"John Brown's Body", originally titled "John Brown's Song", is an American march song about the abolitionist leader John Brown, who fought during Bleeding Kansas. The song was popular in the Union States during the civil war. The music arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. According to an 1889 account, the original lyrics were a collective effort by a group of Union soldiers who were referring both to John Brown (and also, humorously, to a Sergeant John Brown of their own battalion). Various other authors have published additional verses or claimed credit for the original lyrics and tune.
The "flavor of coarseness, possibly of irreverence"[1] led many of the era to feel uncomfortable with the earliest John Brown lyrics. This in turn led to the creation of many variant versions of the text that aspired to a higher literary quality. The most famous of these is abolitionist Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic", which was written when a friend suggested, "Why do you not write some good words for that stirring tune?" Kimball suggests that President Abraham Lincoln made this suggestion to Howe, though other sources do not agree on this point.[1]
Numerous informal versions and adaptations of the lyrics and music have been created from the mid-1800s to the present, making "John Brown's Body" an example of a living folk music tradition.
Lyrics[]
"Say, Brothers"[]
Say, brothers, will you meet us (3×)
On Canaan's happy shore.
Refrain:
𝄆 Glory, glory, hallelujah 𝄇
For ever, evermore!
By the grace of God we'll meet you (3×)
Where parting is no more.
Refrain
Jesus lives and reigns forever (3×)
On Canaan's happy shore.
Refrain
"John Brown's Body"[]
This version had numerous variations to the lyrics published in 1861. The lyrics below is the version published by the Library of Congress.[2]
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave; (3×)
His soul is marching on!
Refrain:
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! his soul is marching on!
He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord! (3×)
His soul is marching on!
Refrain
John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back! (3×)
His soul is marching on!
Refrain
His pet lambs will meet him on the way; (3×)
They go marching on!
Refrain
They will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree! (3×)
As they march along!
Refrain
Now, three rousing cheers for the Union; (3×)
As we are marching on!
Refrain
"The New John Brown Song"[]
William Weston Patton, an influential abolitionist and pastor, composed his "The New John Brown Song" in the fall of 1861 and published it in the Chicago Tribune on December 16, 1861.[3]
Old John Brown's body lies a moldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
But though he sleeps his life was lost while struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on.
Refrain:
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His soul is marching on!
John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,
And Kansas knew his valor when he fought her rights to save;
And now, though the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.
Refrain
He captured Harper's Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,
And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled through and through
They hung him for a traitor, themselves a traitorous crew,
But his soul is marching on.
Refrain
John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see —
Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,
And soon throughout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,
For his soul is marching on.
Refrain
The conflict that he heralded he looked from heaven to view,
On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.
And heaven shall ring with anthems o'er the deed they mean to do,
For his soul is marching on.
Refrain
Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,
For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,
And his soul is marching on.
Refrain
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Origin of the John Brown Song (December 1889). Kimball, George. New England Magazine. New series. 1 (4): 371–376.
- ↑ "We'll Sing to Abe Our Song!": Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War from the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana. The Library of Congress.
- ↑ "HIS SOUL IS MARCHING ON". Chicago Tribune. September 10, 1887. p. 17.