Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: The Doctor
Date: 18 Oct 09 - 05:58 PM

Back in the 80s, when Aids was just becoming a serious issue in Britain, the government ran a series of adverts warning people about the dangers, and saying 'Don't die of ignorance'. The fact that quite a number of people believed there was a killer disease called Ignorance prompted me to write a set of words to this tune, beginning:

Always wear a condom if you want to save your life,
For that naughty Ignorance virus is becoming rather rife.
You can catch it from your partner and then give it to your wife
If you haven't got a condom on.

There is more if anyone's sufficiently interested.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: SINSULL
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 03:10 PM

Jed Marum's John Brown is a bit different"
"Feet in the air
And the world is spinnin' 'round
You dance at the end of a line."

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 02:51 PM

"Oh Sir Jaspar do not touch me" was a risque classic of my youth.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 02:45 PM

Thanks for posting those, Barbara. I have always loved that, especially:

"We can hit a Rebel further than a white man ever saw
As we go marching on."

Dani

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: GUEST,iancarterb
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 11:44 PM

Mary Ann McCarthy she went out to dig some clams (3x)
But she didn't get a solitary one.
All that Mary got was oysters (3x)
But she didn't get a solitary clam.

This is known to my whole extended ten first-cousin family, 1940ish, and my parents and their inlaws, all born before or jsut after 1910, and I think it appears in the Best's SONG FEST as well.
Carter B

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 09:12 PM

We recorded a medley of three versions on our ShoreGrass album Songs of the Civil War Era (recorded live in 2003). The first 2 verses are from John Brown's Body. Next 2 are from the marching song of the 1st Arkansas (black) regiment, with lyrics credited to the white officer Capt Lindley Miller. Last 2 verses from the Battle Hymn of the Republic. My source for most of the information was Irwin Silber's book "Songs of the Civil War."

John Brown's Body, 1st of Arkansas, Battle Hymn of the Republic

John Brown's body lies a mould'ring in the grave
John Brown's body lies a mould'ring in the grave
John Brown's body lies a mould'ring in the grave
His soul is marching on!

He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord!
He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord!
He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord!
His soul is marching on!

Glory! Glory Hallelujah! Glory! Glory Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory Hallelujah! His soul is marching on.

Oh, we're the bully soldiers of the "First of Arkansas"
We are fighting for the union, we are fighting for the law
We can hit a Rebel further than a white man ever saw
As we go marching on.

See there above the center where the flag is waving bright
We are going out of slavery; we're bound for freedom's light
We mean to show Jeff Davis how the Africans can fight
As we go marching on!

Glory! Glory Hallelujah! Glory! Glory Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory Hallelujah! As we go marching on.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me
As he died to make men holy let us die to make men free
While God is marching on.

Glory! Glory Hallelujah! Glory! Glory Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 07:52 PM

Adam Miller: When my mother was a girl, it was "Kaiser William" they were going to hang to a sour apple tree. I dare say it had borne a variety of strange fruit over the years.

*

_Rise Up Singing_ offers an uninspiring "Battle Hymn of Women" (but omits the "Battle Hymn of the Republic"!).

*

For an application at Caltech, see the thread on fraternity songs (I can't look it up without losing what I have written).

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 03:39 PM

Glory glory Hallelujah
Someone please hit him with a ruler!!!!

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: Bernard
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:12 AM

Erm...



Knock, knock!



Who's there?



Mayonnaise!



Mayonnaise who?



Mayonnaise have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord...!

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: Jack Campin
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:12 AM

The Firth of F*ing Forth:

http://www.campin.me.uk/Embro/Webrelease/Embro/16army/text/FirFlFor.htm

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: Richie
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:07 AM

Popular old-time version:

Pass around the Bottle and We'll All Take a Drink

Richie

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: Severn
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:02 AM

I do some songs to this tune. One is a Civil War song from the Weatern theater of war song that Sandy Paton recorded Frank Proffitt singing (Folkways FA 2360) entitled "Old Abe". In it is the quintessential verse that, plugged into the war of your choice/experience, expresses the sentiments of many a soldier in an occupying army as well as anything I've ever heard:

Old Abe, he freed the colored man, glory hallelu
Old Abe, he freed the colored man, glory hallelu
I wish to my Lord that he would free me too
Then I'd go marching home....




The aforementioned Oscar Brand, in the course of the 2 CD reissue of four of the five military song LPs that he released for Elektra (Collectors' Choice Music CCM 679)covering each service branch (There was a second Air Force LP), sings three songs to that tune, with only the Marines lacking one, "We Ain't Going To Sea No More", "Glory Flying Regulations" and "The Paratrooper's Song". Occaisionally, when I sing "Ain't Going To Sea", I do a repeat on the last chorus while telling the audience to follow closely, usually....

Holy Jesus, what a helluva way to die,
Teacher hit me with a ruler
Jesus puts his money in the First National Bank
For the union makes us strong.

....but with the occaisional substitution as the mood suits me, just to remind folks how many songs they grew up with or sing that use the tune. After I've sung it, I've had several guys later sing me "The Paratrooper's Song", which they managed to learn back in their Boy Scout days, so it's amazing how these songs get spread around.

As befits the folk process, each succeeding generation of kids I've been around all sing "Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory Of The Burning Of The School" but with different variations of the words with each kid.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 09:32 AM

Many thanks, Adam — brilliant post

Michael

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: autoharper
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 08:24 AM

And "Solidarity Forever."

The melody and its early lyrics were written by William Steffe about 1856. Its first verse and refrain were:

Say brothers, will you meet us?
Say brothers, will you meet us?
Say brothers, will you meet us?
On Canaan's happy shore?

