The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #85218 Message #1577946
Posted By: Charmion
07-Oct-05 - 09:37 AM
Thread Name: Marching Songs (not cadences)
Subject: RE: Marching Songs (not cadences)
Look at the march-pasts of the British regiments: they are mostly folk songs from the regiments' original recruiting areas. However, you will also find that most of them cannot possibly date from before (say) 1750. The earliest item in "Songs and Music of the Redcoats" is a metrical psalm attributed to Cromwell's New Model Army.
I agree with Wilfried; marching in step and singing to keep step doesn't strike me as likely for an Elizabethan war band. That said, "We be soldiers three" would be both contemporary and appropriate. It can be sung briskly or slowly, soulfully or raucously:
We be soldiers three
Pardonnez-moi, je vois en prie,
But lately come forth of the Low Countries,
With never a penny of money.
And he who will not drink to this,
Pardonnez-moi, je vous en prie,
Will pay for the shot, whatever it is,
With never a penny of money.
We be, etc.
Charge it again boys, charge it again,
Pardonnez-moi, je vous en prie,
Until you have no more ink in your pen,
With never a penny of money.
We be, etc.