WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME

'"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 lyrics, written by Irish-American bandleader Patrick Gilmore, and published under the pseudonym 'Louis Lambert', effectively reverse those of "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", in which Johnny returns home blind and crippled, to the woman he abandoned in order to join the army. 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.
The larcenous tendencies of some Union soldiers in New Orleans were parodied in the Confederate lyrics, "For Bales", to the same tune.
The song or its tune have been used in the soundtracks of several movies, including ''Stalag 17'' (1953), ''How The West Was Won'' (1963), ' (1964) and ' (1995).

Contents

Lyrics

Trivia

External links

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

★ There is a World War I (1914) variation: "When Tommy Comes Marching Home".

★ 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).

★ 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 ''Vertigo 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 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".

External links

★ Library of Congress song info

★ RealMedia Sample from How The West Was Won

★ MIDI and description