Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1916 — The SONGS OUR SOLDIERS SING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The SONGS OUR SOLDIERS SING

They care more for trivial ditties, even facing death, than solemn, patriotic hymns. What’s going to be the song hit of the border guards?

©N August 13, 18 years ago ago, the American army of invasion moved forward from its base on the sandy beach before Manila and, a 7 few hours later, the flag of Spain had floated for the last time over the Philippines. An incident of that day which still dwells in the memories of those who witnessed it — though it may have no place In the jpages of history—occurred when a 'volunteer regiment, charging the enemy trenches, came suddenly under a heavy fire from a Spanish force concealed on its flank. For a moment, the regiment wavered. Quickly, however, it recovered, changed its front •slightly and went on. Brief though that period of hesitation was, there was time enough for the regimental band, still carrying its instruments, to detach itself, by whose order no one i ?emed to know, from a part of the line to the rear, swing sharply out into the open, halt and begin to play. A fair target for the enemy’s flanking fire I ,'’'the musicians •stood unsheltered and, calmly, at the word from their leader, broke into the familiar strains of the song of •songs of that campaign—“There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.” Above the crack of the rifles and the •deeper note of the artillery, the band made Itself heard for a quarter of a mile along the American line. And the soldiers, pushing forward, answered with a cheer, caught up the refrain and, Singing it as they charged, .forced the Spanish line backward and captured the intrenehments. It seems, in a way, to be a characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon fighting man to prefer trivial, tripping measures and a brisk, almost flippant liveliness in their battle songs to anything Kiigg’psfivf> of sfan mnrpliinf** < * V* tC* l 1 11 V V TV ~ ft ill CZ I VII i Hfc rythm, but, aside from that, whether it possesses any other virtue, the An-go-Saxon soldier neither inquires nor cares. More than 100,000 American soldiers have assembled along the Rio Grande. No doubt, by common conJsent, on common impulse, coming, no one knows whence this army will :adopt a “song of songs” of the campaign. It would be llecidedlv unusual !if it did not. “Yankee Doodle” is our heritage in itfre way of song from the war of the revolution. From the war of 1812, we •have the “Star-Spangled Banner." From the Civil war our heritage is .greater, and, unquestionably, richer. From the Spanish war, w r e must make the most we can of “A Hot Time.” 'Singularly enough, though, there is very little recorded about the song sung most commonly in the Mexican war. The soldiers of ’46 marched and camped and fought to the words and ! tune of “Green Grow the Rushes.” And for the adoption of that song, they had no more reason—sensibly speaking—than their fathers had when, in Revolutionary day, they lifted their voices in the lightsome measures of “Yankee Doodle.” As a song, it nnswered their purpose, filled their need, came trippingly to their tongues and that sufficed. The Civil war was more productive ;of genuine war songs than any other war In our history and, possibly, more • productive in that respect than any jother war in the history of the world (From it we have at least one real war isong that measures up to the highest (standards of campaign and war songs

—“The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” That, as everyone knows,—had its genesis in “John Brown’s Body.” But what was the genesis of “John Brown’s Body," is something that no one knows. It was first'sung, so far as information runs, by the Twelfth Massachusetts regiment. And, it seems, those who sang it borrowed it from a campmeeting melody. As for the campmeeting melody, its origin is clothed in mystery. Possibly it came as a result of one of the queer musical inspirations characteristic of the oldfashioned campmeeting singing of antebellum days. The popularity of the “Battle Hymn” was immediate. Already the. army knew the tune —a tune singularly suitable for masculine voices—and it took quickly to Mrs. Julia Ward Howe’s stanzas. A few weeks later, East and West, wherever the bluecoated soldiers of the North were In the field the new song was sung with an enthusiasm and fervor that were irresistible.— —■ ————— Words and music were both American, reflecting in a way that defies analysis, yet unmistakably, the soul and spirit of America, not only of the sixties, but of today as well. It was the first song of national significance, moreover, that was wholly American. “Yankee Doodle’s” words were set to British music and, American though they were, many even in Revolutionary times refused to sing them because of the origin of the music. But, if there is doubt abouLthe British origin of the “Yankee Doodle” air, there is none about the origin of the tune to which Francis Scott Key’s “Star-Spangled Banner” is sung. It is British beyond all question. In Baltimore, in 1814, “Anacreon In Heaven,” despite the fact that it hailed from London, was the popular song of the day—as It was abroad. It is hardly sort of song that would attain popularity in these ragtime days, but it stnick the fancy at any rate of our forefathers, and Baltimore knew it well on that fateful September day when the British fleet opened fire on Ft. McHenry. Aboard the enemy ship Mindeen, Francis Scott Key, a young American attorney, was forced to witness the 25hour bomhardment. In the twenty-fifth hour of the bombardment, the British commander suddenly Issued the order to cease, firing. It was dark, and, peer as he might. Key could not make out through the darkness whether the order came ns a result of surrender or not. Only the coming of the dawn would disclose whether the flag still fluttered from

the staff of the defiant Ft. McHenry. As the dawn advanced, he saw the flag still flying. He has made the world realize what the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner” mean to us. In the Civil war, both federal and Confederate troops had a wide repertory from which to select. On the northern side, for instance, the boys in blue could sing not only “John Brown’s Body” or “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” but such songs as “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again,” “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys Are Marching,” “Just Before the Battle, Mother,” “Babylon Is Fallen,” and “Marching Through Georgia.” “Dixie,” with “Maryland, My Maryland,” was the favorite song of the confederacy. Of the latter, nowadays, we hear little, but “Dixie” is played as frequently as any other song of the stormy days of the Civil war and no less in the North than in the South. Indeed, its vigorous, impelling strains, wherever played, North or- South, are invariably greeted with applause if not with cheers. No patriotic celebration, regardless of the Mason and Dixon line, is complete without It. Southern troops were fond, also, of singing “Lorena,” a song notable, as was- “Just Before the Battle, Mother,” especially for its note of plaintiveness. Qertainly about neither is there any suggestion of martial characteristics. Both were the favorite melodies of soldier quartets and were distinctly camp songs/ ‘ . ■ . “Dixie” can hardly be looked on as a wmr product. “Maryland, My Maryland,” however, in words though not in music, was inspired by the great conflict James R. Randall,, a native Marylander, in 1861 wgs in Louisiana when word was received of the attack in Baltimore on the Massachusetts troops. That night, alone In his room, he wrote the words, and they wei'e published a few days later in a New Orleans newspaper. A Richmond paper copied the verses and a group of Richmond young women, reading them, were impressed, and began to sing them to the German tune of “Tannenbaum. O Tannenbaum.” So, like “The Star-Spangled Banner," this song of the Confederacy borrows its music from "a foreign source. Still no survey of the past, however Comprehensive it may be, will serve to inform us what the new army, assembled on the border, will make its campaign song. The only thing so far evident is that the troops of 1916 are slower than the troops of ’6l and ’9B in adopting and. popularizing a song for the camp and for the march.