Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine

Subject: Boneparte Xing The Rhine
From:
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 11:05 PM

Hello I am looking for words & chord changes to this song if possible,but mainly words. Thank you Charlie

Subject: RE: Boneparte Xing The Rhine
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 08:27 AM

Never heard any words to the tune. Noman Blake has a nice version on one of his instructional videos, and I think the chords.

Leo Kretzner and ? Leibovitz have a version on their "Pigtown Fling" album, which is probably out of print.

Bob S.

Subject: RE: Boneparte Xing The Rhine
From: Chet W.
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 06:54 PM

I've never heard any words for it either, but it may be based on (or may have inspired) the World War One song "Blown Apart Crossing the Rhine".

Chet W.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: voyager
Date: 27 Dec 21 - 05:45 PM

refreshing an an ancient thread here ....

In what campaign did Napoleon cross the Rhine?
ps - can you tell me Napolean's nationality (old joke)?
A - Course I can.

happy new year to our Mudcat community.
Keep a Going (Henry Gibson as Haven Hamilton in the movie Nashville)

voyager

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: cnd
Date: 27 Dec 21 - 06:30 PM

Seems as if some people believe the song is related to The Star of the County Down. Someone supplied the lyrics to that song in a "The Session" thread (click) which I will quote below:

Here it is known as a nice driving fiddle/bar tune under the name of "Star of the County Down", played as a waltz. It has a beautiful quality as a waltz and works great on the low-d whistle too.

Here’s my (untested) ABC for it, including guitar chords. This version may be sung too(lyrics below):

EG | "Am" A4 AB | "F" A3 G A2 | "C" c3 d ec | "G" d4 cd | "Am" e3 d c2 |1 "Am" A3 G E2 | "G" G6 | "Em" G4 cB :|2 "G" A4 G2 | "Am" A6-|-A4 e2 | "C" g4 e2 | e3 d c2 | "G" d4 e2 | "Em" d4 cd | "Am" e3 d c2 | A3 G E2 | "Em" G6-|-G2 c2 B2 | "Am" A4 AB | "F" A3 G A2 | "C" c3 d ec | "G" d4 cd | "Am" e3 c d2 | "G" A4 G2 | "Am" A6 | A6

Here are the lyrics:
In Banbridge Town in the County Down
One morning last July,
From a boreen green came a sweet colleen
And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so sweet fronn her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut brown hair.
Such a coaxing elf, sure I shook myself
For to see I was really there.

Chorus:
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay and
From Galway to Dublin Town,
No maid I’ve seen like the brown colleen
That I met in the County Down.

As she onward sped, sure I scratched my head,
And I looked with a feelin’ rare,
And I say’s, say’s I, to a passer-by,
Whose the maid with the nut brown hair?
He smiled at me and he says’s, say’s he,
That’s the gem of Ireland’s crown.
It’s Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann,
She’s the star of the County Down.

Chorus:
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Ouay and
From Galway to Dublin Town,
No maid I’ve seen like the brown colleen
That I met in the County Down.

At the Harvest Fair she’ll be surely there
And I’ll dress in my Sunday clothes,
With my shoes shone bright and my hat cocked
Right for a smile from my nut brown rose.
No pipe I’ll smoke, no horse I’ll yoke
Till my plough turns rust coloured brown.
Till a smiling bride, by my own fireside
Sits the star of the County Down.

Chorus / Repeat

# Posted by sifudave54 17 years ago.

A few online lyrics websites also have the following lyrics provided:

Bonaparte said "Men, Advance!
Bring glory back to France
And carry out my clever, bold design
For there's land and riches too
And it's waiting there for you
A thousand miles East across the Rhine"

THE SKY WAS ROYAL BLUE
AND THE TRICOLOR FLEW
WITH FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND SOLDIERS MARCHING FINE
NOT A SINGLE DOUBT HAD HE
CONVINCED OF VICTORY
AS HE LEAD HIS MIGHTY LEGION 'CROSS THE RHINE

With his hand inside his vest
His Army surged in from the West
While the foe in Moscow calmly bided time
Instead of fight, they'd first retreat
For later French defeat
And draw them ever further 'cross the Rhine

CHORUS

His Grand Armee staggered from the East
With a host of men deceased
Scattered thru the snows that left them blind
And they cursed that cloudless day
When he lead them all astray
When he led them to their doom across the Rhine

CHORUS

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/f/freestateofjoneslyrics/napoleoncrossingtherhinelyrics.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: leeneia
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 12:29 PM

Twenty-three years have passed since Charlie T asked for the chords. I've found the sheet music for the fiddle tune of 'Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine" at abcnotation.com   

That version claims to be in the key of G, but I am suspicious. To me the only F# in the piece sounds ugly and should probably be an F. That would put the piece in the C family.

The chords for that ought to be easy to sound out. It starts with two pick-up notes, which you can ignore. Then there's a lot of Am and G, with Am being more common. Sometimes there are C chords, usually half a measure at a time.

Measures often end with two eighth notes which don't go with the rest of the measure. You have to decide whether to just let the accompaniment die out at that point or to make a chord change. That depends on how important those notes sound to you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: leeneia
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 12:41 PM

From the reading of the page:

http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/697/napoleon-bonapartes-peak-of-military-success-ulm-and-austerlitz

it does look like the French army crossed the Rhine. They had to, if they invaded Austria, right? However, I was sickened by the author's adulation of one of the worst killers mankind has ever produced, and I quit reading. Plus, I strongly suspect that the tactics the author finds so praiseworthy were the work of many people, not just Bonaparte.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: meself
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 02:52 PM

There are at least two quite different tunes that go by this name - as a point of interest ......

