Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Haruo
Date: 30 May 11 - 02:41 PM

Just out of curiosity, why does "Oh, my rolling river" appear in the list of DigiTrad song links at the top of this thread? I can't see how you could sing it to this tune, nor does the text seem related to either John Brown's Body or Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory...

I tried to post this to the thread previously, but it didn't "take"... so I started a separate thread on it, here

Haruo

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Haruo
Date: 30 May 11 - 02:43 PM

I thought the SNP was a separatist political party in Albion.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Jim McLean
Date: 30 May 11 - 03:47 PM

Haruo, another verse from the Scottish sailors:

We'll maroon the tartan tories on an island in the mist
Wi' copies o' Sir Walter Scott and then if they insist,
We'll gie them Andy Stewart as their Desert island Disc,
When Scotland sails away!

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 May 11 - 05:02 PM

Haruo ~ Agree re "Rolling River", obviously related to Shenandoah, not JBB.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 27 Aug 12 - 08:33 AM

refresh, in relation to WW2 RAF song thread

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 Aug 12 - 05:57 PM

BLOOD ON THE RISERS (GORY, GORY)

He was just a rookie trooper, and he surely shook with fright
As he checked all his equipment, and made sure his pack was tight
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
"You ain't gonna jump no more!"

cho: Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die,
Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die,
Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more.

"Is everybody happy ?" cried the sergeant, looking up,
Our hero feebly answered, "Yes!" and then they stood him up,
He leaped into the blast, his static line unhooked,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,
He felt the wind, he felt the clouds, he felt the awful drop,
He jerked his cord, the silk spilled out and wrapped around his legs.
He ain't gonna jump no more!

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome
The lines were snarled and tied in knots, around his skinny bones,
The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

The days he's lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind,
He thought about the medics and wondered what they'd find,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee,
They rolled their sleeves and smiled
For it had been a week or more since the last chute had failed
He ain't gonna jump no more !

He hit the ground, the sound was "SPLAT," the blood went spurting high,
His comrades then were heard to say "A Helluva way to die!";
He lay there rolling 'round in the welter of his gore.
He ain't gonna jump no more!

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,
Intestines were a-dangling from his paratrooper's boots,
They picked him up still in his Chute and poured him from his boots
He ain't gonna jump no more!

@parody @air @parachute @WWII

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Aug 12 - 11:12 AM

Did you get that from the 1954 or 55 Song Fest, Dick? It looks an awful lot like one I learned therefrom as a kid. BTW I should mention that I recently came into the possession of a deceased friend's copy of an edition of Song Fest at least 10 years older than the one I grew up on. Will have to post the contents if they are up here somewhere.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 11 Jul 14 - 05:41 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jul 14 - 07:09 PM

We sang "Battle Hymn of the Republic" last week as part of our performance of patriotic songs at nursing homes. I told one audience how this was an often-parodied song, and I sang Burning of the School to them as an example.

And they sat in shocked silence.

Guess I won't do that again...

-Joe-

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
Teacher hit me with a ruler.
Hit her on the beanie
With a rotten tangerinie,
And we ain't got no school no more.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Ged Fox
Date: 12 Jul 14 - 06:25 AM

Either not listed or I didn't see -

Mine eyes have seen the horror of the coming of the frogs

John Brown's baby's got a cold upon its chest

Ged

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Jul 14 - 06:49 AM

Yes -- I'd forgotten the "Baby cold upon chest" version. The verse ended "So we rubbed it with camphorated oil"

chorus-
Camphor -amphor -amphorated x3
So we rubbed it with camphorated oil".

I only refreshed this thread in re the "Same tunes" one -- but still more variants coming out of the woodwork!

~M~

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Nov 15 - 01:23 AM

Well, since no one has posted it that I can find on Mudcat, and it is sung to the tune of John Brown's Body, here is the Reed College song. I figure since I am a Reedie, I can mess it up anyway I darn well please!

"Epistemology Forever" Reed College Alma Mater
(Community sing--to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic")

We have sat on rainy mornings in a dusty lecture hall,
We have listened to them holding forth on no damn thing at all,
We have missed an hour's sack time just to hear the clarion call,
The Truth does not exist!

Epistemology forever,
Disputatio so clever,
Metaphysics now or never,
The Truth does not exist!

As we've sat about in conference on a sunny afternoon,
We've been fed a lot of moral pap from Socrates and Hume,
And they feed it to us gently with an imaginary spoon,
The Truth does not exist!

(chorus)
The Truth does not exist!

We discuss the moral notions of the frozen Eskimo,
And whether moral systems hold for all from pole to pole,
And conclude that all of mankind has a truly moral soul,
And time goes by so slow!

