The Washington times., 1919-03-27
EVERY GREAT WAR
SITS OWN SONGS

Beginning about twenty-five years
from now. magazine and special fea-
ture"- newspaper articles will he pub
lished on the songs of the Yankee
soldiers in the great war. This Is
safe prediction since it was about
that length Of time after the civil war
that writer's began 10 treat OF SINH
lar subject; and many an article ana
even book, has been written on the
songs Of that war.
The songs OF the old war dIhereo
from those of the present one in that
they reflected more dihirent 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 represented
in .'Oyer There" lover There was
lust as singabIe. up to the very day
of the armistice as il was when the
soldiers began to cross the Atlantic.
But the history of the four years OF
the civil war. with its hopes, dlsap-
pointments and renewed determina-
ton. can be traced in the VARYING
themes of its songs. In the hrst
wear OF the civil war such songs as
spramp, Tranmy,. Tramp, the Boys
Are Marching" could not have been
written: il needed the great losses o!
the North TO bring II out.
cover There" the Big Song.
"Over There" was surely the great
song of this war, as John Brown
Body was of the other. george NJ
Cohan is entitled, not for the hrst
time, to the credit of having his mana
on the peoples pulse. OF being real
interpreter of their moods. ne
Yanks Are Coming. the Yanks Are
Till It's Over. Over There and the
cav but threatening melody epito-
mized the whole struggle. from the
American viewpoint. Later conan
struck another chord. when You
Come Back. and You viii Come
Back, There's a Whole World Wait
ing for You" but here he only touch
cd a phase In the oarliT song he
struck the national note, Gds George
T.. Root struck it in the old war with
his Rally Round the Flag. Root
too. had his song OF a single phase
We Are Coming. Father Abraham,
Three Hundred Thousand More. VIC
may call Conan the Root of this war.
Next to Cohan must he placed
Irving Berlin. with his Il Hate 10
Get Cp." though he wrote others.
The two catchIes times. those which
.taraphraSe the bugle call, were not
original. having been used in the
army long before he entered il: but
il was he who made a song around
them. a song that was sung all over
The county by soldiers and civilians,
sung in France. too. lTor NoNcllO
Keep the Home Fires Burning was
written before the war. but Is en-
titled TO rank as a war song because
il was adapted TO the purpose; and
4 4 Of Zoo l. I lIF.FH =
There's Long, Long Trail. which
The soldiers across the water sang
On their Gnarches.
Pack Up Your Troubles in Your
Ola Kit EaC" was as popular among
the goldicrs a. any song. At hone
VIC sang more sentimental song,
such as Your Boy and My Boy,
Hello. Central Give Ne 10 Mans
Land Bring Eacl Ny Dsddie 30
Ne America. Here's Ny Boy and
others which rev collectors of the
future VIII bother with; but VIC all
joincd the soldiers .Cuthusia stIcally IN
Lconrey OHsras "k-k-k-katy.
" hich. written by an army man, has
real soldier hUmo~. 1T ranks with
The Captain With His Whiskcrs
Stole a Sly Glance at Me the comic
soldier song OF the old war. In fact,
tne presence OF 50 many Lhti ~ SNii-
timontal and worthless songs is a fact
growing out of the shoTtnCss Of this
war: they could be duplicated IN the
earlier war j. 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 or that war gave
us. on the Confederate side. at least,
such a splendid thing az Randail's 5
MY Maryland" and such IOusing
battle song As The Bonnie Blue
Flag There has been nothing 10
approach them in the war just ended.