When the Saints Go Marching In
Encyclopedia
"When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as "The Saints", is an American
gospel hymn
that has taken on certain aspects of folk music
. The precise origins of the song are not known. Though it originated as a spiritual
, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz
band. The song is sometimes confused with a similarly titled composition "When the Saints are Marching In" from 1896 by Katharine Purvis
(lyrics) and James Milton Black
(music).
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 more commonly performed as a "hot" number. The number remains particularly associated with the city of New Orleans, to the extent that it is associated with New Orleans' professional football
team, the New Orleans Saints
.
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. 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.
The tune was brought into the early rock and roll
repertory by Fats Domino
and (as "The Saint's Rock and Roll") by Bill Haley & His Comets
.
A jazz standard
, it has been recorded by a great many other jazz and pop artists.
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.)
This tune and often the words are often used as a popular theme or rallying song for a number of sports teams (see When The Saints Go Marching In in sport). It is the main anthem of Southampton F.C.
, St Kilda Football Club, St George Illawarra Dragons
and the St Helens RLFC
The Rhodesian Light Infantry
, also known as "The Saints", used it as their regimental march.
In the Southern gospel
genre the song is often associated with Luther G. Presley
, who wrote the lyrics, and Virgil Oliver Stamps
, who wrote the music, whose version copyrighted by the Stamps-Baxter Music Company
popularized it as a gospel song. A similar version was copyrighted by R.E. Winsett.
, but excluding its more horrific depictions of the Last Judgment
. The verses about the Sun and Moon refer to Solar and Lunar eclipse
s; the trumpet
(of the Archangel Gabriel) is the way in which the Last Judgment 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.
accompanied by second guitar and kazoo
for Bluebird Records
in Chicago, 1941
This song is available in the Elvis Presley
compilation "Peace in the Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings." Sony BMG/Elvis Music
helped make The Saints into a jazz standard.
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.
Judy Garland
sang it in her own pop style.
Elvis Presley
performed the song during the Million Dollar Quartet
jam session and also recorded a version for his film, Frankie and Johnny
.
Other early rock artists to follow Domino's lead included Jerry Lee Lewis
and Tony Sheridan
(featuring then-unknown band The Beatles
as a backing group).
Folk groups The Weavers
(1956) and The Kingston Trio
(1958) both recorded live versions of the song and used it as a closing number or encore.
Tears For Fears
performed the song and on the Live from Santa Barbara CD.
Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour
includes the song as an encore for some shows.
Dolly Parton
has also included the song in a gospel medley.
Actor Hal Linden
performed the song with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem
during his guest appearance on The Muppet Show
.
recorded the song with different lyrics as "The Saints Rock and Roll."
The version performed by Haley (and others) removes most religious imagery in favor of references to musicians ("When that rhythm starts to go/I want to be in that number/When that rhythm starts to go.").
The Oi!
band Condemned 84
did a version called "When The Boots Go Marching In."
Norwegian group, Timbersound's album "Solve et Coagula" also contains a version of the song, and includes a reference to the archangel Gabriel himself.
Louis Armstrong
and Danny Kaye
performed a comedy duet version in the 1959 film The Five Pennies
, naming composers and musicians who would play "on the day that the saints go marching in".
Woody Guthrie
sang a song called "When The Yanks Go Marching In" in 1943.
In 1983, Aaron Neville
, along with New Orleans musicians Sal and Steve Monistere and Carlo Nuccio and a group of players for the New Orleans Saints
American football
team) recorded a popular version of the song incorporating the team's "Who Dat?
" chant.
French singer Henry sang it, with Boris Vian lyrics under title "Oh ! Quand les saints".
French group Dionysos
's album La Mécanique du cœur
(2007) contains a version of this song, in collaboration with the French singer Arthur H
.
Many supporters of Association Football teams sing versions of the song, "Saints" is often replaced with the name or nickname of the club. For example, the Stoke City Potters
use "When the Reds Go Marching In" as a rally song during football matches.
's Four Star Television
for its legal drama
, The Law and Mr. Jones
starring James Whitmore
, which ran on ABC
from 1960-1962.
Big Chief Jazzband recorded the tune in Oslo
on May 10, 1953. It was released on the 78 rpm record His Master's Voice A.L. 3307.
It was recorded under the title of 'Revival' by Johnny and the Hurricanes
. The band's management claimed authorship.
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
.
A techno remix of this song, titled "Saints Go Marching," is a playable song in some versions of Dance Dance Revolution
.
