Lookin for battle tunes

Subject: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Casey O'Donovan
Date: 02 Sep 98 - 04:01 PM

Hey,

I have been looking for lyrics and melodies for older war tunes and ballads. I am looking especially for those songs that were meant to inspire troops about to enter battle and to "charge the ranks". Any help would be great.

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: steve t
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 12:13 AM

Waterloo, waterloo, dum dum dum, de dah
Waterlow, waterloo, dum dum dum, de dah
We dum de de dum dah
Dum de de dum dah
Waterloo
Waterloo
Waterloo
- University of Waterloo's unofficial school cheer
(to the same tune as Dennis Moore in the Monty Python sketch)

More seriously, "Follow Me Up To Carlow" is wonderfully nasty and oldish sounding. But it's a modern tune.

I'm really curious to see what the Mudcat Wise will say on this subject.

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Bo
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 01:08 AM

I would suggest some of the Corries recordings. For the most part they are not very very old, a lot of them are Robbie Burns pieces, but thier heart is in the right place.

Bo

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Gunny
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 06:34 AM

The American Civil War is a great place to look for inspirational battle tunes. "Give Us A Flag" was written anonymously by a soldier in the Massachusetts 54th (the famed regiment compiled of black soldiers, which was the basis for the movie "Glory"). The song pleads for the "coloured volunteers" to be given the right to defend their country and prove their bravery in the face of the Confederacy. Ultimately, they did just that in a final suicidal charge against Fort Wagner. Whether or not they actually sang it in battle, I don't know. During the heat of the fighting at Williamsburg, U.S. Army Commander Heintzelman tried to rally his broken ranks by ordering the regimental band to take up their instruments and "Play, dammit-it's all you're good for! Play 'Yankee Doodle' or any doodle you can think of!" Over the guns came "Yankee Doodle" followed by "Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue". A Union soldier later reported that the rousing music "won us the battle". On the Confederate side, at Gettysburg, the rebel band played "Nearer, My Heart, To Thee" every time they pushed back the yankees. Also, the Irish were great ones for patriotic rebel-rousing. At Antietam (sp) the Irish Brigade sang "The Harp of Old Erin" and the 37th New York "Irish Rifles" reportedly liked to sing "Free and Green" in battle. Anyway, I don't have the words to these songs on hand, but you should be able to find them easily enough either here or elsewhere on the web. If you can't, let me know and I'll try to dig them up for you. (And Dad said my courses in American History and Folklore was a waste of hard-earned money!) By the way, Steve is right..."Follow Me Up to Carlow" is wonderful! And, even if it is modern (I don't know), it was born to be a great, old fighting song! Good Luck!

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Bert
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 09:09 AM

This is a monologue, not a song, but it fits:

SAM, SAM, PICK UP THA MUSKET

Bert.

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Bert
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 09:10 AM

One of these days....try again

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From:
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 11:51 AM

Check this site:
* GO HERE *

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Diamondback
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 04:01 PM

During the American Civil War "Rally 'Round the Flag" was sung as a rousing battlefield song. During the Battle of the Wilderness in May of 1864 Union troops used this song to rally their comrades in the often confused fighting there. This song was written by George Root.

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Bruce O.
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 07:12 PM

Josha' fit the battle of Jericho/ Agincourt/ Chevy Chase/ The Reading Skirmish/ Battle of the Boyne/ Battle of Audenard/ Battle of Almanza

Look for [battle] and [march] in DT.

MUSIC>
'Elizabeth Rogers Hir Virginal Book', (1656) edited by Charles Cofone, 1975.

The Battle [part:]
1- The Soldiers Summons
2- The March of Foot
3- The March of Horse
4- The Trumpets
5- The Irish March
6- Bagpipes
7- The Drum and Flute
8- The March to the Fight
9- The Battle Joined
10- Retreat
11- The Burying of the Dead

James Oswald's 'Caledonian Pocket Companion', bk. 9, c 1758, reprinted in David Johnson's 'Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century', 1984, 1997.

A Highland Battle [part:]
1- The march
2- They mend their pace
3- The battle begins
4- The height of the battle
5- The preparation for a retreat
6- The chief is killed
7- The retreat
8- The lamentation for the chief

Battle Piece in 'Oscar and Malvina', Wm. Reeve, 1791.

1- Untitled [Lasley's/ Leslie's March]
2- The Battle
3- Groans of the Wounded
4- Retreat
5- Quick Step
6- Soldier's Dance after the Battle

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 07:57 PM

You can't beat "Men of Harlech" (in the DT, along with several parodies).

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Belgabor
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 08:08 PM

I once saw a TV series about an English sniper regiment. Unfotunately I forgot the name of the series, but you can find the song I heard here in the DT 'Over the hills and far away (2)'

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Bruce O.
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 08:32 PM

There's a complete copy of the last mentioned in a thread of about two weeks ago (Aug. 23), 'John Tams Sharpes Rifles series'.

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Bruce O.
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 10:55 PM

What a Charming Thing's a Battle.
[Song by I. Bickerstaffe]

What a charming thing's a battle;
Trumpets sounding, drums a beating;
Crack, crick, crack, the cannons rattle;
Every heart with joy elating!
With what pleasure are we spying
From the front and from the rear,
Round us, in the smokey air,
Heads, and limbs, and bullets flying;
Then, the groans of soldiers dying,
Just like sparrows as it were,
At each pop
Hundreds drop,
While the muskets prittle-prattle;
Killed and wounded
Lie confounded;
What a charming thing's a battle!

But the pleasant joke of all,
Is when to close attack we fall,
Like mad bulls each other butting,
Shooting, stabbing, maiming, cutting,
Horse and foot,
All go to't;
Kill's the word, both men and cattle;
Then to plunder,
Blood and thunder,
What a charming thing's a battle!

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 Sep 98 - 11:29 PM

Bruce- I like it. How about some background info?

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: O'Boyle
Date: 04 Sep 98 - 01:44 AM

David Kincaid put out an album this year called "the irish Volunteer: Songs Of The Irish Union Soldier 1861-1863". It is full of recruiting songs and songs of battle used by the Irish brigade. It's on Ryko records. I highly recommend it.

Rick

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Bert
Date: 04 Sep 98 - 09:03 AM

Men of Harlech
Off with Kitchener's army
Over there

Bert.

Subject: RE: Lookin for battle tunes
From: Bruce O.
Date: 04 Sep 98 - 09:43 AM

"What a charming thing's a battle" is from 'The Recruiting Serjeant', 1771. Lyrics by Bickerstaffe and music by Dibdin. I don't have a copy of the tune.