"When the Saints Go Marching In," so well-known that it is often referred to as "The Saints," is a United States gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. Though it originated as a spiritual, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz band. Gospel music is a musical genre characterized by dominant vocals (often with strong use of harmony) referencing lyrics of a religious nature, particularly Christian. ... For other uses, see Hymn (disambiguation). ... Folk song redirects here. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ...

All-Saints, a painting by Fra Angelico, 15th Century

Image File history File links All_saints. ... Image File history File links All_saints. ... The Virgin of the Annunciation Fra Angelico (c. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ...

Uses

A traditional use of the song is as a funeral march. In the funeral music tradition of New Orleans, Louisiana, often called the "jazz funeral," while accompanying the coffin to the cemetery, a band would play the tune as a dirge. On the way back from the interment, it would switch to the familiar upbeat "hot" or "Dixieland" style. While the tune is still heard as a slow spiritual number on rare occasions, from the mid-20th century it has been massively more common as a "hot" number. The number remains particularly associated with the city of New Orleans, to the extent that New Orleans' professional football team was named the New Orleans Saints, after the song. A funeral march or dead march is a march, usually in a minor key, in a slow simple duple metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. ... NOLA redirects here. ... Jazz funeral is a unique American funeral tradition which occurs in New Orleans. ... Look up Dirge in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Dixieland music is a style of jazz which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s. ... United States simply as football, is a competitive team sport that is both fast-paced and strategic. ... City New Orleans, Louisiana Team colors Gold and black Head Coach Sean Payton Owner Tom Benson and Rita Benson LeBlanc General manager Mickey Loomis Mascot Gumbo the dog League/Conference affiliations National Football League (1967–present) Eastern Conference (1967-1969) Capitol Division (1967; 1969) Century Division (1968) National Football Conference...

Both vocal and instrumental renditions of the song abound. Louis Armstrong was one of the first to make the tune into a nationally known pop-tune in the 1930s. Armstrong wrote that his sister told him she thought the secular performance style of the traditional church tune was inappropriate and irreligious. However Armstrong was in a New Orleans tradition of turning church numbers into brass band and dance numbers that went back at least to Buddy Bolden's band at the very start of the 20th century. Louis[1] Armstrong[2] (4 August 1901[3] – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo[4] and Pops, was an American jazz musician. ... Charles Buddy Bolden (September 6, 1877–November 4, 1931) was a cornetist and the first New Orleans jazz musician to come to prominence and also credited as the founder of jazz. ...

Other pop versions include that by Judy Garland. Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 - June 22, 1969) was an Academy Award-nominated American film actress and singer, best known for her role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939). ...

The tune was brought into the early rock and roll repertory by Fats Domino as one of the traditional New Orleans numbers he often played to rock audiences. Domino would usually use "The Saints" as his grand finale number, sometimes with his horn players leaving the stage to parade through the theater aisles or around the dance floor. Other early rock artists to follow Domino's lead included Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley & His Comets (as "The Saint's Rock and Roll"), Bo Diddley and The Beatles. Elvis Presley performed the song during the Million Dollar Quartet jam session and also recorded a version for his film, Frankie and Johnny. This song is available in the compilation "Peace in the Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings." It makes a current resurgence on the Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour, as an encore for some shows. Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Antoine Dominique Fats Domino (born February 26, 1928) is a classic R&B and rock and roll singer, songwriter and pianist. ... Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935), also known by the nickname The Killer, is an American rock and roll and country music singer, songwriter, and pianist. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Bo Diddley (born December 30, 1928) aka The Originator, is an influential American rock and roll singer, songwriter, and guitarist. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Elvis redirects here. ... Million Dollar Quartet is the name given to recordings made on Tuesday December 4, 1956 in the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. ... Frankie and Johnny is a 1966 musical starring Elvis Presley as a riverboat gambler. ... The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour is a 2006 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and a large group playing what was billed as An all-new evening of gospel, folk, and blues, otherwise seen as a form of big band folk music. ...

A true jazz standard, it has been recorded by a great many other jazz and pop artists. Jazz standard refers to a tune that is widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians. ...

It is nicknamed "The Monster" by some jazz musicians, as it seems to be the only tune some people know to request when seeing a Dixieland band, and some musicians dread being asked to play it several times a night. The musicians at Preservation Hall in New Orleans got so tired of playing it that the sign announcing the fee schedule ran $1 for standard requests, $2 for unusual requests, and $5 for "The Saints." (This was in early 1960s dollars. By 2004 the price had gone up to $10.) Preservation Hall is a noted jazz performance hall located at 726 St. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... USD redirects here. ...