The song has been used as a fight song for many schools, including Providence College
and Saint Joseph's University
. The Baylor University
Golden Wave Marching band plays the song during Baylor football games right after a touchdown is scored. The song is also the inspiration for the nickname of the New Orleans Saints
.
The New Orleans-set computer game Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
features a fast-paced rendition of the song.
The musical Urinetown
includes a parody homage of "Saints" entitled "Run, Freedom Run," as its protest theme.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
gospel hymn
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
that has taken on certain aspects of 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....
. The precise origins of the song are not known. Though it originated as a spiritual
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
band. The song is sometimes confused with a similarly titled composition "When the Saints are Marching In" from 1896 by Katharine Purvis
Katharine Purvis
Katharine E. Nash Purvis is best known as the lyricist for When the Saints Are Marching In.Purvis was the daughter of a Methodist minister in Pennsylvania. After graduating from a seminary in 1860, she became a music teacher at the seminary of a Methodist Episcopal Church in Williamsport,...
(lyrics) and James Milton Black
James Milton Black
James Milton Black was a composer of hymns, choir leader and Sunday school teacher.Black was born in South Hill, New York, but worked, lived and died in Williamsport, Pennsylvania...
(music).
Uses
Funeral march
A funeral march is a march, usually in a minor key, in a slow "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. Some such marches are often considered appropriate for use during funerals and other sombre occasions, the most well-known being that of Chopin...
. In the funeral music tradition of New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, often called the "jazz funeral
Jazz funeral
Jazz funeral is a common name for a funeral tradition with music which developed in New Orleans, Louisiana.The term "jazz funeral" was long in use by observers from elsewhere, but was generally disdained as inappropriate by most New Orleans musicians and practitioners of the tradition...
", while accompanying the coffin to the cemetery, a band would play the tune as a dirge
Dirge
A dirge is a somber song expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. A lament. The English word "dirge" is derived from the Latin Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam , the first words of the first antiphon in the Matins of the Office...
. On the way back from the interment, it would switch to the familiar upbeat "hot" or "Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music 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.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
" style. While the tune is still heard as a slow spiritual number on rare occasions, from the mid 20th century it has been more commonly performed as a "hot" number. The number remains particularly associated with the city of New Orleans, to the extent that it is associated with New Orleans' professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team, the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
.
Both vocal and instrumental renditions of the song abound. Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
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. 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
Buddy Bolden
Charles "Buddy" Bolden was an African American cornetist and is regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of rag-time music which later came to be known as jazz.- Life :...
's band at the very start of the 20th century.
The tune was brought into the early rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
repertory by Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
and (as "The Saint's Rock and Roll") by Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
.
A jazz standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
, it has been recorded by a great many other jazz and pop artists.
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
Preservation Hall
Preservation Hall is a noted jazz performance hall located at 726 St. Peter Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. It hosts nightly concerts featuring a rotating roster of bands. The bands of Preservation Hall typically perform jazz in the New Orleans style.Despite the fame of the...
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
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
. By 2004 the price had gone up to $10.)
This tune and often the words are often used as a popular theme or rallying song for a number of sports teams (see When The Saints Go Marching In in sport). It is the main anthem of Southampton F.C.
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
, St Kilda Football Club, St George Illawarra Dragons
St George Illawarra Dragons
The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...
and the St Helens RLFC
The Rhodesian Light Infantry
Rhodesian Light Infantry
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry , was a regiment formed in 1961 at Brady Barracks, Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia as a light infantry unit within the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland...
, also known as "The Saints", used it as their regimental march.
In the Southern gospel
Southern Gospel
Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
genre the song is often associated with Luther G. Presley
Luther G. Presley
Luther G. Presley was a songwriter, musician, and composer, who is best-known for writing the lyrics to the gospel song "When the Saints Go Marching In".-Biography:...
, who wrote the lyrics, and Virgil Oliver Stamps
Virgil Oliver Stamps
Virgil Oliver Stamps was a shape note promoter, singer, composer, and singing school teacher.V. O. Stamps was born in and raised in the Stamps Community in Upshur County, Texas, and was a key individual in early gospel music publishing. As a youth, he worked with his father in a sawmill, and used...
