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"John Brown's Body" (originally known as "John Brown's Song") is a famous Union marching song of the American Civil War. It was for many years generally assumed to have been created as a tribute to the abolitionist acts of John Brown, a claim now disputed by some historians (see below). The song was found offensive by Major General George B. McClellan while he was in command of the Army of the Potomac, and he tried to ban it, to little effect (Sears, Stephen, Landscape Turned Red). In this map: Union states prohibiting slavery Union territories Border states on the Union side which allowed slavery Kansas, which entered and fought with the Union as a free state after the Bleeding Kansas crisis The Confederacy Confederate claimed and sometimes held territories During the American Civil War, the Union...
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For other uses, see Song (disambiguation). ...
Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...
This article is about the abolition of slavery. ...
John Brown, ca. ...
A historian is an individual who studies history and who writes on history. ...
Sheet music, including "the famous John Brown's song", 1862 Download high resolution version (750x1000, 142 KB)Brave McClellan is our leader now, or, Glory hallelujah / words by Mrs. ...
Download high resolution version (750x1000, 142 KB)Brave McClellan is our leader now, or, Glory hallelujah / words by Mrs. ...
Origins The tune, probably written by William Steffe in 1855–56, for a revivalist hymn Say, Brothers will you meet us, was later also used for The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Solidarity Forever, and The Battle Hymn of Cooperation. Tune can refer to: a melody. ...
William Steffe wrote a camp-meeting song with the traditional Glory Hallelujah refrain, in about 1856. ...
The Battle Hymn of the Republic is a patriotic anthem, written by Julia Ward Howe in December 1861, that was made popular during the American Civil War. ...
Solidarity Forever, written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915, is perhaps the most famous union anthem. ...
Sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (which itself was an adaptation of John Browns Body, a marching song of the American Civil War), this song was widely popular throughout the American consumers cooperative movement from the 1930s onward. ...
There is also revisionist evidence that this song was originally created by a group of Union soldiers (with only the first verse), mocking a comrade-in-arms who shared the name "John Brown". In Parson Weems Fable (1939) Grant Wood takes a sly poke at a traditional hagiographical account of George Washington Historical revisionism has both a legitimate academic use and a pejorative meaning. ...
As musicologist Irwin Silber states: Irwin Silber (born October 17, 1925) is an American writer. ...
John Brown's Body' was not composed originally about the fiery Abolitionist at all. The namesake for the song, it turns out, was Sergeant John Brown, a Scotsman, a member of the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry Volunteer Militia.
Columnist Mark Steyn elaborates:[1]: Mark Steyn (born 1959) is a Canadian journalist, columnist, and film and music critic. ...
This group enlisted with the Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment and formed a glee club at Fort Warren in Boston. Brown was second tenor, and the subject of a lot of good-natured joshing, including a song about him mould’ring in his grave, which at that time had just one verse, plus chorus. They called it 'The John Brown Song'. On July 18th 1861, at a regimental march past the Old State House in Boston, the boys sang the song and the crowd assumed, reasonably enough, that it was inspired by the life of John Brown the Kansas abolitionist, not John Brown the Scots tenor. [...] Later on, various other verses were written about the famous John Brown and the original John Brown found his comrades’ musical tribute to him gradually annexed by the other guy.
Evidence to that effect has also been presented by Sarah Vowell on This American Life.[2]. Sarah Jane Vowell (born December 27, 1969) is an American author, journalist, humorist, and commentator. ...
This American Life (TAL) is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by Chicago Public Radio. ...
Lyrics The following lyrics are from the Library of Congress:[3] Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ...
- Tune: Brothers, will you meet me
- John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave;
- John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave;
- John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave;
- His soul's marching on!
-
- (Chorus)
- Glory, halle—hallelujah! Glory, halle—hallelujah!
- Glory, halle—hallelujah! his soul's marching on!
- He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord!
- He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord!
- He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord!
- His soul's marching on!
-
- (Chorus)
- John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back!
- John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back!
- John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back!
- His soul's marching on!
-
- (Chorus)
- His pet lambs will meet him on the way;
- His pet lambs will meet him on the way;
- His pet lambs will meet him on the way;
- They go marching on!
-
- (Chorus)
- They will hang Jeff. Davis to a sour apple tree!
- They will hang Jeff. Davis to a sour apple tree!
- They will hang Jeff. Davis to a sour apple tree!
- As they march along!
-
- (Chorus)
- Now, three rousing cheers for the Union;
- Now, three rousing cheers for the Union;
- Now, three rousing cheers for the Union;
- As we are marching on!
Inevitably, and as hinted above, many verses to the song exist other than the "official" ones quoted above - often either obscene, or strongly abolitionist. One of the latter, obviously thoroughly "annexed" is this full version from another source (the book of Victor Hugo's "Letter to America against John Brown hanging"). It is interesting, but unlikely to have ever been sung on the march: Glory (from the Latin gloria, fame, renown) is used to denote the manifestation of Gods presence in the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. ...
Look up Hallelujah in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
For other uses, see Jefferson Davis (disambiguation). ...
- John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave,
- John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave,
- John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave,
- His soul is marching on!
-
- (Chorus)
- Glory, glory, hallelujah!
- Glory, glory, hallelujah!
- Glory, glory, hallelujah!
- His soul is marching on!
- He captured Harper's Ferry with his nineteen men so true,
- And he frightened old Virginia till she trembled through and through,
- They hung him for a traitor, themselves the traitor crew,
- But his soul is marching on!
-
- Chorus
- John Brown died that the slave might be free,
- John Brown died that the slave might be free,
- John Brown died that the slave might be free,
- And his soul is marching on!
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- Chorus
- The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
- The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
- The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
- On the grave of old John Brown.
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- Chorus
- Now has come the glorious jubilee,
- Now has come the glorious jubilee,
- Now has come the glorious jubilee,
- When all mankind are free.
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- Chorus
"John Brown's Baby" An obviously less morbid and political version about a baby with a cold is often sung by school-age children. The "Baby" version includes sound effects and pantomime.[4] Acute viral nasopharyngitis, often known as the common cold, is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system (nose and throat). ...
Look up mime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Sea shanty Sailors are known to have adapted "John Brown's Body" into a sea shanty - specifically, into a "Capstan Shanty", used during anchor-raising. Sea shanties (singular shanty, also spelled chantey; derived from the French word chanter, to sing) were shipboard working songs. ...
A portion of a model depicting a manual capstan in use. ...
Further Reading - Scholes, Percy A. (1955). "John Brown's Body", The Oxford Companion of Music. Ninth edition. London: Oxford University Press.
- Stutler, Boyd B. (1960). Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! The Story of "John Brown's Body" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Cincinnati: The C. J. Krehbiel Co.
- Vowell, Sarah. (2005). "John Brown's Body," in The Rose and the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad. Ed. by Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus. New York: W. W. Norton.
See also William W. Patton Rev. ...
Solidarity Forever, written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915, is perhaps the most famous union anthem. ...
Sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (which itself was an adaptation of John Browns Body, a marching song of the American Civil War), this song was widely popular throughout the American consumers cooperative movement from the 1930s onward. ...
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