Behind the history of American patriotic songs
June 26, 2015
Tom Riis
It’s that time a year when patriotic songs and the sound of fireworks
exploding in the night sky will fill the air with pride as Americans celebrate
Independence Day. But did you know that many of the patriotic songs that
glorify America’s past have their roots in English tradition? That’s right. Tom
Riis (Reece), professor of Musicology at CU-Boulder’s College of Music,
explains.
CUT 1 “The English traditions are prominent in the English colonies. The very
first patriotic music published in America was in this pre-revolutionary era.
1768. (:12) It was a song called the ‘Liberty Song’ about the whole idea of
what was called the ‘sons of liberty,’ but it is sung to the tune of ‘Heart of
Oak.’ It was a well-known tune in England.” (:24)
Riis, who is also the director of CU’s American Music Research Center, says
using a well-known tune such as ‘Heart of Oak’ and applying it to a new song
or ballad was quite common in early America. The reason for that, he says, is
many early patriotic songs were actually ballads printed on broadsheets
posted in towns telling of a political event or a heroic act and the best way to
get people to remember it was to attach a catchy familiar tune.
CUT 2 “And then often it would say, ‘To be sung to the tune of …’ and of
course the tune would be something very familiar. And that way you could
immediately get information out -- people are reading the information
presumably. (:12) But also you can sing it and of course music, as we know,
has that wonderful kind of, I call it, ‘adhesive quality.’ You know it’s easier if
someone says to you, ‘Can you recite the ‘National Anthem?’ Most everybody
I know will immediately think, ’Oh, say…’ You’ll think of the tune along with
the words.” (:30)
Speaking of the ‘National Anthem,’ according to Riis it’s another ballad with a
tune from an old English song but a song that was somewhat dubious in its
time.
CUT 3 “ Our national anthem, of course, is one of my favorite stories to tell.
Of course the words by Francis Scott Key are famous, ‘Oh say can you see by
the dawn’s early light…’ (:09) But the tune to which Key referred in the original
publication of those words in 1814, was a song called ‘To Anacreon in Heaven’
-- Anacreon being a somewhat rambunctious god. It’s about drinking. It’s a
drinking song.” (:26)
By the end of the Civil War Riis says marching songs like ‘When Johnny
Comes Marching Home’ and ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ were popular - eliciting pride and emotion in people. Eventually this led to the rise of
military bands that produced many songs, and one figure in particular, says
Riis, popularized these songs to a point they became known worldwide.
CUT 4 “There’s only, probably, three or four major kinds of American music
that make it around the world from the 19th century. One of them is, of
course, the famous marches of John Phillip Sousa, which don’t only celebrate
America but very much stand in for America in many ways. (:17) Sousa toured
the world and became a symbol of American unity and peace but also power
and harmony, in the literal sense of course.” (:29)
It wasn’t until 1931 that the ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ officially become
America’s national anthem. Before 1931, other songs served as America’s
national hymn. ‘Hail, Columbia’ was played at official functions for much of
the 19th century. And ‘My Country Tis of Thee,” whose melody is, coincidently,
the same as ‘God Save The Queen’, the British national anthem, also served as
a defacto anthem.
-CU-