When Johnny Comes Marching Home: Difference between revisions
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* The music is played during the movie ''[[How The West Was Won]]'' (1963). |
* The music is played during the movie ''[[How The West Was Won]]'' (1963). |
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* The music is played as an instrumental march during the movie ''[[Dr. Strangelove or: How I |
* The music is played as an instrumental march during the movie ''[[Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]]'' (1964) any time the action shifts to Major Kong's [[B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]]. |
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* [[Malvina Reynolds]] wrote different lyrics for the tune in her song "The Judge Said" (1977). |
* [[Malvina Reynolds]] wrote different lyrics for the tune in her song "The Judge Said" (1977). |
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Revision as of 18:36, 22 August 2007
| "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"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.
Some believe the tune is that of the Irish antiwar song "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", presumed to be the original on the basis of oral and textual evidence, although no published version is known to pre-date "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" [1]. However, expert James Fuld, author of the standard text on popular music, The Book of World Famous Music, states on page 640 of that volume that Donal O'Sullivan, the Irish authority, has written the Library of Congress that he does not consider the melody of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" as Irish in origin. As stated, no printed music of Irish origin has been discovered that predates American publication in September of 1863 by Henry Tolman in Boston under the above mentioned title. Library of Congress records do show a title "Johnny Fill Up The Bowl" that was published in July of 1863 by John J. Daly that appears to contain the song's melody.
The same tune is used for the children's songs "The Ants Go Marching One By One" and also "The Animals Went in Two by Two". The lyrics, written by Irish-American bandleader Patrick Gilmore, and published under the pseudonym 'Louis Lambert', effectively reverse those of the original, in which Johnny returns home blind and crippled, to the woman he abandoned in order to join the army. The larcenous tendencies of some Union soldiers in New Orleans were parodied in the Confederate lyrics, "For Bales", to the same tune.
Lyrics
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
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- There is a World War I (1914) variation: "When Tommy Comes Marching Home".
- The music is played during the movie Stalag 17 (1953).
- The music is played during the movie How The West Was Won (1963).
- The music is played as an instrumental march during the movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) any time the action shifts to Major Kong's B-52.
- Malvina Reynolds wrote different lyrics for the tune in her song "The Judge Said" (1977).
- The music for this song is used (with different lyrics) by The Clash for their song "English Civil War" (1979).
- A French version "Johnny Revient d'la Guerre / Frères d'armes" (listed as two songs, but it actually sounds like one piece of music) was recorded by Bérurier Noir, on the album Macadam Massacre (1984).
- Country music group Boy Howdy released a version of the song in 1991.
- On the night of Johnny Carson's last first-run Tonight Show in 1992, Comedy Central was running continuous tributes to Carson, interweaving a variant on this song, sung by Penn Jillette, as "When Johnny Goes Marching Home".
- Guns N' Roses used a part of the song for their song Civil War (1993).
- The song has a recurring presence in the Bruce Willis movie Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) as the on screen theme of Simon Gruber.
- Iced Earth used a part of the song for their song "The Devil to Pay" on The Glorious Burden (2004).
- Parts of the song were performed by U2 during the Vertigy gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gao Tour (2005) as a medley with "Bullet the Blue Sky."
- Paul Wall & Chamillionaire used the melody of this song for both versions of "True" from Controversy Sells (2005).
- 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 Captain from the Civil War.