Showing posts with label U.S. History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. History. Show all posts
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Video: City of New Orleans
Riding on the city of new orleans,
Illinois central monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.
Passin' trains that have no names,
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.
Chorus:
Good morning america how are you?
Don't you know me i'm your native son,
I'm the train they call the city of new orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
Dealin' card with the old men in the club car.
Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score.
Oh won't you pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor.
And the sons of pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steam.*
Mothers with their babes asleep,
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they dream.*
Chorus
Nighttime on the city of new orleans,
Changing cars in memphis, tennessee.
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.
Good night, america, how are you?
Don't you know me i'm your native son,
I'm the train they call the city of new orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
~ Steve Goodman
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Video: Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! The Boys are Marching
A song by George Root, detailing the life of a Union prisoner in the Civil War.
In the prison cell I sit,
Thinking Mother dear of you,
And our bright and happy home so far away,
And the tears they fill my eyes
Spite of all that I can do
Though I try to cheer my comrades
and be gay.
Chorus:
Tramp! tramp! tramp!
The boys are marching
Cheer up comrades,
They will come.
And beneath the starry flag
We shall breathe the air again
Of the free land in our own beloved home.
In the battle front we stood
When their fiercest charge they made,
And they swept us off a hundred men or more;
But before we reached their lines
They were beaten back, dismayed,
And we heard the cry of vict'ry o'er and o'er.
So within the prison cell
We are waiting for the day
That shall come to open wide the iron door;
And the hollow eye grows bright
And the poor heart almost gay
As we think of seing home and friends once more.
Video: The Liberty Ball
THE LIBERTY BALL Jesse Hutchinson, Jr. (1813-1853) Tune: "Old Rosin the Beau"
Come all ye true friends of the nation,
Attend to humanity's call;
Come aid in the slave's liberation,
And roll on the Liberty Ball.
And roll on the Liberty Ball,
And roll on the Liberty Ball,
Come aid in the slave's liberation,
And roll on the Liberty Ball.
We're foes unto wrong and oppression,
No matter which side of the sea,
And ever intend to oppose them
Till all of God's image are free.
Till all of God's image are free,
Till all of God's image are free,
And ever intend to oppose them
Till all of God's image are free.
We'll finish the temple of freedom,
And make it capacious within,
That all who seek shelter may find it
Whatever the hue of their skin.
Whatever the hue of their skin,
Whatever the hue of their skin,
That all who seek shelter may find it
Whatever the hue of their skin.
Success to the old-fashioned doctrine,
That men are created all free;
And down with the power of the despot,
Wherever his strongholds may be.
Wherever his strongholds may be,
Wherever his strongholds may be,
And down with the power of the despot,
Wherever his strongholds may be.
The liberty hosts are advancing,
For freedom to all, they declare,
The downtrodden millions are sighing,
Come break up our gloom of despair.
Come break up our gloom of despair,
Come break up our gloom of despair,
The downtrodden millions are sighing,
Come break up our gloom of despair.
Video: We are Coming, Father Abraham
On July 1, 1862, Lincoln put out a call for 300,000 more volunteer soldiers to fight in the Union army. Quaker abolitionist James Sloan Gibbons quickly wrote the poem "We Are Coming Father Abra'am (300,000 More)," which was printed in the New York Evening Post on July 16. Several composers just as quickly set the poem to music, including Stephen Foster and L.O. Emerson. The Emerson version is the most famous.
The video begins with a brief historical monologue. The song begins at about 1:30. It is performed by Frederick Fennell & the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and apparently is an accurate rendition of how the song would have been performed in 1862.
WE ARE COMING, FATHER ABRAHAM Words by James Sloan Gibbons Music L.O. Emerson
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more,
From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore.
We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear,
With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear.
We dare not look behind us but steadfastly before.
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
CHORUS: We are coming, we are coming our Union to restore,
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
If you look across the hilltops that meet the northern sky,
Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry;
And now the wind, an instant, tears the cloudy veil aside,
And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride;
And bayonets in the sunlight gleam, and bands brave music pour,
We are coming, father Abr'am, three hundred thousand more!
CHORUS
If you look up all our valleys where the growing harvests shine,
You may see our sturdy farmer boys fast forming into line;
And children from their mother's knees are pulling at the weeds ,
And learning how to reap and sow against their country's needs;
And a farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door,
We are coming, Father Abr'am, three hundred thousand more!
CHORUS
You have called us, and we're coming by Richmond's bloody tide,
To lay us down for freedom's sake, our brothers' bones beside;
Or from foul treason's savage group, to wrench the murderous blade;
And in the face of foreign foes its fragments to parade.
Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before,
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
CHORUS
Video: The Battle Cry of Freedom
"Battle Cry of Freedom" is a song written in 1862 by American composer George F. Root (1825–1895) during the American Civil War. A patriotic song advocating the cause of the Union, it became so popular that composer H. L. Schreiner and lyricist W. H. Barnes adapted it for the Confederate States of America.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Cry_of_Freedom
Video: 線路はつづくよどこまでも／西六郷少年合唱団
Japanese version of the American Folk Song 'I've been working on the railroad.'
United States' railroads were built primarily by African-Americans and immigrants (particularly Irish immigrants). (Source: http://folkmusic.about.com/od/folksongs/qt/WorkingonRail.htm)
This song is a very familiar nursery rhyme in Japan, with the same melody but different title and different lyrics. It is known as "Senro wa tsuzuku yo doko made mo (線路は続くよどこまでも?)" in Japan and it means "The railroad continues forever". The Japanese lyrics describe the happiness of the journey.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ve_Been_Working_on_the_Railroad
Video: Oh! Susanna
I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee,
I'm going to Louisiana, my true love for to see.
It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry
The sun so hot I froze to death, Susanna, don't you cry.
Chorus
Oh! Susanna, Oh don't you cry for me,
For I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee.
I had a dream the other night, when everything was still;
I thought I saw Susanna dear, a coming down the hill.
A buckwheat cake was in her mouth, a tear was in her eye,
Says I, I'm coming from the south, Susanna, don't you cry.
I soon will be in New Orleans, and then I'll look around,
And when I find Susanna, I'll fall upon the ground.
But if I do not find her, then I will surely die,
And when I'm dead and buried, Oh, Susanna, don't you cry.
Video: Dixie
I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixieland.
In Dixieland where I was born in,
Early on one frosty morning';
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixieland.
Chorus
Then I wish I was in Dixie, hooray! Hooray!
In Dixieland I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie;
Away, away, away down south in Dixie. [Repeat.]
There's buckwheat cakes and Indian batter
Makes you fat, but that don't matter;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixieland.
Then hoe it down and scratch your grabble,
To Dixieland I'm bound to travel,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixieland.
Video: Taps
Taps
Day is done
Gone the sun
From the Lakes
From the hills
From the sky
All is well
Safely rest
God is nigh.
Fading light
Dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky,
Gleaming bright,
From afar,
Drawing nigh,
Falls the night.
Thanks and praise,
For our days,
Neath the sun,
Neath the stars,
Neath the sky,
As we go,
This we know,
God is nigh.
-- Thanks to The U.S. Scouting Service Project
Here we stand,
Hand in Hand,
Wishing Peace,
Freedom, Joy,
To each man,
When there's love,
In our hearts,
God is nigh.
-- Thanks to Casey Templin
The Story of Taps
Taps was devised during the Civil War. In 1862, the Union Army of the Potomac, under Major General George McClellan, was transported to the Virginia Peninsula to launch a campaign against the Confederate capital at Richmond. The Army met stiff resistance at the outskirts of Richmond. After a series of battles, McClellan, a cautious general by nature, and misinformed as to the strength of the Confederate army confronting him, elected to "change bases" - a carefully worded synonym for retreat - to a site to the south, on the bank of the James River.
During this retreat, the Army of the Potomac was forced to stand and fight the pursuing Confederate army at Malvern Hill. The Confederate army, rather unwisely, charged the Union line and was defeated. The battle of Malvern Hill was fought on June 28 - July 1, 1862.
On July 2 (134 years ago today), in a miserable rain, the Army of the Potomac completed its depressing and embarrassing retreat to Harrison's Landing on the James River. The retreat was a grim disillusionment for the North, which had expected a short war. For the Army of the Potomac, it was its darkest and saddest hour.
Encamped at Harrison's Landing that summer was Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield. He was the commander of the 3rd brigade of the 1st division of the Army of the Potomac's 5th corps. A fairly undistinguished officer otherwise, General Butterfield had an ear for music. Previously, he had observed that his brigade's bugle call caused confusion in camp, because it could not be distinguished from that of other brigades. So he devised a unique bugle call for the 3rd brigade.
Now, in camp along the James, he noted that the regulation evening bugle call for lights out was neither musical nor inspirational, nor tranquilizing. He devised a alternative tune for his bugler, which, after a couple of attempts, became Taps. The tune became popular, and soon the entire Army of the Potomac was using the call in place of the regulation call for lights out.
Eventually, Taps was adopted by all Union armies, and became official army regulation. Taps remains regulation to this day.
The story of Taps is particularly appropriate for July 2, given that today is the anniversary of the Army of the Potomac's long retreat to the Harrison's Landing camp.
-- Thanks to Roger Claff, Den Leader Coach and Den Leader, Pack 1570, Herndon, VA
Friday, November 11, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
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