Show the bongs our kinq j i i W ai ri KI ml ail b I 1 i IBI lav 11 II y jt ajaj ij aj A iraj lol adv lo 10 lal sd 1 I iuni 01 ol up if M i ii by ELMO SCOTT WATSON VER since the world b g in men have gone to war 11 d going having sung sc i s among savages the sin 1 ig of war songs was an s sentral part of the p p aratoon tor battle bu in recalled led civilized r fare soldiers have 11 s t anem campaign hardships tr camp life monotony by singing about their offices their regiments what the had to eat and the shelter or lack of it in which they slept as well as any number of other details of their eveia day life in tills respect the soldiers of the american army ever since there was such an institution have boon no dlf ferent from the soldiers of other na alons what Is a typical american sol adler song the answer Is there Is no such thing 1 the tape of song that was our soldiers of one period the soldiers of another war would scorn to sing with but few exceptions perhaps tho songs which were sung during one war are all but forgotten by the time another war comes along for the soldier song Is one of the most ephemeral things in the world for our national ballad ry there has recently been collected el in one volume the greater pirt of our soldier songs from hankee doodle to parley which are published un der the title of sound oft by the cosmopolitan book corporation of new york the collector of these songs Is edward arthur dolph of the united states military academy ai west point and two brother officers on the academy staff have operated cooperated co with him in producing a piece of work which aside from ats inherent infer cst las great historic value they are aleut philip egner teacher of music who arranged the music for many of the songs in lie hook and lawrence schick instructor in drawing who made the illustrations in the foreword to the book peter B kyne a veteran of the spanish american and world wars makes the following comment A soldier song la essentially a song of the people its melody must be simple the words either sad or humorous and it must have a resounding chorus in which the tone deaf can join without feir of discovery it Is for this reason that the most popular song of the worl war was all we do Is sign the roll sung to the tupe of john browns body then too it lent it celt readily to improvisation I 1 remember a chief cook I 1 had ne had a bellowing baritone and was one 0 the funniest men I 1 ever knew ono day after having passed through three british rest camps this fellow suddenly roared forth all we do Is go to rest camps A joyous shout greeted this opening line the men anew instantly what was coming and with mighty vigor indeed did they come in on the last line and we never get a d d bitet rest kyj ills song was a thae c riling eu alph s 1 in ew tT rabou in g captain witts victory over the indians at pig w bilut on may 8 of that year just atre the revolution the americans fluently fruent ly wrote ballads to express ideas about tea and taxation these ballads however vv ere not nearly so popular among the soldiers ot the continental army as were which dealt with events of the war itself such as the famous battle of the kegs biad anthony wayne drive the spy dearly all of these revolutionary songs were sung to tunes borrowed from the british sas the author this was natural for soldier songs are generally sung to old well known tunes or to popular music of the day it was not until miny beirs after the revolution that we began to have a national music of our own it Is interesting to note that the one outstanding song of he revolution the one which has survived longest to popular knowledge and which wig the basis for other sons during all our wars down to and including the civil war was written originally by a artt ish army surgeon this was the famous yankee doodle bere Is the atory of its origin as lieutenant dolph tells it in the sum mer or early tall of 1758 during the french and indian war a british army surgeon doctor richard shuckburgh Shuck burgh who had spent roost of his time in america encamped with general abercromble on tho old aa reness laer estate near albiny A number ot provincial troops were mobilizing there their appearance avas so ludicrous thaU Doctor shuckburgh Shuck burgh wh 0 wis quite a wit wrote a song about them and set it to an old tune we now know as yankee doodle to the men who served in france a decade ago and sang of AI adelon it may be a surprise to know that Al adelon was a soldiers sweetheart long before the orld war in proof of that consider this stanza shorn n soldier song which appeared in one of the earliest american songsters song and was probably sung in the war of 1812 could you to battle march away and leave me here I 1 m sure t would break my heart to stay when you are gone campaigning ah non non madlon mad lon could never leave her loverl ah non non non gauvre madelon would BO with you all the world over although the war of 1812 did not produce many soldier songs mainly because the army have much to boast about until near the end of the war I 1 but there 13 one exception to this statement and it Is one genuine soldier song that will live as long as the republic the star spangled ban ncr for this product of the alon of a volunteer soldier francis scott key has become our national anthem and had thrilled millions jot aim art jaim ens even ie war great outstanding song which has sur alved to the present time in the main this conflict saw the revival of the favorite songs of the two previous wars mentioned although the soldiers both volunteer and regular seized upon the opportunity offered by various events in the mexican to compose crude songs which were sung to tunes iso other war in our country s history produced as miny m iny songs as the civil war says dolph the bt ruggle lasted so long and thi feeling on each side waa so intense that hundreds of songs of all degrees of merit appeared somo of them seemed destined to be sung as long as the american nation lasts for such songs as bittle cry of freedom alste Dl ste battle hymn of the republic brunnle blue hag maryland kiy man land have become an esen hal part of alie american tradition ot all of these songs were sung by the soldiers however nor were they intended to be writes the author of sound ofal many were wholly un suitable for camp or marching song or were too far rented from the intimate details and stark realities of a soldiers dully life As a rule sentimental songs were not in great fa or As the first wave of feeling passed and men settled down to the serious business of fight ing marching sleeping in the mud and rain and ihling on sow belly and beans their attention was more and more focused on the immediate details of their dal lylle it was ettien that true soldier songs were barn f for it was at this time that the es sentral character of the american soldier began to assert itself his ability to make a jest about danger and hardship and to seek an emotional outlet by singing satirically about himself and hla uncomfortable life that quality became even moro apparent in alo songs of the spanish american war and those of the philippine insurrection and it reached its full flower in the world war the fact tint finly dinky parley Is the outstanding survivor of the soldier songs sung over there reflects as nothing else can the spirit of tho young man who took part in the great adventure of and lest anyone deplore the tact that the world war songs breathed none of the spirit let him consider these words of the au thor of sound perhaps after all it Is a blessing that these soldier songs of 17 and IS were light nonsensical and even bawdy As long as soldiers sing these kinds of songs they do not become cynical and bitter as did the french germans and english the americans came out of the war with the ability quickly to regain their normal perspective no feeling of hate rankles in their breast today this fact alone Is worth more than all the war songs that have eer endured i A ami jiles f j |