When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
Composer:
Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore
Date Of Composition:
1863
Performed by:
Airforce Band of Liberty
The story of "When Johnny comes Marching Home" is also the story of Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore. Gilmore, an 1848 Irish immigrant to Boston, was considered by no less a musician than John Philip Sousa as the "Father of the American Band."
Gilmore led a number of bands in the Boston area, including Patrick Gilmore's Band. At the beginning of the Civil War, in September 1861, the band enlisted as a group in the Union Army and was attached to the 24th Massachusetts Infantry. Gilmore's band served both as musicians and stretcher bearers at such horrific battles as Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Richmond.
Gilmore was posted to occupied New Orleans, Louisiana in 1863 and, as Grand Master of the Union Army, ordered to reorganize the state military bands. It was at this time that he claimed to have composed the words and music to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
Listen -- MP3 (Airforce Band of Liberty)
It is possible that this air was written before Gilmore's "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and that Gilmore unconsciously might have borrowed from it. For his part, Gilmore claimed that he had adapted an African-American spiritual.
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