(chorus)
And time goes by so slow!

We sit in lectures waiting for a word of common sense,
And we're not about to find it 'cause the lecturer is dense,
So we scribble stupid ditties for our sanity's defense,
For the Truth does not exist!

(chorus)
The Truth does not exist!

Now we spend our time in wondering if we have got free will,
And then we ask, is justice good, but we have had our fill
Of ultimate reality and philosophic swill,
For we do not exist!

(chorus)
For we do not exist!

For many more versions, see http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/spring2009/columns/NoAA/evolution.html

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 08 Nov 15 - 02:09 AM

Whenever I hear that philosophic term, I find myself wondering: just what is a "mollerjee", that thing that 'e pissed?

≈M≈

Ontologically, you understand...

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: JennieG
Date: 08 Nov 15 - 08:37 AM

Not one mention of Peter Rabbit?

Little Peter Rabbit had a fly upon his nose x 3,
So he flipped it and he flopped it and it flew away.

Ch: flippy flippy floppy x 3
    so he flipped it and he flopped it and it flew away.

Used to sing that with my children many years ago, and it wasn't new then.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Ged Fox
Date: 08 Nov 15 - 11:35 AM

The following camp-fire song does not seem to be on Mudcat already. (It probably deserves an 'origins' thread of its own.)

Mine eyes have seen the horror of the coming of the frogs.
They are sneaking through the swamps and they are lurking in the logs.
You can hear their mournful croaking through the early morning fog.
The frogs keep hopping on.

Chorus:
Ribbet, ribbet, ribbet, croak, croak.
Ribbet, ribbet, ribbet, croak, croak.
Ribbet, ribbet, ribbet, croak, croak.
The frogs keep hopping on.

The frogs have grown in numbers and their croaking fills the air.
There's no place to escape because the frogs are everywhere.
They've eaten all the flies and now they're hungry as a bear.
The frogs keep hopping on.
Chorus
I used to like the bullfrogs, like to feel their slimy skin.
Liked to put them in my teacher's desk and take them home again.
Now they're knocking at the front door, I can't let those frogs come in.
The frogs keep hopping on.
Chorus
They've hopped into the living room and headed down the hall.
They've have trapped me in the corner and my back's against the wall.
And when I opened up my mouth to give a warning call,
This was all I heard.
Chorus

Subject: ADD: Battle Hymn of Women (Meredith Tax)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jun 17 - 12:27 AM

For the record, here are the lyrics to "The Battle Hymn of Women," by Meredith Tax, http://www.meredithtax.org/songs. Maredith Tax also wrote There Was a Young Woman Who Swallowed a Lie

THE BATTLE HYMN OF WOMEN
(Meredith Tax)

Tune: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” 

 

I wrote this so we could sing it in our march for women’s freedom on International Women’s Day, March 8, 1970, the first time women had demonstrated on March 8 in Boston in many a year. The chorus, “Move on over or we’ll move on over you” is from a civil rights song by Len Chandler. This was recorded recently by Betsy Rose and is available at http://www.betsyrosemusic.org/

 

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the flame of women’s rage

Kept smoldering for centuries, now burning in this age.

We no longer will be prisoners in that same old gilded cage

That’s why we’re marching on.

 

CHORUS:

Move on over or we’ll move on over you

Move on over or we’ll move on over you

Move on over or we’ll move on over you

For women’s time has come!

 

You have told us to speak softly, to be gentle and to smile

Expected us to change ourselves with every passing style.

Said the only work for women was to clean and sweep and file

That’s why we’re marching on!

 

             CHORUS

 

It is we who’ve done your cooking, done your cleaning, kept your rules.

We gave birth to your children and we taught them in your schools.

We’ve kept the system running but we’re laying down our tools.

That’s why we’re marching on!

 

             CHORUS

 

You think that you can buy us off with crummy wedding rings

You never give us half the profit that our labor brings

Our anger eats into us, we’ll no longer bend to kings,

That’s why we’re marching on.

 

            CHORUS

 

We have broken through our shackles, now we sing a battle song

We march for liberation and we’re many thousands strong

We’ll build a new society, we’ve waited much too long,

That’s why we’re marching on!

Subject: ADD: The Lucretia Mott Song (Margaret Hope Bacon)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jun 17 - 04:46 AM

And another:

THE LUCRETIA MOTT SONG
(Margaret Hope Bacon)

On the island of Nantucket she was born beside the sea
All her long life she fought bravely to make slaves and women free
And she told us that where God dwells there must be true liberty
And her light still shines for me

Chorus:
Thank thee kindly, Friend Lucretia (3x)
For thy light still shines for me

In the town of Philadelphia she hid the fleeing slaves
For the freedom of her sisters she dared cross the ocean waves
And she asked Ulysses Grant to grant a pardon for the braves...

