The Battle Hymn of the Republic

From Freepedia

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is a patriotic anthem written by Julia Ward Howe for the United States during the American Civil War as a variation for the words to the marching song "John Brown's Body". It was first published on the front page of The Atlantic Monthly of February 1862; the sixth verse written by Howe, which is less commonly sung, was not published then. The song is often regarded as the northern counterpart to "Dixie."

One version of the melody, in C major, begins as below. This is an example of the mediant-octave modal frame.

Image:Battle Hymn of the Republic beginning.PNG

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Updated" (1901), was Mark Twain's mocking parody of the lyrics, from the "point of view" of an American industrialist, inspired by then-recent events of the Spanish and Philippine Wars.

The melody of the song is the basis for the popular union song "Solidarity Forever", written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915.

In 1960, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus at the that year's awards ceremony with a recording that replaced the line "let us die to make men free" with the more cheery "let us live to make men free", a variation that has since caught on to some extent.

1 Lyrics
2 Trivia
3 Further reading
4 External Links

Lyrics

Image:Battle Hymn of the Republic.jpg

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:

His day is marching on.

Chorus

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:

"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,

Since God is marching on."

Chorus

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

Chorus

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, (sometimes "let us live to make men free")

While God is marching on.

Chorus

(The sixth verse is often omitted, and a common variant changes "soul of Time" to "soul of wrong", and "succour" to "honor".)

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,

He is wisdom to the mighty, He is succour to the brave,

So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,

Our God is marching on.

Chorus

Trivia

The Battle Hymn was played at the funeral of US president Ronald Reagan and also in the funerals of Robert Kennedy and Winston Churchill.
In the movie The Right Stuff, John Glenn (played by Ed Harris), hums this tune as his space capsule is returning to earth.
Christian Metal band Stryper recorded a heavy metal version of the hymn for their 1985 debut album Soldiers Under Command. Since then, it is used as the intro to all their concerts.
Three hours before each Georgia football game (when the gates open) a lone trumpeter stands in the South Deck of Sanford Stadium and plays the first phrase. The UGA band also plays the entire song after home victories.
The Japanese electronics retailer Yodobashi Camera uses the melody of the song in their in-store advertising jingle. Of course the lyrics are in Japanese and are about buying cameras and electronics.
Schoolchildren all over the United States have sung an irreverent variation of the song beginning "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school...".

External Links

Easybyte - free easy piano arrangement of The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Patriotic music of the United States	Image:Flag of the United States.svg
"America the Beautiful" \| "Ballad of the Green Berets" \| "Battle Cry of Freedom" \| "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" \| "For The Dear Old Flag, I Die" \| "God Bless America" \| "God Bless the USA" \| "Hail Columbia" "Hail to the Chief" \| "The Liberty Bell" \| "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" \| "The Stars and Stripes Forever" \| "The Star-Spangled Banner" "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere" \| "This is My Country" \| "This Land is Your Land" \| "Yankee Doodle" "The Yankee Doodle Boy" \| "You're a Grand Old Flag" \| "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"

Patriotic music of the United States

Image:Flag of the United States.svg