When Johnny Comes Marching Home
| "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" |
Cover, sheet music, 1863 |
| Written by |
Louis Lambert |
| Written |
1863 |
| Language |
English |
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (sometimes "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again") is a popular song of the American Civil War that expressed people's longing for the return of their friends and relatives who were fighting in the war.
Origins
The Irish antiwar song "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" share the same melodic material. Based on internal textual references, "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" apparently dates from the early 1820s, while "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was first published in 1863. It was sung by both sides of the Civil War.[1] It was used as a motivation song that told the soldiers what happens when the war is over.
As with much folk music of this period, many variants in text and music appear as the song is transmitted orally and subject to many external influences. Primacy of one version over another is difficult to prove conclusively because most versions were never written down or published. James Fuld in The Book of World Famous Music (p. 640) indicates that some believe the melody is not Irish in origin.
The lyrics to "Johnny Comes Marching Home," written by Irish-American bandleader Patrick Gilmore and published under the pseudonym 'Louis Lambert',[1] effectively reverse those of "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", in which Johnny returns home blind and crippled, to the woman and children he abandoned in order to go to Sri Lanka to serve in the British Army for the East India Company.
Gilmore wrote the song for his sister Annie as she prayed for the safe return of her fiancé, Union Light Artillery Captain John O'Rourke, from the Civil War.[2][3]
Other versions
Quite a few variations on the song, as well as songs set to the same tune but with different lyrics, have appeared since When Johnny Comes Marching Home was popularized. The alleged larcenous tendencies of some Union soldiers in New Orleans were parodied in the lyrics "For Bales", to the same tune. A British version appeared in 1914, with the similar title, "When Tommy Comes Marching Home."
Popular culture (after 1950)
- Scottish Singer Isla St Clair recorded the song in 2002 for her album Amazing Grace - anthems to inspire. The track starts with Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye and then with a drum roll, from a 19th century rope tension drum, the song changes to When Johnny Comes Marching Home. There is a rousing end when a choir joins in.
- The children's songs The Ants Go Marching One By One and The Animals Went in Two by Two ('Into the Ark') re-used the tune and the refrain.[5]
- Cookie whistles this song in the 1953 movie Stalag 17; it is sung later in the movie.
- British pop singer Adam Faith reached #5 in the UK charts with his version, called Johnny Comes Marching Home in 1960.
- It is used for the Die Hard with a Vengeance end credits theme, as well as playing in the background during the gold depository heist.
- The Chad Mitchell Trio album Mighty Day on Campus (1961) includes "Johnnie," a combined version of both "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye."
- A French version (without vocals) "Johnny Revient d'la Guerre" was recorded by Bérurier Noir, on the album Macadam Massacre (1983).
- Mobile phone network O2, part of Telefónica Europe, started using an instrumental version of this song in a TV advertisement in the first half of 2008.[6] It is also used as the music-on-hold track played to customers waiting to speak to O2's Customer Services.
- United States soccer fans sing the chorus to this song during matches as a patriotic hymn to support their national team.[7]
- In Chariots of Fire, the band strikes up this song as the 1924 USA Olympic athletes pass the parade stand.
- The song or its melody has also been used in many movie soundtracks, including Cavalcade,1933 Gone with the Wind, 1939 (a Confederate military band plays it in the background of a scene taking place in Atlanta); The Great Dictator, 1940; Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942; Stalag 17, 1953 (it is sung by American prisoners of war); The Horse Soldiers, 1959; How The West Was Won, 1962; Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 1964; The Crazies, 1973; Born on the Fourth of July 1989; Die Hard with a Vengeance" 1995; The Second Civil War, 1997; and Antz, 1998.
- This tune is also used in a chapter of Band of Brothers as a song from the 101st Airborne.
- A modified version of this tune is used in the end credits of the Japanese anime Black Lagoon Roberta's Blood Trail ending credits.
- The American Celtic-punk rock band Dropkick Murphys performed "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya" on their album The Meanest of Times released on September 18, 2007.
- "English Civil War" is a song by British punk rock band The Clash, featured on their second album Give 'Em Enough Rope. The melody of The Clash's song is derived from "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".