, who wrote the music, whose version copyrighted by the Stamps-Baxter Music Company
Stamps-Baxter Music Company
The Stamps-Baxter Music Company was an influential southern music publishing company in the shape note gospel field. Virgil Oliver Stamps founded the company in 1924 and J. R. Baxter Jr. joined him to form the Stamps-Baxter Music Company, which was based in Dallas, Texas, with offices in...
popularized it as a gospel song. A similar version was copyrighted by R.E. Winsett.
Analysis of the traditional lyrics
The song is apocalyptic, taking much of its imagery from the Book of RevelationBook of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, but excluding its more horrific depictions of the Last Judgment
Last Judgment
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...
. The verses about the Sun and Moon refer to Solar and Lunar eclipse
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...
s; the trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
(of the Archangel Gabriel) is the way in which the Last Judgment is announced. As the hymn expresses the wish to go to Heaven, picturing the saints going in (through the Pearly Gates
Pearly gates
The pearly gates is an informal name for the gateway to Heaven according to some Christian denominations. It is inspired by the description of the New Jerusalem in Book of...
), it is entirely appropriate for funerals.
Artists who have performed and recorded the song
This is not a comprehensive list, but includes some notable versions.As gospel hymn
Recorded by bluesman Sleepy John EstesSleepy John Estes
John Adam Estes , best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee.-Career:...
accompanied by second guitar and kazoo
Kazoo
The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...
for Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best...
in Chicago, 1941
This song is available in the Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
compilation "Peace in the Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings." Sony BMG/Elvis Music
With traditional lyrics
As mentioned in the article on the song itself, in the 1930s, Louis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
helped make The Saints into a jazz standard.
The tune was brought into the early rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
repertory by Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
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.
Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
sang it in her own pop style.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
performed the song during the Million Dollar Quartet
Million Dollar Quartet
"Million Dollar Quartet" is the name given to recordings made on Tuesday December 4, 1956 in the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The recordings were of an impromptu jam session among Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. It was arguably the first...
jam session and also recorded a version for his film, Frankie and Johnny
Frankie and Johnny (1966 film)
Frankie and Johnny is a 1966 musical film starring Elvis Presley as a riverboat gambler. The role of "Frankie" was played by Donna Douglas from The Beverly Hillbillies TV series. The film reached #40 on the Variety weekly national box office list for 1966. The budget of the film was estimated at...
.
Other early rock artists to follow Domino's lead included Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
and Tony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...
(featuring then-unknown band The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
as a backing group).
Folk groups The Weavers
The Weavers
The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
(1956) and The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
(1958) both recorded live versions of the song and used it as a closing number or encore.
Tears For Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
performed the song and on the Live from Santa Barbara CD.
Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour
Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour
The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour, afterward sometimes referred to simply as the Sessions Band Tour, was a 2006 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and The Sessions Band playing what was billed as "An all-new evening of gospel, folk, and blues," otherwise seen as a form...
includes the song as an encore for some shows.
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
has also included the song in a gospel medley.
Actor Hal Linden
Hal Linden
Hal Linden is an American stage and television actor and television director, best known for his role in the television comedy series Barney Miller and as presenter on the ABC educational series Animals, Animals, Animals....
performed the song with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem
Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem
Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem is the name of a Muppet rock band of The Muppet Show. Following The Muppet Show, they appeared in various Muppet movies and television specials, and have also recorded album tracks. Dr. Teeth and Animal were designed by Jim Henson, while the rest of the original...
during his guest appearance on The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
.
With non-traditional lyrics
Bill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
recorded the song with different lyrics as "The Saints Rock and Roll."
The version performed by Haley (and others) removes most religious imagery in favor of references to musicians ("When that rhythm starts to go/I want to be in that number/When that rhythm starts to go.").
The Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
band Condemned 84
Condemned 84
Condemned 84 is a British skinhead Oi! punk band. According to their website, the band was formed in 1980 as Criminal Tendencies, changing in 1983 to Condemned, and in 1984 to Condemned 84...
did a version called "When The Boots Go Marching In."
Norwegian group, Timbersound's album "Solve et Coagula" also contains a version of the song, and includes a reference to the archangel Gabriel himself.
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
performed a comedy duet version in the 1959 film The Five Pennies
The Five Pennies
The Five Pennies was a semi-biographical 1959 film starring Danny Kaye as cornet player and bandleader Red Nichols. Other cast members included Barbara Bel Geddes, Harry Guardino, Bob Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Susan Gordon, and Tuesday Weld...
, naming composers and musicians who would play "on the day that the saints go marching in".
Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
sang a song called "When The Yanks Go Marching In" in 1943.