"Let's bring an end to poverty" the gentle Quaker pled
"Let's give the workers all a chance to earn their daily bread
Let the nations live in peace again just as our Lord has said"...

Throughout the busy cities and across the countryside
She preached one simple message, "Oh, let Truth be e'er thy guide
Mind the light within thee and let love with thee abide"...

#281 in the Quaker Worship in Song Hymnal
Melody: "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
Source: http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=46125.505;wap2

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Shimmering
Date: 07 Jun 17 - 07:20 AM

Complex Numbers Song ...

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the Argand diagram,
They have seen the i's and thetas of De Moivre's mighty plan.
Now I can find the complex roots with consummate elan,
With the root of minus one.

Chorus:
Complex numbers are so easy
Complex numbers are so easy
Complex numbers are so easy
With the root of minus one.

In Cartesian coordinates the complex plane is fine,
But the grandeur of the polar form its beauty doth outshine.
You'll be raising i + 40 to the power of 99,
With the root of minus one.

You'll realise your understanding was just second rate,
When you see the power and magic of the complex conjugate.
Drawing vectors corresponding to the roots of minus eight,
With the root of minus one.

I don't know who wrote this. It was circulating on the internet in about 1995-6.
I've also sung it around that same time.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Oct 17 - 10:06 AM

And from Denmark:

General Napoleon

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: GUEST,tuvya
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 08:31 PM

With apologies to Ralph Chaplin, here's Judy Bari's parody:

When the union leaders’ payoffs by the bosses have begun,

There will be no labor trouble anywhere beneath the sun,

For the AFL trade unions and the management are one:

The union keeps us down.

Aristocracy forever, Aristocracy forever,

Aristocracy forever, the union keeps us down.



It is we who have to suffer through the daily drudgery

While Lane Kirkland pulls a hundred thousand dollar salary;

Though he claims to lead the workers, he is just a bourgeoisie;

The union keeps us down.

Aristocracy forever, Aristocracy forever,

Aristocracy forever, the union keeps us down.



What do workers hold in common with a labor bureaucrat

Who’s a class collaborationist and bosses diplomat?

With the money from our paychecks, he is sitting getting fat

While the union keeps us down.

Aristocracy forever, Aristocracy forever,

Aristocracy forever, the union keeps us down.



They’ve aligned us with the mafia, the CIA, and more

Serving counterrevolution and oppression of the poor

‘Til the union doesn’t represent our int’rests anymore:

The union keeps us down.

Aristocracy forever, Aristocracy forever,

Aristocracy forever, the union keeps us down.



In our hands, we hold a power they don’t even know about;

They’ve forgotten that the workers are the union’s source of clout;

When the rank-and-file workers kick the union bosses out,

Again, we will be strong.

Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever,

Solidarity forever, again, we will be strong.



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ith apologies to Ralph Chaplin; This is from Judy Bari:

When the union leaders’ payoffs by the bosses have begun,

There When the union leaders’ payoffs by the bosses have begun,

There will be no labor trouble anywhere beneath the sun,

For the AFL trade unions and the management are one:

The union keeps us down.

Aristocracy forever, Aristocracy forever,

Aristocracy forever, the union keeps us down.



It is we who have to suffer through the daily drudgery

While Lane Kirkland pulls a hundred thousand dollar salary;

Though he claims to lead the workers, he is just a bourgeoisie;

The union keeps us down.

Aristocracy forever, Aristocracy forever,

Aristocracy forever, the union keeps us down.



What do workers hold in common with a labor bureaucrat

Who’s a class collaborationist and bosses diplomat?

With the money from our paychecks, he is sitting getting fat

While the union keeps us down.

Aristocracy forever, Aristocracy forever,

Aristocracy forever, the union keeps us down.



They’ve aligned us with the mafia, the CIA, and more

Serving counterrevolution and oppression of the poor

‘Til the union doesn’t represent our int’rests anymore:

The union keeps us down.

Aristocracy forever, Aristocracy forever,

Aristocracy forever, the union keeps us down.



In our hands, we hold a power they don’t even know about;

They’ve forgotten that the workers are the union’s source of clout;

When the rank-and-file workers kick the union bosses out,

Again, we will be strong.

Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever,

Solidarity forever, again, we will be strong.

Subject: RE: Songs to the John Brown/Battle Hymn tune
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 21 Dec 18 - 08:56 PM

Jim McLean's recent Brexit song (on another thread) is to this tune too.