The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-02
NEW SONGS OF WAR
THREATEN NATION
Mexican Clash, II Precedent
Holds Good, Will Produce
Usual Crop Of Ditties.
SAFE r O "DOLLY R A

through one Of its periodic crises with
Mexico about three years ago a news
paper paragrapher ventured to sug-
gest that Washington's apparent hes
itation to take decisive action might
be due to a fear that a clash would
revive the vogue Of Dolly Gray"
Everybody remembers, with or with
out pleasure. that when volunteers
were enlisting for the Spanish war Of
1898 every vaudeville stage rang with:
"Hark I hear the bugle calling;
Good bye. Dolly Gray"
So far the pa~ragrapher's fears have
not been realized. II the United States
finally i%ntervenes in Mexico Dolly
Gray" may yet be revived. but whether
It is or not, this years troubles are
almost certain to produce their own
war songs" Indeed. only the other
day a San Antonio despatch quoted
this verse. written by an officer at Fort
Sam Houston to he sung to the tune
Of I'm on My Way to Mandalay":
"Tve got TO 20 to Mexico.
For Fighting Freddie says it's so;
I've got to night with all my might
So the Stars and Str pes nay blow.
Look out, villa. for I wouldn't be va
When the boys see va: that's why
I've got to go to Mexico:
I'm going to say good bye
Every war in which the United
States has had a part has given birth
to songs which have been taken up by
the soldiers. Some are classics which
became SO deeply rooted in the affec-
tons Of the people that they seem des-
tined to live so long as the nation en-
dures. II may be that the martial
airs Of the fathers were Of a higher
class than those produced in recent
years. But the production is never
ceasing. Il Didn't Raise My Boy 10
BE a Soldier" may have been
thing Of a age only two a Ago.,
but nobody except an ultra pacifist
would think of singing It now. It is
not Of the kind that sticks.
New York troops swinging up Broad
way at the close OF the Spanish war
sang. "Therell be a Hot Time In the
Old Town Tonight" Market street,
San Francisco. rang with 1t a snor.
time later. when Funston and his
Twentieth Kansas boys returned from
the Philippines. But this was by no
means the only song which the conflict
Of 1898 helped to make famous. More
truly . war made Jingle
"oh. there's a road to Cuba. a. plain
as can be.
And II you wan to see . wreck Just take
q look at me;
For I have eaten Their Spanish chow
and paid their price 40 dear.
And I've surely got enough OF this. I
want to get away from here"
From one OF the camps in Cuba
came also this:
"Pa~ciacation.
You're our d~amnation.
You've got US going, yes, going some!
It's not the first time.
Nor yet the last time.
That your Uncle SANS surely put us on
the bum. bum. bum"
Damn, Damn. Dunn the Filipinos."
was popular with army and navy men
whose orders took them to the islands
Of the Far East. Once. a few years
ago. II was reported that the singing
Of these lines by certain naval offi-
GERS provoked a reproof from the Sec
rotary Of the Navy. At all ven
neither this Jingle nor any Of the
others which wer o~utgrowths OF the
Spanish war was ever thought OF a.
a possible national air. though some
Of them might At we'll into musica
comedies.
None could ever be considered a.
. substitute for Yankee Doodle" FOL
!, instance. Yankee Doodle has 1
swing which is appealing and it ha'
} never lost its popularity as a spirited
marching song. though 1t antedate,
: the republic itself.
Hail Columbia" which appeared IL
1898, a few years after the Revolution
IL genuinely American. The word
: were written by George Fox. al
, actor, to be ung at an actors benefi
, in Philadelphia. The music is gen
orally attributed to a musician nance
y Roth.
1.-THE Star Spangled Banner" n o
\ the greatest OF American songs. wa
D born in the midst Of the wap Of 1871:
|, and 1t seems unfortunate that tn
= tune was borrowed from England
the country with which the Unite
Y States was fighting when Franci
Scott Key wrote the immortal lines
Key was detained in a q IA in tn
bay by the British during the nigh
. of the bOmbardment Of Fort McIienr,
= which defended Baltimore, The sigh
h Of the flag still flying at dawn tn
next day inspired him and he pencille
the first stanza on the back of a
a envelope.
America Ia the product OF no wa
= and. indeed. came to be written b
chance. A friend, handing Samu'
e Francis Smith. an Andover divinit
student, a book OF German melodies
: suggested that he make translation
: into English. Instead of doing tn
Smith. attracted by q particular al
sat down and composed a new set ,
lines T. fit 1t. These, beginning wit
% my country. it's OF thee" were scrit
y bled on a scrap Of paper in half a
. hour. They were sun first On Jul
q 4, 1882, at a celebration on Bosto
Common. The air had previously bee
appropriated by the English for Go
Save the King"
The Mexican war OF 1916, II
yielded M songs which have endure
at least gave two remarkable poem
to the country, Whittier's Angels I
Buena Vista" and Theodore O'Hara
"The Bivouac of the Dead" with II
fine lines:
e. "The mufled drums sad roll has bea