John brown's dance-help needed please

Subject: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: AnneMC
Date: 20 Apr 09 - 09:29 PM

Have listened to the tune and caught most of the lyrics - need help with bits of it if anyone else knows it, some words are not right or missing :

John Brown's Dance    (Jed Marum)
                
Charlestown now and it's December morn
The gatherin' crowd neither weep nor mourn
A rousing tune with the fanfare born
As you come to the end of the line
                                                                

The snares drums rollin' while the piper plays
It's time to pay for your murderous ways
Your treachorous trading in your traitorous days
You've come to the end of the line                        

                Oh John Brown, the sun is pourin' down
                You're gonna see the hangman marchin' through the town
                Feet in the air and the world is spinnin' round
                When you dance on the end of the line   

Shenandoah round your gallows f----
Gentle winds of Virginia blow
Your lifeless body swinging to and fro
Now you've come to the end of the line


The cheers flow for justice and the Lord be praised
For John Brown mouldering' in his grave
The free, the honest and the righteous say
He's come to the end of the line

Subject: RE: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: ranger1
Date: 20 Apr 09 - 09:35 PM

Anne, if you PM Jed, I'm sure he'll send you the lyrics. If you can't get in touch with him, let me know and I'll rummage around when I get home for the songbook and I'll send them to you.

Subject: RE: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: GUEST,BanjoRay
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 04:15 AM

Shenandoah round your gallows f----
Surely that must be "flows"

Ray

Subject: RE: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: JedMarum
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 05:24 PM

At Charlestown now and on this December morn
The gatherin' crowd neither weep nor mourn
A rousing cheer among the fanfare born
As you come to the end of the line

The snares drums rollin' while the piper plays
It's time to pay for your murderous ways
Your treachorous trading in your traitorous days
You've come to the end of the line                        

                Ol' John Brown, the sun is pourin' down
                You're gonna see the hangman marchin' through the town
                Feet in the air and the world is spinnin' round
                When you dance on the end of the line   

The Shenandoah round your gallows flow
Gentle winds on Virginia blow
Your lifeless body swinging to and fro
Now you've come to the end of the line

Three cheers for justice and the Lord be praised
With John Brown mouldering' in his grave
The free, the honest and the righteous saved
He's come to the end of the line

Subject: RE: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 06:19 PM

The man Lincoln called a "misguided fanatic," hung for his part in the Pottawatomie Massacre, treason and inciting rebellion. Three others did their last dance with him.

Good song!

Subject: RE: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 06:21 PM

Four others.

Subject: RE: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 09:13 PM

My statement about the prosecution for the Pottawatomie killings is wrong. Five men were killed at Harper's Ferry and these were the murders prosecuted. I knew five men were killed in the Pottawatomie Massacre, and in my mind I incorrectly put the two together.
My apologies.

Subject: RE: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: AnneMC
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 02:05 AM

Thanks everyone, both for the lyrics corrections and for the history behind this song.

Anne

Subject: RE: John brown's dance-help needed please
From: JedMarum
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 02:49 PM

The Pottawatomie Massacre was not prosecuted, although John Brown claimed "credit" is known to be its master-mind. It is what made him infamous in much of anti-bellum America, and destroyed his credibility among even many Northerners and anti-slavery folks.

But Brown was prosecuted and executed for Treason against the US. The raid on the military compound at Harper's Ferry, was admittedly aimed at starting a Slave Revolt. The murders committed during the raid were not directly responsible for his hanging, they were considered directly caused by his Treason.

In truth, both the Pottawatomie and Harper's Ferry actions were ones that John Brown knew were capital offenses.

He was courageous in that he was willing to die for a cause he believed in, and was willing to sacrifice his life to begin the abolition of slavery - but he was also quite happy to kill for that same cause. And he was willing to cause great bloodshed in the cause of his personal mission.