- The American rock group Guns N' Roses pays homage to this song in the track, "Civil War," on their 1991 album, Use Your Illusion II. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" is featured in the intro and outro to the song, where lead singer Axl Rose whistles the melody, while lead guitarist, Slash, and bassist, Duff McKagan, provide the backing riff.
Lyrics
The original lyrics as written by Gilmore, are:[8]
- When Johnny comes marching home again
- Hurrah! Hurrah!
- We'll give him a hearty welcome then
- Hurrah! Hurrah!
- The men will cheer and the boys will shout
- The ladies they will all turn out
- And we'll all feel gay
- When Johnny comes marching home.
- The old church bell will peal with joy
- Hurrah! Hurrah!
- To welcome home our darling boy,
- Hurrah! Hurrah!
- The village lads and lassies say
- With roses they will strew the way,
- And we'll all feel gay
- When Johnny comes marching home.
- Get ready for the Jubilee,
- Hurrah! Hurrah!
- We'll give the hero three times three,
- Hurrah! Hurrah!
- The laurel wreath is ready now
- To place upon his loyal brow
- And we'll all feel gay
- When Johnny comes marching home.
- Let love and friendship on that day,
- Hurrah, hurrah!
- Their choicest pleasures then display,
- Hurrah, hurrah!
- And let each one perform some part,
- To fill with joy the warrior's heart,
- And we'll all feel gay
- When Johnny comes marching home.
For Bales
"For Bales!", fully titled "For Bales! An O'er True Tale. Dedicated to Those Pure Patriots Who Were Afflicted with "Cotton on the Brain" and Who Saw The Elephant is a variant lyric, using the same tune. It was published in New Orleans in 1864, by A.E. Blackmar during the American Civil War.
Lyrics
[1]
We all went down to New Orleans,
For Bales, for Bales;
We all went down to New Orleans,
For Bales, says I; We all went down to New Orleans,
To get a peep behind the scenes,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".
[2]
We thought when we got in the "Ring",
For Bales, for Bales;
We thought when we got in the "Ring",
For Bales, says I;
We thought when we got in the "Ring",
Greenbacks would be a dead sure thing,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".
[3]
The "ring" went up, with bagging and rope,
For Bales, for Bales;
Upon the "Black Hawk" with bagging and rope,
For Bales, says I;
Went up "Red River" with bagging and rope,
Expecting to make a pile of "soap",
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".
[4]
But Taylor and Smith, with ragged ranks,
For Bales, for Bales;
But Taylor and Smith, with ragged ranks,
For Bales, says I;
But Taylor and Smith, with ragged ranks,
Burned up the cotton and whipped old Banks,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".
[5]
Our "ring" came back and cursed and swore,
For Bales, for Bales;
Our "ring" came back and cursed and swore,
For Bales, says I;
Our "ring" came back and cursed and swore,
For we got no cotton at Grand Ecore,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".
[6]
Now let us all give praise and thanks,
For Bales, for Bales;
Now let us all give praise and thanks,
For Bales, says I;
Now let us all give praise and thanks,
For the victory gained by General Banks,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".[9]
References
- ^ a b Erbsen, p. 68
- ^ Peterson, Patti Jo (August 30, 2007), "The House that O'Rourke Built", The Plattsmouth Journal, p. 5 .
- ^ Peterson, Patti Jo (June 15, 2006), "The O'Rourke House", The Plattsmouth Journal, p. 11 .
- ^ Jay Nordlinger, "American Sounds: A little music with your politics – music at political conventions", National Review, 2000-09-11
- ^ The Ants Go Marching, lyrics by Robert D. Singleton at National Institute of Health
- ^ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bsFr7SB5mAI YouTube: O2 "Two by Two" commercial from 2008
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdm8f_MRiKY
- ^ Lambert, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".
- ^ [1]
Bibliography
- Lambert, Louis (Patrick Gilmore). "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". Boston: Henry Tolman & Co. (1863)
- Erbsen, Wayne: Rousing Songs and True Tales of the Civil War. Native Ground Books & Music, 2008. ISBN 1883206332
External links