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 03:02 PM

The tune that carries the words of Harrington and Hart's "The Regular Army O!" (1874) is called "Bonaparte Crossing the Alps" as well as "...the Rhine."

The tune that fits the above words, however, is also known as "The Merry Durham Rangers" and (allegedly) "Sherman's March."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 03:03 PM

That's "Harrigan and Hart."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: GUEST,Mike Yates
Date: 31 Dec 21 - 04:12 AM

In 1916 Cecil Sharp noted a number of 'fife tunes' from a Mr N B Chisholm of Wardbridge VA. It seems that Mr Chisholm used mnemonic verses to help him remember each tune, including this verse for his tune to 'Napoleon's Retreat':

It's grog time of day, my love
It's grog time of day
When Boney crossed the Alps
It's grog time of day

Don't know if this is of any help.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: leeneia
Date: 31 Dec 21 - 12:09 PM

I returned to abcnotation, searched again for "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine," [BCTR] and they returned a lot more tunes, among them two different tunes with the right title. So if anybody wants to try playing BCTR, the site may show the minor tune I described above, and a more lyrical version in D, that has the chords on it for you.

In typical Internet fashion it also throws in other tunes, among them the "10th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Crossing the Rhine," which my husband tells me comes from World War II. It's possibly the longest name for the shortest tune that I have ever encountered.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: Lighter
Date: 31 Dec 21 - 02:13 PM

Much, much more about the two main tunes discussed here (sorry, no lyrics):

https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Bonaparte_Crossing_the_Rhine_(1)

https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Bonaparte_Crossing_the_Alps

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: Felipa
Date: 31 Dec 21 - 05:36 PM

the DT says that Hot Aspalt is sung to the tune of Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: GUEST,Felipa
Date: 31 Dec 21 - 10:09 PM

This is the "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine" which is the air that Hot Asphalt and Give Mick Maguire the Chair are sung to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KerknFCvw0 Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin

but there is another tune commonly known as Bonapart Crossing the Rhine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJYONT5amu0 André & Roger Roux
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXKrA1k4jQg Claire and Walt Koken

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: Lighter
Date: 01 Jan 22 - 10:12 AM

From the U.S.A.:

The New-Yorker (June 5, 1841):

"Then...shall the minstrel sing 'Bonaparte crossing the Rhine'!"


The Knickerbocker Magazine (October, 1848):

"The 'Lines for Fire Company Number Five'...to the tune of 'Bonaparte crossing the Rhine.'" [Interestingly, the "Lines" don't scan to either of the tunes we've been discussing.]


Godey's Magazine (Philadelphia) (March, 1849):

"Ain't that a sweet strain? Don't that put you in mind of 'Bonaparte crossing the Rhine'?"



Dwight’s Journal of Music (Oct. 13, 1860):

“True, my daughter can play many fine pieces, but she does not yet know ‘Bonaparte’s crossing the Rhine.’”



Kamba Thorpe, "Four-Oaks: A Novel" (1867):

"So the audience was regaled with 'Love Not Quickstep,' 'Jenny Lind Polka,' 'Life on the Ocean Wave,' 'Bonaparte crossing the Rhine.'"
..."Miss Dalrymple earned her share [of ice-cream] by performing that miserable old tune, 'Bonaparte crossing the Rhine.'"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: Lighter
Date: 01 Jan 22 - 10:34 AM

Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Encampment, Department of North Dakota, Grand Army of the Potomac [a Civil War veterans' organization] (1914):

"Why has that grandest, most inspiring, soul stirring marching tune, Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, been allowed to fall into 'innocuous desuetude?'

"Comrades! do you not recall how on sundry and numerous occasions when you on the long, dreary marches were just ready to 'fall out' in sheer exhaustion, then perchance the regimental band would strike the stirring notes of that French martial air used by the conquering hosts of Napoleon, and instantly mark the transformaltion, — the eye would brighten, the form straighten, and the foot-step quicken, and you were new men, ready for '?ght, fun or frolic.' In march or dress parade old Bonaparte’s march never failed to delight the ear and revive the drooping spirits. Now, it seems to have become a back number, and as incredible as it may seem, I asked the bandmaster last evening, to play it for us and he replied that he had 'never heard of it.' Moreover, I have failed thus far to ?nd it listed on the gramaphone records.

"Therefore, on the part of the G.A.R. and the days of ’61-5, we recommend that Bonaparte’s march be resurrected pretty soon, quick."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: voyager
Date: 01 Jan 22 - 01:54 PM

Here's what got me started on this thread -
Norman Blake Medley (Bonaparte Crossing the Shine / Down in the Valley)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: Lighter
Date: 01 Jan 22 - 03:28 PM

Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.) (Sept. 9, 1840):

"NEW MUSIC.--Just received...O, touch the harp; The hours to night;...American Quickstep; Bonaparte crossing the Alps; Leander crossing the Hellespont."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Jan 22 - 08:02 PM

Well, voyager, I don't believe that they are playing 'Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine'. They may think they are, but if so, it's a version known only in their own little hollow. And yes, I did notice your typo, but we can politely ignore that.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Jan 22 - 08:20 PM

Wait a minute. Here's another person playing that same tune under the same name. This version is clean and crisp, making the tune easier to learn. You can get the tab, but you have to sign up. (The music starts at 2:21.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3DP7Z2Jij8

I can imagine somebody singing to that. (Bear in mind that the OP asked for lyrics and chords.)