Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-14
SONGS OF THE WAR
THAT CHEERED OUR MEN
"Over' There" Probably Best Re
hected Mind of Foes of the
German Alliance.

hected Mind of Foes of the
German Alliance.
Beginning about - years from now,
a magazine and special feature new
paper articles will bc published on the
songs of the Yankee soldiers in the great
war This Is a safe prediction, since il
was about that length of time after the
civil war that writer's began to treat of a
similar subject; and many an article. and
even book. has been written on the songs
OF that war
The songs OF the old war differed from
those of the present one, In that they re-
tiected more different shades of feeling
Our war has been so short that there was
not room for much more than one state
Of mind; the state of mind that is repre-
sented IN Over There Over There"
was just as singahle up 10 the very day of
the armistice rs il was when the soldiers
began to cross the Atlantic. But the
history of the four years of the Civil War,
with its hopes, disappointments and re-
newed determination, can be traced i'll
the varying themes Of its songs In the
first wear Of the Civil War such a song rs
Tramp, Tramp. Tramp. the Boys Are
Marching could not have been written, II
needed the great losses OF the North to
bring II out
Over There" was surely the great
song of this war, rs "John> Browns
Body' was of the other George NJ.
Cohan Is entitled. not for the first time,
to the credit Of having hls hand on the
peoples pulse. Of being a real interpreter
of their moods THE lanks are coming,
the lanks are coming. and We wont come
home till it's over, over there and the
gay but threatening melody epItomlzed
the whole struggle from the American
viewpoint Later Cohan struck another
chord, w hen You Come Back, and You
VIII Come Back. There's Whole World
Waiting for YOU" but here he only
touched phase In the earlier song, he
struck the national note. as George +
Root struck IT in the old war with his
Rally Round the Flag Root. too. had
his song of a single phase. We arc Com
ing Father Abraham Three Hundred
Thousand More We may call Cohan the
Root OF this war
Next to Cohan must be placed Irving
Berlin with his II Hate to Gct Cp.
though he wrote others The two catch
lest lines. those which paraphrasc tho
bugle call. were not original, having been
used IN the army long before he entered II,
but It was he who made a song around
them. a song that was sung all over the
country by soldiers and civilians. sung IN
France too Ivor Novellos Keep the
Home Fires Burning was written before
the war. but Is entitled 10 rank as 3 war
song because il was adapted 70 tho pur-
pose: and the same may be said Of 10.
Elliott's There's a Long Long Trail
which the soldiers across the water sang
on their marches
Good d-bve. Broadway. Hello. France"
was first IN the field. went well while If
lasted. but was too commonplace to hold
out As popular n song IS any was
Joan oi Arc, which had two singular
points about it The author. Alfred
BRYAN was also the author Of Il Didn't
Raise My Boy 10 be a Soldier which Was
in great favor among the pro-GeFmans
and pacihsts before We went into the war
When We did. II dropped out Of sight
instantly, and Bryan as quickly changed
hs sentiments and caught up with Joan
Of Arc. which Is as miltaristic a song as
could be written. II Is irritatingly com
monplace in words. but the music bv
Jack Wells is inspiring and French trans
lation has been made Of it which Is q
real poem. whereas Bryans English
words are pathos. made all the worse BY
such absurd mistakes rs placing Norman
DIV among the victims Of the German IN
vader In place Of that biunder, the French
translator used words which IN English
would read. The Bells of Rheims they
sound in pain thus changing a turnip
into a rose
Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old
Kit Bag was as popular among the sol
diers as any song. At home we sang more
sentimental songs, such as Your Boy
and Ny Boy. Hello, Central, Give Me
No Mans Land, " "Brng Back Ny Daddie
10 Me. America Here's My Boy" and
Others which few colle-to Of the future
viii bother with; but we all joined the
soldiers enthusiastically in GeOiIrey . Har-
as ''k-k-k-katy which. written by All
army man. has real soldier humor II
ranks with Tho Captain With lis
Whiskers Stole u Sly Glance at Me, the
comic soldier-song Of the old war. In fact,
the presence of 50 many merely sentiment
al and worthless songs, Is a fact growing
out oi the shortness Of this war. they
could be duplicated in the earlier war. II
was not until that struggle had grown
deadly that VIC came To such desperately
earnest songs as Rally Round the Flag.
Yet the early days Of that war gave Us.
on the Confederate side at least, such a
splendid thing as Randall's My Mary
land" and such rousing battle-song as
''1he Bonnie Blue Flag There has been /
nothing to approach them in the war just /
ended As for the soldiers, they obstinate
" refused 70 sing martial songs set down |
for them just as they have in this war.
and where our soldiers sang "fhe Long. |
Long Trail I" written before the war. ~ /
the soldiers Of tho Civil War sang The |
Years Creep slowly BY, Lorena, written
before that conflict Dixie, the great
est war song of those days was made 50 |
by the soldiers; il was in reality min ,
strcl melody written two years before the |
war
The two wars were linked IN a noble ,
fashion in one song. John Hay fine poem, /
When the Boys Come Home, written in /
Civil War days, was set to fine music by |
Obey Skcats IN 1917, and became tho |
nobest musical expression hat the A. Il, |
T. ever found New York Times