John Brown's Body - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"John Brown's Body" (originally known as "John Brown's Song") is an American marching

March (music)

A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...

song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

about the abolitionist John Brown

John Brown (abolitionist)

John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...

. The song was popular in the Union

Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting

Camp meeting

The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in Britain and once common in some parts of the United States, wherein people would travel from a large area to a particular site to camp out, listen to itinerant preachers, and pray...

movement of the 19th century. The song's authorship is disputed; one account first published in 1890 claims the lyrics were a collective effort by Union soldiers and that the lyrics also referred humorously to Sergeant John Brown of the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry Volunteer Militia. The songwriter and Union soldier Thomas Brigham Bishop

Thomas Brigham Bishop

Thomas Brigham Bishop is best known as an American composer of popular music...

is also credited with the song.

The "flavor of coarseness, possibly of irreverence" led many of the era to feel uncomfortable with the earliest "John Brown" lyrics. This in turn led to the creation of many variant versions of the text that aspired to a higher literary quality. The most famous of these is Julia Ward Howe

Julia Ward Howe

Julia Ward Howe was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet, most famous as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".-Biography:...

's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is a hymn by American writer Julia Ward Howe using the music from the song "John Brown's Body". Howe's more famous lyrics were written in November 1861 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It became popular during the American Civil War...

," which was written when a friend suggested, "Why do you not write some good words for that stirring tune?"

History of the tune

"Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us", the tune that eventually became associated with John Brown's Body and the Battle Hymn of the Republic, was formed in the American camp meeting circuit of the early to mid 1800s. In that atmosphere, where hymns were taught and learned by rote

Rote learning

Rote learning is a learning technique which focuses on memorization. The major practice involved in rote learning is learning by repetition by which students commit information to memory in a highly structured way. The idea is that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the...

and a spontaneous and improvisatory element was prized, both tunes and words changed and adapted in true folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

fashion:

Specialists in nineteenth-century American religious history describe camp meeting music as the creative product of participants who, when seized by the spirit of a particular sermon or prayer, would take lines from a preacher's text as a point of departure for a short, simple melody. The melody was either borrowed from a preexisting tune or made up on the spot. The line would be sung repeatedly, changing slightly each time, and shaped gradually into a stanza that could be learned easily by others and memorized quickly.

The written record of the tune can be traced to 1858 in a book called The Union Harp and Revival Chorister, selected and arranged by Charles Dunbar, and published in Cincinnati. The book contains the words and music of a song "My Brother Will You Meet Me", with the music but not the words of the "Glory Hallelujah" chorus; and the opening line "Say my brother will you meet me". In December 1858 a Brooklyn Sunday school published a version called "Brothers, Will You Meet Us" with the words and music of the "Glory Hallelujah" chorus, and the opening line "Say, brothers will you meet us", under which title the song then became known. The hymn is often attributed to William Steffe, though the category of "composer" fits poorly into the camp meeting and oral folk tradition of the time. Steffe's role may have been more as transcriber and/or modifier of a commonly sung tune or text that had arisen through a folk tradition—or originator of a text and tune that was honed and modified by many others before reaching the forms best known today— than as composer per se.

Robert W. Allen summarizes Steffe's own story of composing the tune, based on letters now found in the Kansas Historical Society—a story that confirms the flexible oral tradition in which "Say, Brothers" originated:

Steffe finally told the whole story of the writing of the song. He was asked to write it in 1855 or 56 for the Good Will Engine Company of Philadelphia. They used it as a song of welcome for the visiting Liberty Fire Company of Baltimore. The original verse for the song was "Say, Bummers, Will You Meet Us?" Someone else converted the "Say, Bummers" verse into the hymn "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us." He thought he might be able to identify that person, but was never able to do so.

As with many similar tunes arising from an oral and folk tradition in this period and milieu, precisely tracing authorship is problematic. For instance, some sources list Thomas Brigham Bishop, Frank E. Jerome, and others as the tune's composer. As Steffe himself indicates, many others—known and unknown—undoubtedly did play a role in creating different versions of the hymn, modifying it, and disseminating it.

Some researchers have maintained that the tune's roots go back to a "Negro folk song", an African-American wedding song from Georgia, or to a British sea shanty

Sea shanty

A shanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. Shanties became ubiquitous in the 19th century era of the wind-driven packet and clipper ships...

that originated as a Swedish drinking song. Given that the tune was developed in an oral tradition, it is impossible to say for certain which of these influences may have played a specific role in the creation of this tune, but it is certain that numerous folk influences from different cultures such as these were prominent in the musical culture of the camp meeting, and that such influences were freely combined in the music-making that took place in the revival movement.

