When Johnny Comes Marching Home

thumb|350px|left|Music Festival Choir 2008 directed by Maestro David Anavitarte...with John Boyd on the piano...at the Meyerson

המקור:הויקיפדיה הכללית

"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (sometimes "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again") is a popular song of the American Civil War that expressed people's longing for the return of their friends and relatives who were fighting in the war.

Origins

The Irish antiwar song "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" share the same melodic material. Based on internal textual references, "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" apparently dates from the early 1800s, while "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was first published in 1863. It was sung by both sides of the Civil War. it was used as a motivation song that told the soldiers what happens when the war is over.

As with much folk music of this period, many variants in text and music appear as the song is transmitted orally and subject to many external influences. Primacy of one version over another is difficult to prove conclusively because most versions were never written down or published. James Fuld in The Book of World Famous Music (page 640) indicates that some believe the melody is not Irish in origin.

The lyrics to "Johnny Comes Marching Home," written by Irish-American bandleader Patrick Gilmore and published under the pseudonym 'Louis Lambert', effectively reverse those of "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", in which Johnny returns home blind and crippled, to the woman and children he abandoned in order to go to Sri Lanka to serve in the British Army for the East India Company.

The Johnny so longed for in the song is Patrick Gilmore's future brother in-law a Union Light Artillery Captain named John O'Rourke. The song was written by Patrick for his sister Annie Gilmore as she longed for the safe return of her fiancé from the Civil War. ("The House that O'Rourke Built" Patti Jo Peterson The Plattsmouth Journal August 30, 2007 page 5, and "The O'Rourke House" Patti Jo Peterson The Plattsmouth Journal June 15, 2006 page 11)

Other versions

Quite a few variations on the song, as well as songs set to the same tune but with different lyrics, have appeared since When Johnny Comes Marching Home was popularized. The alleged larcenous tendencies of some Union soldiers in New Orleans were parodied in the lyrics "For Bales", to the same tune. A British version appeared in 1914, with the similar title, "When Tommy Comes Marching Home."

• The 1880 U. S. Presidential election campaign featured a campaign song called "If the Johnnies Get Into Power".
• Morton Gould's classical arrangement "American Salute" of the song. (1943)

Popular culture (after 1950)

• The Chad Mitchell Trio album Mighty Day on Campus (1961) includes "Johnnie," a combined version of both "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye."
• Frijid Pink made a rock version of the song with a bit altered lyrics under the name "We're Gonna Be There". The song was published as a bonus track to the Defrosted album (1970).
• Malvina Reynolds wrote different lyrics for the tune in her song "The Judge Said" (1977).
• The Dutch folk group Pater Moeskroen wrote different lyrics for the tune in their song "Vannacht".
• A French version (without vocals) "Johnny Revient d'la Guerre" was recorded by Bérurier Noir, on the album Macadam Massacre (1983).
• Guns N' Roses used a part of the song for their song "Civil War" (1991).
• The melody for the song was used as an intro to "Heaven's Hung in Black" by W.A.S.P. on their 2007 album Dominator.
• The same tune is used for the children's songs "The Ants Go Marching One By One"
• Also, Supertramp saxophonist John Helliwell played the first part of the song as part of his saxophone solo during the "Jerusalem"/explosion section of "Fool's Overture" on the 1980 double live album Paris.
• On their "Dahmer" album (2000), Macabre uses the same theme in the song In The Army Now with modified lyrics, telling about Jeffrey Dahmer during his conscription in Germany.
• An obscene version prevalent in military and Rugby-football circles also exists - beginning "Three German Officers Crossed the Rhine," although this lyric is more often associated with the World War I song Mademoiselle from Armentières. In a letter of December 25th, 1931, C. S. Lewis asserts verbal evidence that a variant of this song was being sung in 1912, though it is unclear from the letter what melody was used.
• Parts of the song were performed by Irish rock band U2 during the Vertigo Tour (2005) as a medley with "Bullet the Blue Sky."
• The melody of that song is also use by the 92nd infantry regiment of Clermont-Ferrand (France) as anthem, with other lyrics.
• Mobile phone network O2, part of Telefónica Europe, started using an instrumental version of this song in a TV advertisement in the first half of 2008. It is also used as the music-on-hold track played to customers waiting to speak to O2's Customer Services.
• The tune is used by Liverpool fans in a song about striker, Fernando Torres.
• The tune is also used as a basis for a song sung by תבנית:F.c. fans about defender John O'Shea.
• The tune is also used as a basis for a song sung by Chelsea FC fans about forward Salomon Kalou.
• The tune was also used as a basis for a song sung by Sunderland A.F.C fans about ex-striker Djibril Cissé
• United States soccer fans sing the chorus to this song during matches as a patriotic hymn to support their national team.
• Since 2009 the Roseville Gypsies Cricket Club have used this tune as the basis for their team song.
• A version referencing gays in the military was sung by Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman) on NewsRadio. "When Johnny comes marching home, He's Gay! He's Gay!"
• For their 2007 tour, Streetlight Manifesto used two instrumental verses to introduce the first song, "Everything Went Numb."
• Paul Wall & Chamillionaire used the melody of this song for both versions of "True" from Controversy Sells (2005).
• The tune was used with distinctly British lyrics by Anglo Saxon for their song 'When Daddy comes marching home'. Released on iTunes (2007)
• Iced Earth used a part of the song for their song "The Devil to Pay" on The Glorious Burden (2004).
• The music for this song is used (with different lyrics) by The Clash for their song "English Civil War" (1979). Country music group Boy Howdy released a version of the song in 1991.
• The song or its melody has also been used in many movie soundtracks, including Gone with the Wind, 1939 (a Confederate military band plays it in the background of a scene taking place in Atlanta); The Great Dictator, 1940; Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942; Stalag 17, 1953 (it is sung by American prisoners of war); The Horse Soldiers, 1959; How The West Was Won, 1962; Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 1964; The Crazies, 1973; Die Hard With a Vengeance, 1995; The Second Civil War, 1997; and Antz, 1998.
  • The tune was copied for the song "Na bole tum" in the Hindi-language film Baton Baton Mein
• It was also used in the episode "G.I. D'oh" of The Simpsons.
• It was made into a JibJab parody entitled, "He's Barack Obama".
• Tyske Ludder has a cover version entitled "March" on their 2009 release Anonymous.
• Asterix In Belgium includes a song that the Roman soldiers sing whilst marching back into Gaul from Belgium, which is a variation on this song called 'When Gaius Comes Marching Home Again'
• The song was used in a 2009 television commercial for Rexona Woman.
• The song without lyrics was played during the end credits of the anime OVA Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail (2010)
• A version by English Folk/Rock group Steeleye Span,called "Fighting For Strangers"is on the Album "Rocket Cottage"(1976)

