What Kind of Song Is That?

When the lovely Madelyn Simone and the delightful Elizabeth Holiday travel in the car with me, we enjoy listening to a variety of children’s songs. As a new CD played last week (yep, I’m still that old-school), Madelyn asked me, with a bit of a sarcastic tone, “What kind of song is that, Nana?” I was reminded of her question on Sunday night as Larry and I listened to the Ashland Symphony Orchestra and the Ashland Area Chorus perform “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” because that was the song from the car. “Glory, glory hallelujah, his truth is marching on.”

“What kind of song is that, Nana?” It’s a song from our history, Madelyn, a song that comes to us from Civil War days. It’s a folk song tune, but the words we know were written by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe in 1861, as the terrible war was tearing our country apart. Its verses tell an apocalyptic-flavored story of a victorious God, “He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat,” and link the sacrifice of Jesus to our continued willingness to die to preserve liberty; “As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.” Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Ward’s song, historically in the patriotic genre (although with no mention of our nation), is not alone in its war-time origins. “God Bless America,” an Irving Berlin staple, was penned towards the end of World War I, and then revived in the months leading up to World War II, when Kate Smith noted the storm clouds gathering, “far across the sea.” “Let us pledge allegiance to a land that’s free,” pleaded Smith. Indeed, “God bless America, [our] home sweet home.”

“The Star Spangled Banner,” which the audience sang so heartily on Sunday night at the Myers Band Shell, was from an earlier war, the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key penned those words while watching the British attack the embattled Fort McHenry, only to see the “broad stripes and bright stars” still waving as the morning light appeared. “O say, can you see . . .”

One of the highlights of orchestral programs on Independence Day weekend is the “1812 Overture.” While I knew it was by Tchaikovsky, I was vague on its history, supposing it too was somehow connected to the war of 1812. Not! With Google at my fingertips, I checked it out just as Maestro Lipsky gave the downbeat to its majestic notes, and discovered that its melodies and rhythms were birthed as the composer told the story of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. Same year, different continent. The overture, complete with choir, chimes, and an enthusiastic cannon, is impressive, but even more so is its history, as a far-outnumbered Russian army is miraculously able to defend its homeland, with divine intervention in the shape of its ferocious winter.

Another audience favorite, designed to honor those who’ve served in the United States military, often appears on these programs, and it did again on Sunday. “Armed Forces Salute,” arranged by Bob Lowden and narrated by Vietnam veteran John Cadley, reprises the tunes associated with each branch of the service, from “The Caisson Song” to “Anchors Away,” bookended by “America the Beautiful.” The Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Air Force, Merchant Marines, and Navy veterans proudly stood at attention to receive our community’s salute. I imagined my veteran dad standing among them, absent in the body but present in the great cloud of witnesses whose shoulders we stand upon today.

What kind of song, Madelyn? These are songs of our nation, songs of a brave heritage, a purposeful foundation. Whether performed by the Dover Gutter Band (our 1978 introduction to patriotism in Dover, New Jersey), or by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra on Public Square (a necessary once in a lifetime experience), these melodies are woven into the fabric of our country’s narrative, giving expression to who we are as a people.

That’s why we sing, to affirm that “we the people” stand together as Americans, in a pledge that our flag will continue to wave “o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Glory, glory, hallelujah!