Abraham Lincoln - A Tribute (Ashokan Farewell)

[syscom3]

I found this on youtube. A pleasant tribute to President Abe Lincoln. And how the pressures of command ages you.

YouTube - Abraham Lincoln - A Tribute (Ashokan Farewell)

You wont see this on MTV.

YouTube - Your Hit Parade - Yellow Rose of Texas

A slide show salute to confederate veterans.

YouTube - When Johnny comes marching home



Ive always thought this song should be our national anthem.

YouTube - Judy Garland: Battle Hymn of the Republic

[Guns'n'Props]

I think the tribute to Lincoln is great - almost moving. Although I am not American I'm fascinated by the US Civil War. Probably know more about it and its battles than I know about WWI or Korea.

Back to Lincoln he was undoubtedly one of the outstanding characters in history. Some of his speeches especially "the Gettysburg Address" remain unsurpassed in terms of the beauty of its simple wording contrasting the depth of the principles over which the war was fought.

Then again many of the actors on this stage of US history were also great people eg Lee, Grant, Longstreet, Sherman etc and that's what makes the whole story even more fascinating.

"When Johnny comes marching home" There's something haunting in those b/w pics of veteran reunions and Confederate cemeteries.

Judy Garland: Battle Hymn of the Republic: I've heard the tune tune before but not the words. Hence the "terrible swift sword" title to one of the volumes by Bruce Caton.

Great stuff

[renrich]

Sys, Good find. Does anyone know the origin of the song, "Yellow Rose of Texas?"

[Guns'n'Props]

Sys, Good find. Does anyone know the origin of the song, "Yellow Rose of Texas?"

Well here's Wiki for starters

The Yellow Rose of Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not really a good judge of how authentic this is so let us know what you think.

[syscom3]

There is a version of the "Yellow Rose ..." that was popular towards the end of the Civil War in which a final lyric went "You may talk of your Beauregard and sing of Bobby Lee, but the bloody Hood of Texas, played hell in Tennessee".

I've attached this version of the song that is closer to the civil war version. This was done by Johnny Horton many decades ago.

Guns 'n' Props ...... have you read the books written by Bruce Caton?

[renrich]

Good stuff Sys, Thx for posting. The wiki explanation for Yellow Rose, is what I had heard. When I was growing up in Texas a person like Obama was called a "High Yellow" and the legend was that this "High Yellow" woman kept Santa Anna busy and the Battle of San Jacinto was lost because of her actions. Another interesting story is the origin of the word "Gringo" used by some Latinos to describe whites. The story is that either during the Mexican War or more likely the Spanish American War a popular song then was "Green Grow the Lilacs" The US soldiers would sing the song while marching and the locals heard it so much they began calling American soldiers, "Gringos." I have a tape of Tex Ritter singing the song.

[Ferdinand Foch]

Hey Syscom, great finds man! I really like the one by Ashokan Farewell. I think that this song was in Ken Burn's documentary of the civil war.

[Guns'n'Props]

Guns 'n' Props ...... have you read the books written by Bruce Caton?

Unfortunately not yet They (3) were given to me a couple of years ago and must compete with lots of other history books mainly from WW2.

... but I've read James McPherson, M Shaara, Harold Coyle, lots of Osprey titles and some lesser authors.

I know I'll get to them eventually - just need to find the mood when I need a break from planes, tanks and corvettes.

Why do you ask ?

[syscom3]

Unfortunately not yet They (3) were given to me a couple of years ago and must compete with lots of other history books mainly from WW2.

... but I've read James McPherson, M Shaara, Harold Coyle, lots of Osprey titles and some lesser authors.

I know I'll get to them eventually - just need to find the mood when I need a break from planes, tanks and corvettes.

Why do you ask ?

Bruce Caton is an historian with an uncommon ability to write well.

[Guns'n'Props]

Ok then Syscom3. I'll get started on Bruce Caton next.

[renrich]

If you are looking for Catton, it is not spelled Caton. I have several of his books myself. Overall they are interesting but not as illuminating as later authors because they don't go into much detail. If one can find copies of "The West Point Atlas of American Wars" by Esposito, they are among the best for details of battles. A biography of Longstreet by Jeffrey Wert is a fairly recent book which provides a lot of insight into the war. Wert has written more than one book about that subject.

[Guns'n'Props]

Thanks for the info renrich, I'll look up that Longstreet biography.

Also - apologies it is Catton - don't know why I misspelled it - all I needed to do was check the books .

[syscom3]

Here's some others you might like.

YouTube - Helmut Lotti - John Brown's body

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g74t-...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yaLA...eature=related

[Guns'n'Props]

Hey i really dig Lew Dite with his ukulele version of John Brown.
The 3rd version was more traditional with the military marching beat. If it wasn't for the pulsating almost swinging double bass I'd have said I was listening to the ghosts of 1861

I regret I'm not too keen on Helmut Lotti approach.

When I was a kid I must have sung this song a thousand times without really knowing what it was about, sometimes with different lyrics applicable to this forum e.g:

Jumping out of a Lancaster at 40,000 feet x3
And he ain't gonna jump no more.
They wiped him off the runway like a lump of strawberry jam x 3
And he ain't gonna jump no more.
Glory Glory....

I daresay some of the boy scouts on this island still sing this version of John Brown.

On a more serious note it is interesting to see that this song could be used as
i.) a rallying call to arms to the public and for them to support the war and Union Army as a just cause
ii.) as marching song
As it encapsulates the main reason of the War I feel the first case is really powerful.

[Guns'n'Props]

Hey !!! I have read Bruce Catton after all.

A single volume on the Civil War titled "This Hallowed Ground".

Yep my hat's off to syscom3: Catton is a very good writer.