It has been suggested that "Say Brothers, Will You Meet Us", popular among Southern blacks, already had an anti-slavery sub-text, with its reference to "Canaan's happy shore" alluding to the idea of crossing the river to a happier place. If so, that sub-text that was considerably enhanced and expanded as the various John Brown lyrics took on themes related to the famous abolitionist and the American Civil War.

"Tiger" Battalion's version

At a flag-raising ceremony at Fort Warren

Fort Warren

Fort Warren may refer to:*Fort Warren *Fort Warren *Fort Warren *Francis E. Warren Air Force Base...

, near Boston, on Sunday May 12, 1861, the John Brown song was publicly played "perhaps for the first time". The American Civil War

American Civil War

had begun the previous month.

Newspapers reported troops singing the song as they marched in the streets of Boston on July 18, 1861, and there were a "rash" of broadside printings of the song with substantially the same words as the undated John Brown Song! broadside, stated by Kimball to be the first published edition, and the broadside with music by C. S. Marsh copyrighted on July 16, 1861, also published by C.S. Hall (see images displayed on this page). Other publishers also came out with versions of the John Brown Song and claimed copyright.

Kimball Version of authorship

In 1890, George Kimball wrote his account of how the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts militia, known as the "Tiger" Battalion, collectively worked out the lyrics to "John Brown's Body". Kimball wrote:

We had a jovial Scotchman in the battalion, named John Brown. . . . and as he happened to bear the identical name of the old hero of Harper's Ferry, he became at once the butt of his comrades. If he made his appearance a few minutes late among the working squad, or was a little tardy in falling into the company line, he was sure to be greeted with such expressions as "Come, old fellow, you ought to be at it if you are going to help us free the slaves"; or, "This can't be John Brown--why, John Brown is dead." And then some wag would add, in a solemn, drawling tone, as if it were his purpose to give particular emphasis to the fact that John Brown was really, actually dead: "Yes, yes, poor old John Brown is dead; his body lies mouldering in the grave."

According to Kimball, these sayings became by-words among the soldiers and, in a communal effort—similar in many ways to the spontaneous composition of camp meeting songs described above—were gradually put to the tune of "Say, Brothers":

Finally ditties composed of the most nonsensical, doggerel rhymes, setting for the fact that John Brown was dead and that his body was undergoing the process of dissolution, began to be sung to the music of the hymn above given. These ditties underwent various ramifications, until eventually the lines were reached,--

"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,

His soul's marching on."

And,--

"He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord,

His soul's marching on."

These lines seemed to give general satisfaction, the idea that Brown's soul was "marching on" receiving recognition at once as having a germ of inspiration in it. They were sung over and over again with a great deal of gusto, the "Glory hallelujah" chorus being always added.

Some leaders of the battalion, feeling the words were coarse and irreverent, tried to urge the adoption of more fitting lyrics, but to no avail. The lyrics were soon prepared for publication by members of the battalion, together with publisher C. S. Hall. They selected and polished verses they felt appropriate, and may even have enlisted the services of a local poet to help polish and create verses.

The official histories of the old First Artillery and of the 55th Artillery (1918) also record the Tiger Battalion's role in creating the John Brown Song, confirming the general thrust of Kimball's version with a few additional details.

Bishop's claim of authorship, other claims

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

songwriter, musician, band leader, and Union soldier Thomas Brigham Bishop

Thomas Brigham Bishop

Thomas Brigham Bishop is best known as an American composer of popular music...

(1835–1905) has also been credited as the originator of the John Brown Song. Bishop's biographer and friend James MacIntyre, in an interview with Time Magazine in 1935, stated that this version was first published by John Church

John Church

There have been several people named John Church.* Reverend John Church was a clergy member involved in a scandal.* John A. Church is an expert in sea-level changes* John Church is an Australian television news reporter who appears on NBN Television....

of Cincinnati in 1861. Bishop, who would later command a company of black troops in the American Civil War, was in nearby Martinsburg

Martinsburg

-Places:In the United States:*Martinsburg, Indiana*Martinsburg, Iowa*Martinsburg, Missouri*Martinsburg, Nebraska*Martinsburg, New York*Martinsburg, Ohio*Martinsburg, Pennsylvania*Martinsburg, West VirginiaIn Germany:...

