El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-05-21
How Famous Song was Born.

Look away.
How Famous Song was Born.
Chicago Inter Ocean.
$50 when you sing
John Browns body lies a-moldering
in the grave.
you think you're singing about John
Brown of Ossawatomie, do your
1t was af err dinner. and a veteran OF
the Twelfth Massachusetts, regiment
sat back in his chair putting little
rings of smoke.
well, we'll, psrhaps you are, out wnen
we made that song we meant anotner
man. That tune was made Tor nre
company in Charleston. :. e., some
where along in the late BUS. Ihey
hso volunteer fire companies then, as
all other places had The manwere ra-
Their leisurely fellows. and liked tn paw
visits. In preparation for one OF these
this fire company sent to musician In
Philadelphia for an original song to
celebrate The occasion. and very so N
a'ong came the John Brown tune,
with words beginning:
"Says, hummers, will you meet usT'
SIT was a great success, and ssfonis-
he'd the pa'ives, as it was meant TO
But the Methodists heard it They
followed Johu Wesley's advice liberal
ly, "A WAYS steal a good tune from the
devil when you find him with one, and
adopted it at once. With q slight
change it made q star song az camp
meetings and revivals. For Methodist
use it ran:
''Sav brothers, will you meet us?"
.-s'By 1861 it was almost as familiar as
the Methodist class meeting. You
didn't know who our John Brown W as?
I've sat by him at mess a1d worked by
him all day long aud hard him sing
at night, when we were all lying
around the smoky campfire. Queer
fellow, he was, but true blue, true
blue.''
Toe veteran knocked off his cigar
ashes and hummed ''John Browns
B ,dv" under his breath, b eating with
his fingers on the arm of his chair.
Then smile crept over his face.
"How we did tease the man! He was
Sco,chmsn and resented our fun
with al his Scotch obstinacy. That
added ice to it, and the jokes the
boys didn't make on his name weren t
Their at Fort Wsrreu.in Boston barbor.
The fort was unfinished, and we had to
to put il in order in double quick time.
They called US The Tigers and we
worked hard enough to deserve our
name Alright I'VE came back dog
tired and Topped around the fire. That
was when poor John Brown suffered
tn, to rtures of the man without
humor. The OssawatOmie Brown bad
been execut lst q short time before,
and some one would look at our Scotch
man and call out:
"'W Well, now amt he lively for
corps-?"
% 1T doesn't take much to amuse
tired men. and when they saw the ex-
preston on john Browns face they
would break into q loud guffaw that
made the echoes ring. Then some
one would nudge his neighbor and
say:
. Hope I'll look as we'll for dead
man
John Browns face then resembled
a crabspple, and the men would double
up with laughter.
But by and by they'd get tired joking
and all ling together. aud sometimes
the quartet wo' Id sing to ns. John
foe voice aud when we heard him
s'pg We forgot all his oddities. One
af e-noon jus, before shutdown he was
sitting ut ar the sallypOrt with one
membsr of the gu artet, when the other
two C .me struggling up. One of them
shouted:
"'H.lloo What's the news?'
w uys olu yOu hupW. answered
the poor victims companion. John
Downs dead
''John stood up disguised, but as he
wax d away another of the quartet
called out:
"'Yes he still goes marching on
"Some one else, thinking perhaps
of other days, half uncousciously put
the words to the old camp-meeting
tune and Gang softly:
81 "a hnd
ing in the grave,
John Browns body lies a-mouldering
in the grave,
John b owns body lies a-mouldering
in the grave
"'But his soul goes marching on,
sang another soldier. laughing and
pointing to John Rr wn in fu | retreat
All the boys around began to sing the |
verse, and by nightfall every Tiger in |
camp knew that song. That evening |
around the camp fire, we sang it at the |
top of our lungs. Even John Brown |
himself joined 10. Not long afterward |
the Massachusetts, volunteers reached |
Fort Warren. Many of the Tigers
left the fort, but N any of them enlist
ed in the Twelfth regiment. The
qua-tet, all made sergeauts, were d.
vided, two enlis'ing 10 company A,
two in company f. The Tigers car
ried the song with them naturally, and |
after dress parade it grew to be the '
custom of the regim mt to sing the
song as tn y marched around the par
ade grouad. So they very soon added |
an appropriate verse:
"Johu B own s knapssck is strappe
upon his back,
AS we go marching on.
"The chsplsins were very fond of
calling the volunteers the army of the
Lord So still with direct reference to
the Scotch John Brown they sang the
third verse: :