This well-known tune is also the theme/rallying song for a number of sports teams. For lists and further details, see When The Saints Go Marching In (sport). When The Saints Go Marching In is used by a number of teams in various sports. ...

A portion of the song was also used in the "boss" music of the "Out of This Dimension" Easter egg stage in the game Star Fox for the SNES. The first easter egg. ... Star Fox ) (also known as Star Wing in Europe due to trademark issues) is the first game in the Star Fox series of video games. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) was a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia, and Brazil between 1990 and 1993. ...

The Rhodesian Light Infantry, also known as "The Saints," used it as their regimental march. Unveiling of the regimental statue, 1979. ...

The Oi! band Condemned 84 did a version called "When The Boots Go Marching In"

A techno remix of this song, titled "Saints Go Marching," is a playable song in some versions of Dance Dance Revolution. This article is about the Dance Dance Revolution series. ...

Lyrics

As with many numbers with long traditional folk use, there is no one "official" version of the song or its lyrics. This extends so far as confusion as to its name, with it often being mistakenly called When the Saints Come Marching In. As for the lyrics themselves, their very simplicity makes it easy to generate new verses. Since the first, second, and fourth lines of a verse are exactly the same, and the third standard throughout, the creation of one suitable line in iambic tetrameter generates an entire verse. An iamb is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ... In poetry, a tetrameter is a line of four metrical feet: And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea (Anapaest tetrameter) (Byron, The Destruction of Sennacherib) You who are bent and bald and blind (Iambic tetrameter, except for the first foot which is a trochee) (W...

It is impossible to list every version of the song, but a common standard version runs:

We are trav'ling in the footsteps

Of those who've gone before,

And we'll all be reunited,

On a new and sunlit shore,

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in

And when the sun refuse to shine

And when the sun refuse to shine

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the sun refuse to shine

And when the moon turns red with blood

And when the moon turns red with blood

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the moon turns red with blood

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the trumpet sounds its call

Some say this world of trouble,

Is the only one we need,

But I'm waiting for that morning,

When the new world is revealed.

Often the first two words of the common third verse line ("Lord, how") are sung as either "Oh, Lord" or even "Lord, Lord."

Arrangements vary considerably. The simplest is just an endless repetition of the chorus. Verses may be alternated with choruses, or put in the third of 4 repetitions to create an AABA form with the verse as the bridge.

One common verse in "hot" New Orleans versions runs (with considerable variation) like thus:

I used to have a playmate

Who would walk and talk with me

But since she got religion

She has turned her back on me.

Some traditional arrangements often have ensemble rather than individual vocals. It is also common as an audience sing-along number. Versions using call and response are often heard, eg: The term Call and response may refer to Call and response -- a type of musical phrasing Call-and-response -- a type of communication Call and Response is a Californian pop band. ...

Call: Oh when the Saints

Response: Oh when the Saints!

Analysis of the traditional lyrics

The song is apocalyptic, taking much of its imagery from the Book of Revelation, but excluding its more horrific depictions of the Last Judgment. The verses about the Sun and Moon refer to Solar and Lunar eclipses; the trumpet is the way in which the end of times is announced. As the hymn expresses the wish to go to Heaven, picturing the saints going in (through the Pearly Gates), it is entirely appropriate for funerals. For other uses, see Apocalypse (disambiguation). ... Visions of John of Patmos, as depicted in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. ... Judgment Day redirects here. ... This article is about astronomical eclipses. ... Trumpeter redirects here. ... The Pearly gates, in Christianity, is an informal name for the gateway to Heaven, inspired by the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:21— The image of the gates in popular culture is a set of large, white, wrought-iron gates in the clouds, guarded by Saint Peter. ...

The version performed by Haley (and others) removes most religious imagery in favor of references to musicians (i.e. "When that rhythm starts to go/I want to be in that number/When that rhythm starts to go.").

References

The Book of World Famous Music, Classical, Popular and Folk by James Fuld (1966)

External links

• Louis Armstrong in Social Context Text and video
• When The Saints Go Marching In Louis Armstrong version
• Easybyte - free easy piano arrangement of "When the Saints Go Marching In" plus midi sound file