when Brown was hanged at Charles Town in 1859 and, according to MacIntyre, Bishop wrote the first four verses of the song at the time. The "Jeff Davis" verse was added later when it caught on as a Union marching song. According to MacIntyre, Bishop's account was that he based the song on an earlier hymn he had written for, or in mockery of, a pious brother-in-law, taking from this earlier song the "glory hallelujah" chorus, the phrase "to be a soldier in the army of the Lord", and the tune. According to MacIntyre, this hymn became popular at religious meetings in Maine. The phrase "to be a soldier in the army of the Lord" is not found in any extant copies of "Say, Brothers"--either those published before or after 1860.
A number of other authors claimed to have taken part in the origin of the song. From the many different versions and variants of the text and music printed throughout the 1860s, it is clear that many different people had a hand in creating, modifying, singing, and publishing different versions of the text, which was in general associated with strong abolitionist sentiment. "Multiple authors, most of them anonymous, borrowed this tune [ie Say, Brothers], gave it new texts, and used it to hail Brown's terrorist war to abolish the centuries-old practice of slavery in America."

Creation of other versions

Once John Brown's Body became popular as a marching song, more literary versions of the John Brown lyrics were created for the John Brown tune. For example, William Weston Patton

William Weston Patton

Rev. William Weston Patton , was president of Howard University, a fierce abolitionist and one of the contributors to the words of John Brown's Body. He was the son of Rev...

wrote his influential version in October 1861 which was published in the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

, 16 December of that year. The "Song of the First of Arkansas

Marching Song of the First Arkansas

"Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment" is one of the few Civil War-era songs inspired by the lyrical structure of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the tune of "John Brown's Body" that is still performed and recorded today...

" was written, or written down, by Capt. Lindley Miller in 1864, although (typical of the confusion of authorship among the variants and versions) a similar text with the title "The Valiant Soldiers" is also attributed to Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, she...

. "The President’s Proclamation" was written by Edna Dean Proctor in 1863 on the occasion of the Emancipation Proclamation. Other versions include the "Marching song of the 4th Battalion of Rifles, 13th Reg., Massachusetts Volunteers" and the "Kriegslied der Division Blenker", written for the Blenker Division, a group of German soldiers who had participated in the European revolutions of 1848/49 and fought for the Union in the American Civil War.

Other related texts

The tune was later also used for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

" (written in November 1861, published in February 1862; this song was directly inspired by "John Brown's Body"), "Marching Song of the First Arkansas

Marching Song of the First Arkansas

," "The Battle Hymn of Cooperation

The Battle Hymn of Cooperation

Sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic , this song was widely popular throughout the American consumers' cooperative movement from the 1930s onward...

," "Bummers, Come and Meet Us" (see facsimile), and many other related texts and knock-offs during and immediately after the American Civil War period.

The World War II song, "Blood on the Risers

Blood on the Risers

"Blood Upon the Risers" is an American paratrooper song from World War II. It is sung by the United States 82nd Airborne Division, the United States 101st Airborne Division, the 173rd Airborne Brigade and 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division, and the 120th CTS...

", is set to the tune, and includes the chorus "Glory, glory (or Gory, gory), what a hell of a way to die/And he ain't gonna jump no more!"

The tune was also used for perhaps the most well known union song in the United States, Solidarity Forever

Solidarity Forever

"Solidarity Forever", written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915, is perhaps the most famous union anthem. It is sung to the tune of "John Brown's Body" and is inspired by "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". Although it was written as a song for the Industrial Workers of the World , other union movements,...

. The song became an anthem of the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

and all unions that sought more than workplace concessions, but a world run by those who labor.

Sailors are known to have adapted "John Brown's Body" into a sea shanty

Sea shanty

- specifically, into a "Capstan

Capstan (nautical)

A capstan is a vertical-axled rotating machine developed for use on sailing ships to apply force to ropes, cables, and hawsers. The principle is similar to that of the windlass, which has a horizontal axle.- History :...

Shanty", used during anchor-raising.

The "John Brown" tune has proven popular for folk-created texts, with hundreds of knock-offs, parodies, and school-yard versions created over the years. The Burning of the School

The Burning of the School

"The Burning of the School" is a parody of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", known and sung by schoolchildren throughout the United States and in some locations in the United Kingdom....

is a well-known parody. A version about a baby with a cold

Common cold

The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...

is often sung by school-age children. The "Baby" version includes sound effects and pantomime

Mime artist

A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer...

. A variant version of this was "John Brown's baby has a pimple on its bum

Buttocks

The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...

", which was popular with First World War British soldiers, who spread it throughout the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

.

An African-American version was recorded as "We'll hang Jeff Davis from a sour Apple Tree". In Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

it was adapted into a bilingual (English and Sinhala song sung at cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

matches - notably at the Royal-Thomian

Royal-Thomian

The Royal–Thomian , the annual cricket match between Royal College, Colombo and S...