Lyrics

The original lyrics as written by Gilmore, are:

Illustration of a Zouave company on Civil War era broadside of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".

When Johnny comes marching home again

Hurrah! Hurrah!

We'll give him a hearty welcome then

Hurrah! Hurrah!

The men will cheer and the boys will shout

The ladies they will all turn out

And we'll all feel gay

When Johnny comes marching home.

The old church bell will peal with joy

Hurrah! Hurrah!

To welcome home our darling boy,

Hurrah! Hurrah!

The village lads and lassies say

With roses they will strew the way,

And we'll all feel gay

When Johnny comes marching home.

Get ready for the Jubilee,

Hurrah! Hurrah!

We'll give the hero three times three,

Hurrah! Hurrah!

The laurel wreath is ready now

To place upon his loyal brow

And we'll all feel gay

When Johnny comes marching home.

Let love and friendship on that day,

Hurrah, hurrah!

Their choicest pleasures then display,

Hurrah, hurrah!

And let each one perform some part,

To fill with joy the warrior's heart,

And we'll all feel gay

When Johnny comes marching home.

For Bales

"For Bales!", fully titled "For Bales! An O'er True Tale. Dedicated to Those Pure Patriots Who Were Afflicted with "Cotton on the Brain" and Who Saw The Elephant is a variant lyric, using the same tune. It was published in New Orleans in 1864, by A.E. Blackmar during the American Civil War.

Lyrics

[1]
We all went down to New Orleans,
For Bales, for Bales;
We all went down to New Orleans,
For Bales, says I;

We all went down to New Orleans,
To get a peep behind the scenes,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".

[2]
We thought when we got in the "Ring",
For Bales, for Bales;
We thought when we got in the "Ring",
For Bales, says I;
We thought when we got in the "Ring",
Greenbacks would be a dead sure thing,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".

[3]
The "ring" went up, with bagging and rope,
For Bales, for Bales;
Upon the "Black Hawk" with bagging and rope,
For Bales, says I;
Went up "Red River" with bagging and rope,
Expecting to make a pile of "soap",
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".

[4]
But Taylor and Smith, with ragged ranks,
For Bales, for Bales;
But Taylor and Smith, with ragged ranks,
For Bales, says I;
But Taylor and Smith, with ragged ranks,
Burned up the cotton and whipped old Banks,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".

[5]
Our "ring" came back and cursed and swore,
For Bales, for Bales;
Our "ring" came back and cursed and swore,
For Bales, says I;
Our "ring" came back and cursed and swore,
For we got no cotton at Grand Ecore,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".

[6]
Now let us all give praise and thanks,
For Bales, for Bales;
Now let us all give praise and thanks,
For Bales, says I;
Now let us all give praise and thanks,
For the victory gained by General Banks,
"And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny fill up the bowl".