In 1983, Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville is an American soul and R&B singer and musician. He has had four top-20 hits in the United States along with four platinum-certified albums...
, along with New Orleans musicians Sal and Steve Monistere and Carlo Nuccio and a group of players for the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team) recorded a popular version of the song incorporating the team's "Who Dat?
Who Dat?
Who dat? is an English idiom originating from New Orleans for over a century. First referenced in poetry, the phrase was a common dialogue element between the performers and crowd at traveling minstrel shows in the region. Eventually, the phrase became used in US cinematic productions for two...
" chant.
French singer Henry sang it, with Boris Vian lyrics under title "Oh ! Quand les saints".
French group Dionysos
Dionysos (French band)
Dionysos is a French rock band formed in 1993 in Valence, Drôme; they formed at their lycée. They perform songs in both French and English, and have released six studio albums. They are well known in France for their surrealism and eccentricity....
's album La Mécanique du cœur
La mécanique du cœur
La mécanique du cœur is the sixth studio album by the French band Dionysos, released on 5 November 2007. The title can be translated as the mechanics of the heart; the album complements the book of the same name written by Mathias Malzieu, the band's frontman...
(2007) contains a version of this song, in collaboration with the French singer Arthur H
Arthur H
Arthur Higelin , better known under his stage name Arthur H , is a pianist, songwriter and singer. He is best known in France for his live performances - four of his albums were recorded live - and remains relatively little-known in the English-speaking world.-Career:He is the son of the French...
.
Many supporters of Association Football teams sing versions of the song, "Saints" is often replaced with the name or nickname of the club. For example, the Stoke City Potters
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...
use "When the Reds Go Marching In" as a rally song during football matches.
With no lyrics
The rhythm of "When the Saints Go Marching In" was adapted by Dick PowellDick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
's Four Star Television
Four Star Television
Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Ida Lupino, and Charles Boyer, the company produced many well-known shows of the early days of...
for its legal drama
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...
, The Law and Mr. Jones
The Law and Mr. Jones
The Law and Mr. Jones is a 45-episode half-hour television crime drama starring James Whitmore. The series aired on ABC in two nonconsecutive seasons from October 7, 1960, to September 22, 1961, and again from April 19 to July 5, 1962...
starring James Whitmore
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was an American film and stage actor.-Early life:Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, before graduating from The Choate School in...
, which ran on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1960-1962.
Big Chief Jazzband recorded the tune in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
on May 10, 1953. It was released on the 78 rpm record His Master's Voice A.L. 3307.
It was recorded under the title of 'Revival' by Johnny and the Hurricanes
Johnny and the Hurricanes
Johnny and the Hurricanes was a rock and roll band that began as The Orbits in Toledo, Ohio in 1957. Led by saxophonist Johnny Paris , they were school friends who played on a few recordings behind Mack Vickery, a local rockabilly singer.-Career:They signed with Harry Balk and Irving Micahnik of...
. The band's management claimed authorship.
A portion of the song was also used in the "boss" music of the "Out of This Dimension" Easter egg
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
stage in the game Star Fox for the SNES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
.
A techno remix of this song, titled "Saints Go Marching," is a playable song in some versions of Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
.
The song has been used as a fight song for many schools, including Providence College
Providence College
Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
and Saint Joseph's University
Saint Joseph's University
Saint Joseph's University is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic Jesuit university located partially in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia and partially in Lower Merion Township and located in the Pennsylvania Main Line, Pennsylvania, United States.The school was founded in 1851 as Saint...
. The Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
Golden Wave Marching band plays the song during Baylor football games right after a touchdown is scored. The song is also the inspiration for the nickname of the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
.
The New Orleans-set computer game Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line, Inc....
features a fast-paced rendition of the song.
The musical Urinetown
Urinetown
Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics...
includes a parody homage of "Saints" entitled "Run, Freedom Run," as its protest theme.
External links
- When The Saints Go Marching In Louis Armstrong version
- Hymns Without Words - free MP3 recordings for download and use in services
- When The Saints Go Marching In - online audio. Source: Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. Song of The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
with Tony SheridanTony SheridanTony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...
from the album The Early Tapes of The BeatlesThe Early Tapes of The BeatlesThe Early Tapes of The Beatles is the first digital repackaging of the 1962 German album by Tony Sheridan and The Beatles called My Bonnie. The original repackage was first issued in Germany in 1964 and titled The Beatles' First. It was recorded at Hamburg in 1961. This repackage was released in...
, 1961.