrants..."we have bigger Boney's of our own" springs to mind. Unfortunately the title of this song doesn't - one of the Strawhead pieces (Perhaps from The Old Lamb and Flag? I think I can hear Pat Ryan's voice....). "Little Bantam Emperor" is rather more of the English attitude.

On a similar line, why did Santiana (Santa Anna) of Alamo fame become such a popular star of sea shanties? Were the Americans that unpopular then?

For obvious reasons, the Irish are always up for the underdog.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,Greum
Date: 28 Jun 24 - 09:28 AM

> For obvious reasons, the Irish are always up for the underdog.

Ireland and Napoleon also had a common enemy in England.

Subject: RE: Songs about Napoleon
From: GUEST,Greum
Date: 28 Jun 24 - 09:50 AM

The Handloom Weaver's Lament (Ye Tyrants of England) contains the verse:

You say that Bonaparte has been the spoil of us all
And that we have good reason for to pray for his downfall
Now Bonaparte is dead and gone and it is plainly shown
That we have bigger tyrants and Boneys of our own.

Subject: Lyr Add: NAPOLEON (from Lena Horne)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Jun 24 - 10:44 AM

NAPOLEON
Words by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen, ©1957.
As recorded by Lena Horne on “Jamaica - An Original Cast Recording,” 1957. [YouTube, Spotify]

Napoleon's a pastry.
Bismarck is a herring.
Alexander's a crème de cacao mixed with rum,
And Herbie Hoover is a vacuüm.

Columbus is a circle and a day off.
Pershing is a square; what a pay-off!
Julius Caesar is just a salad on a shelf,
So, little brother, get wise to yourself.

Life's a bowl and it's
Full of cherry pits.
Play it big and it throws you for a loop.
That's the way with fate:
Comes today, we're great;
Comes tomorrow, we're tomato soup.

Napoleon's a pastry.
Get this under your brow:
What once useta
Be a roosta'
Is just a dusta' now.

Napoleon's a pastry.
DuBarry is a lipstick.
Pompadour's a hairdo.
Good Queen Mary just floats along from pier to pier.
Venus De Milo is a pink brassiere.

Sir Gladstone is a bag; ain't it shocking?
And the mighty Kaiser, just a stocking.
The Czar of Russia is now a jar of caviar,
And Cleopatra is a black cigar.

Yes, my honey lamb, Swift is just a ham.
Lincoln's a tunnel; Coolidge is a dam.
Yes, my noble lads, comes today, we're fads;
Comes tomorrow, we are subway ads.

Homer is just a swat.
Get this under your brow:
All these bigwig controversials
Are just commercials now.
Better get your jug of wine
And loaf of love
Before that final vow.

Napoleon's a pastry.
Caesar is a salad.
Get it while you're able.