by
LoyalHistorian
Okay, Rusty! I love war songs, so I could probably add a few dozen myself. Here's a few, just to get started:
So, this song may sound a little silly, but I really like it and it has a lot of historical context to it. It's "Goober Peas". It wasn't published in sheet music until 1866, but many lyric variations were sung during the Civil War in the South. Goobers are peanuts. The South was dealing with food shortages the last couple years of the war. Peanuts were originally seen as being "low class" or for farm animals, but quickly became a staple throughout the South during the war because it was a good source of protein. Peanuts were used for many other things during the Civil War, too. A form of coffee was made out of it; it was used in soups and stews; the oil could be used for locomotive lubricant and was substituted for whale oil in lamps; and it became a lard substitute in cooking. After the war, peanuts stayed popular. Any of you from the South today can attest to the multitudes of boiled peanut shacks all around Georgia and surrounding states. I have to admit, I enjoy boiled peanuts with a Coke when I'm in Georgia. Funny little thing - the guy who published the sheet music attributed the words for the song to "A. Pindar" and music to "P. Nutt" (both synonyms for goobers, haha). The version I picked is by Burl Ives, because really, who doesn't love Burl Ives?
[video=youtube_share;T5r1gSYO5RQ]https://youtu.be/T5r1gSYO5RQ[/veo]
One that I have to mention as a proud Texan is "The Yellow Rose of Texas". The earliest written form of the song was in 1836 but one version was officially published in 1858. Though it was a popular marching song in the Civil War, it was based on the heroic act of a woman during the Texas Revolution. The "yellow rose" refers to Emily West, an indentured servant originally from Bermuda and brought to Texas. During the Texas Revolution, she had been left at the homestead with a young male worker to load flatboats of supplies for Texian soldiers when needed. The Mexican Army under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna came through the area trying to track down and destroy Texian General Sam Houston's Army. Santa Anna became enamored by the beautiful Emily and decided to camp there and have her for himself as a spoil of war. Being a proud Texian, she told the young male worker to go warn Sam Houston of Santa Anna's position there near San Jacinto. Emily preoccupied Santa Anna all through the night and morning, allowing Sam Houston and his men to surround the Mexican Army, taking them completely by surprise. A very short 18 minute battle ensued on April 21, 1836, with the Texians being victorious. Santa Anna was quite literally caught with his pants down and sent fleeing, but he was captured and surrendered to Sam Houston. This ended the Texas Revolution and Texas became its own nation from 1836 through 1845. When her owner came back and discovered what she had done, he immediately freed her from her term of indentured servitude, and praised her heroism to anyone that would listen.
[video=youtube_share;LArGlfEVYqM]https://youtu.be/LArGlfEVYqM[/veo]
One of my favorite song writers of patriotic music is George M. Cohen. He was a famous vaudeville entertainer, singer, songwriter, and composer. The one I'll mention here is the song "Over There". It was written by Cohen in 1917 after he heard that the United States had declared war on Germany. That same day he had practically written and composed the whole song. It became a rallying march for the men who were going overseas to Europe to help fight the Germans in the Great War. Though it was most popular in WWI, it had a resurgence of popularity in WWII when the US became involved again against Germany. In 1936, Cohan was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by FDR for writing the song, for being “a man who has been responsible for the recruiting of thousands of American soldiers during the World War, a man who has brought up the morale of the American people, who by his patriotic songs made young men go to the recruiting office and join the colors". The version I chose is actually sung by George M. Cohen himself.
[video=youtube_share;yGsVguiM5ao]https://youtu.be/yGsVguiM5ao[/veo]
The last song I've chosen (at least for now!) is a US Army cadence or "Jody" (sometimes spelled "Jodie"). A cadence is a call-and-response song sung by military personnel while marching. They've been called "Jodies" because the songs often feature a character named Jody that has stayed state-side during war and takes advantage of the soldier's girlfriend. There are lots of different cadences and different lyrics. The one that always stuck with me was the Jody sung in the 1949 movie "Battleground". The clip I found was from the end of that movie. The cadence is based on the "Duckworth Chant" that was originally attributed to Private Willie Lee Duckworth in 1944.
[video=youtube_share;nDQvYE8sbc8]https://youtu.be/nDQvYE8sbc8[/veo]
Thank you for starting this thread, Rusty! This is a lot of fun!
-Robyn
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