, with the lyrics "We'll hang all the Thomians on the cadju

Cashew

The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...

-puhulang tree...". Another adaptation sung at the annual match between the Colombo Law and Medical colleges went "Liquor arsenalis

Potassium arsenate

Potassium arsenate is the chemical compound with the formula KH2AsO4. Other salts are also called potassium arsenate, including K2HAsO4 and K3AsO4. Each of these species is derived from arsenic acid:Although this and related arsenic salts have been prescribed for health purposes, such...

and the cannabis indica

Cannabis indica

Cannabis indica is an annual plant in the Cannabaceae family. A putative species of the genus Cannabis, it is typically distinguished from Cannabis sativa. Schultes described C. indica as relatively short, conical, and densely branched, whereas C. sativa was described as tall and laxly branched...

...". This was adapted into a trilingual song by Sooty Banda.

Yodobashi Camera (ヨドバシ・カメラ, a Japanese media shop chain) uses the same song (with different words) as shop jingle repeated indefinitely during the opening hours of all shops. The text of the jingle mainly shows how to reach the main shops and which products are sold in them.

Len Chandler

Len Chandler

Len Hunt Chandler, Jr. , better known as Len Chandler, is a folk musician from Akron, Ohio.-Biography:He showed an early interest in music and began playing piano at age 8. Studying classical music in his early teens, he learned to play the oboe so he could join the high school band, and during...

sang a song called "move on over" to the tune on Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

's Rainbow Quest

Rainbow Quest

Rainbow Quest was a U.S. television series devoted to folk music and hosted by Pete Seeger. It was videotaped in black-and-white and featured musicians playing in traditional American music genres such as traditional folk music, old-time music, bluegrass and blues...

TV show.

Lyrics

The lyrics generally show an increase in complexity and syllable count as they move from simple, orally-transmitted camp meeting song, to an orally composed marching song, to more consciously literary versions.

The increasing syllable count led to an ever-increasing number of dotted rhythms in the melody to accommodate the increased number of syllables. The result is that the verse and chorus, which were musically identical in the "Say, Brothers", became quite distinct rhythmically in "John Brown's Body", and even more so in the more elaborate versions of the "John Brown Song" and in the "Battle Hymn of the Republic".

Say, Brothers

Say, brothers, will you meet us (3x)

On Canaan's happy shore.

Glory, glory, hallelujah (3x)

For ever, evermore!

By the grace of God we'll meet you (3x)

Where parting is no more.

Jesus lives and reigns forever (3x)

On Canaan's happy shore.

John Brown's Body (a number of versions closely similar to this published in 1861)

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave; (3X)

His soul's marching on!

(Chorus)

Glory

Glory (religion)

Glory is used to denote the manifestation of God's presence in the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. God's glory is often associated with visible displays of light, e.g. thunderbolts, fire, brightness....

, glory, hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Halleluyah, and the Latin form Alleluia are transliterations of the Hebrew word meaning "Praise Yah". The last syllable is from the first two letters of the name of God, YHWH, written JHVH in Latin). Hallelujah is found primarily in the book of Psalms...

! Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah! his soul's marching on!

He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord! (3X)

His soul's marching on!

(Chorus)

John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back! (3X)

His soul's marching on!

(Chorus)

His pet lambs will meet him on the way; (3X)

They go marching on!

(Chorus)

They will hang Jeff Davis

Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...

to a sour apple tree! (3X)

As they march along!

(Chorus)

Now, three rousing cheers for the Union; (3X)

As we are marching on!

(From the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

Version by William Weston Patton:

Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,

While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;

But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,

His soul is marching on.

John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,

And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;

Now, tho the grass grows green above his grave,

His soul is marching on.

He captured Harper’s Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,

And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled thru and thru;

They hung him for a traitor, they themselves the traitor crew,

But his soul is marching on.

John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see,

Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,

And soon thruout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,

For his soul is marching on.

The conflict that he heralded he looks from heaven to view,

On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.

And heaven shall ring with anthems o’er the deed they mean to do,

For his soul is marching on.

Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,

The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,

For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,

And his soul is marching on

External links

Example version of "John Brown's Body" (MIDI)
Sheet music for "John Brown's Song", from Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
John Brown's Body and Battle Hymn of the Republic

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History of the tune

"Tiger" Battalion's version

Kimball Version of authorship

Bishop's claim of authorship, other claims

Creation of other versions

Other related texts

Lyrics

Say, Brothers

John Brown's Body (a number of versions closely similar to this published in 1861)

Version by William Weston Patton:

Further reading

External links