Glory, glory hallelujah!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
For ever, evermore!

The song first gained popularity around Charleston, South Carolina, where it was sung as a Methodist Camp Meeting song, particularly in churches belonging to free Blacks. By contrast, it was also used early on as a marching song on army posts.

The song gathered new verses following the insurrection at Harper's Ferry, led by John Brown and carried out by a cadre of nineteen men on October 16, 1859. Brown's actions, trial and subsequent execution made him a martyr to Abolitionists and African-Americans and prompted some people to add the following lines to Steffe's by then popular song.

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
His soul is marching on!

By the time of the Civil War "John Brown's Body" had become a very popular marching song with Union Army regiments, particularly among the black troops. The Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment, in particular, has been credited with spreading the song's fame on their march to the South, where Confederate soldiers then inverted the meaning of their words and sang, "John Brown's a-hanging on a sour apple tree." The war's rivalry continued to be carried on in music as the northerners then sang in turn, "They will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree."

But it was when Julia Ward Howe visited Washington, DC in 1861 that the tune properly came to be called "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Howe and her husband, both of whom were active abolitionists, experienced first-hand a skirmish between Confederate and Union troops in nearby Virginia, and heard the troops go into battle singing "John Brown's Body." That evening, November 18, 1861, Ward was inspired to write a poem that better fit the music. It began "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Her poem, which was published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862 soon became the song known as "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

At Lincoln's 1864 inauguration, groups of angry Democrats sang, "We'll hang Abe Lincoln from a sour apple tree" to the same tune.

The "Sons of Liberty," the men who plotted the murder of Lincoln, had their own "Battle Hymn of the Sons of Liberty:"

We are coming, Ab'ram Lincoln, from mountain wood and glen
Yes, we're coming Ab'ram Lincoln with the ghosts of murdered men
Yes, we're coming Ab'ram Lincoln with curses loud and deep
That will haunt you in your waking and disturb you in your sleep

-Adam Miller

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 07:40 AM

Marcia and Jon Pankake's book, Joe's Got a Head Like a Ping-Pong Ball - A Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book, has an index where the songs are arranged by tune. The most popular by far is BHotR. The songs/parodies listed under this heading are

Birmingham's My Home
The Bugs Marched Down the Aisle
The Bulldog and the Bullfrog
Chicken Sandwich
Emily Dickinson
Glory, Glory, How Peculiar
Glory, Glory, Pork Superior
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Burning of the School
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Horror of the Ending of the Term
My Pink Pajamas
Oh, Ay Liff in Minneapolis
She Waded in the Water

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: oldhippie
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 07:40 AM

The Preppy Song - Oscar Brand is one of them. Oscar actually once performed a concert just using the one tune.

Psychotherapy - Melanie

Subject: From the filk community...
From: JesseW
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 01:19 AM

Well, from a quick scan of (part of) my filk song index (adapted from the M.A.S.S. F.I.L.C. Index), I get the following filk songs written to Battle Hymn of the Republic:

A Modern Folksong
APA '45 Forever: or, The Teenfan Tyrannty Song
A Song in Praise of the Warriors of the Middle Kingdom
Battle Hymn of Hastings
Battle Hymn of the Rebellion
Glory, Glory, Science Fiction
Hordes of Mordor
Quark's Song
Salute to Shadowcon
The Battle Hymn of the Helpers
The Battle Hymn of the Ranapublic
The Filker's Bronx Cheer
The Hacker's Battle Hymn
The Techfan Tyranny Marching Song: or, APA '45 Forever
The Theme Song of the U.S.S. Enterprise
The Thermodynamics Final
TurkeyCon '77
Westercon 23: or The Con-Coordinator's Lament
1, 2, 3, 4 ... Testing
The Bradbury Hate Song
The Klingon Diplomatic Corps Marching Song: or, Imperialism for Fun and Profit
The L.A.S.F.S. Marching Song
The Teenfan Tyranny Marching Song
Westercon 23: or The Con Co-Ordinator's Lament

I don't have the lyrics for most of these, but I thought I'd toss it out here anyway...

For those who don't yet know, filk refers to the folk songs of science fiction fans -- which often involves writing new lyrics to existing tunes, as in the above cases.

Jesse Weinstein

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 12:13 AM

Ballad of Harry Lewis, by Allan Sherman.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: Peace
Date: 12 Oct 09 - 11:31 PM

There is another which was performed by Pat Sky on his album--later CD--entitled "Songs That Made America Famous."


"The Ribald Rebel's Song (Fight for Liberation)". The song and the parody are in the DT. I was under the impression that Pat wrote the lyrics, but I could well be mistaken. Haven't heard the record in decades.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: Peace
Date: 12 Oct 09 - 11:00 PM

Mark Twain's "Battle Hymn of the Republic (brought down to date)."

Subject: Songs to the John·Brown/Battle·Hymn tune
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Oct 09 - 10:19 PM

I remarked recently on one of the Villikins·&·Dinah threads that it was probably the most reused of all tunes, except perhaps for John·Brown/Battle·Hymn. There have been threads [notably one with 60+ hits in 2004] on all the songs people could think of to Villikins; but Search didn't produce a comparable one for John·Brown.

So — how many songs can we think of using this tune? — Here are a couple to start things off from my own campfire/back·of·coach sort of memories:

"When the Red Revolution Comes" ['We'll make Monty Burton wear a 50 shilling suit...']

"He'd like to find the WAAF who left her handbag in his chute" ['They scraped him off the tarmac like a lump of strawberry jam So he wont go jumping any more...']

Contributions, please?