War Diaries Talk

Battalion song concert

  • Stork by Stork

    If anyone likes old songs, you may recognize some on this list. I typed a few into Wikipedia's search box, hoping to get the songwriters' names, but none came up. Maybe they're traditional folk songs of unknown origin. Jack Johnson first won the world heavyweight title in 1908, so that song was probably written after that year.

    Here's another 2-page list: AWD0003w6z AWD0003w4y

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  • David_Underdown by David_Underdown moderator

    Possibly more music hall numbers than folk songs, or even well-known numbers given a topical twist

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  • josiepegg by josiepegg

    try putting them into google. I tried "Little Grey Home in the West" and "The Village Pump" and got results.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    What a great find! Thank you for sharing it, Stork. I've seen many mentions of concerts but never a hint of what songs were performed.

    Rob, how can we mark this? #concertlist? This is too good to let it slip away.

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  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zwOKvn1udY

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  • Stork by Stork

    Thanks, josiepegg, I never thought to check Google. As I was doing so I had another idea: Youtube. Here are a few of the songs:

    Little Grey Home in the West (sung by John McCormack)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZrViqdIjgI
    lyrics here: http://firstworldwar.com/audio/littlegreyhomeinthewest.htm

    The Banks of the Clyde
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mIvA5wFN8s

    Put Me Amongst the Girls (Zonophone was a record company that existed from 1899 to 1903)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO2_slSSFW0

    The Ghost of the Violin
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcW55r2tOt0

    The Golden Vanity (Pete Seeger in 1965)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xse8M03PpWc
    (A modern acoustic trio)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j0EA_YH61I
    (As I was listening, I knew that I was familiar with it, and then it hit me: it's one of Aaron Copland's 'Old American Songs,' in which it is titled 'The Sweet Trinity,' if you like classical music)

    The Deathless Army (this has videos of WW1 armies marching)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIKTmNICE1k

    And now I see that Erik put a Youtube link right above this- thanks.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Good idea with the hashtag, Cynthia. Although perhaps we need something more generic for particularly interesting stuff. Something like #interesting or #special

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  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    How about #specialconcerts

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist in response to marie.eklidvirginmedia.com's comment.

    No, we need something more generic that covers things other than concerts. But thanks 😃

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Here's another: Programme of Popular Concert from the 1st Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Image AWD0003wvg

    This concert took place on 3 July, 1918. The 1/DCLI were in the same brigade as the 1/East Surrey Regt., originally the 14th I.B. and later the 95th I.B., both in the 5th Division. I wonder if these programmes were something all the battalion's in the brigade did.

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  • Stork by Stork in response to cyngast's comment.

    In that programme, Soissons is a town in France- several of the units I've tagged lately were there.

    I wonder if 'Paderawiski' is Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) a pianist/composer who became Prime Minister of his native Poland in 1919. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacy_Jan_Paderewski#Politician_and_diplomat

    I wonder what the quality of the pianos was at these concerts, and if the pianist had sheet music or if he was improvising.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Soissons is northeast of Paris. It was the town at the heart of the Battle of the Aisne in September, 1914, early in the war. The divisions that had first gone to Mons, where the war began for the British on 23 August, 1914, and retreated south for 10 days, turned to push back against the Germans in early September and forced them back to the area just north of Soissons.

    I don't know about the sheet music. A very adept pianist might be able to improvise, but if they planned far enough ahead they could probably get sheet music sent from home. I once came across an officer who asked his mother to send him field hockey equipment, including sticks, for his men. Compared to field hockey sticks, sheet music sounds pretty simple to send!

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