The family was sitting around on Thanksgiving Evening, after hosting the extended family Thanksgiving dinner. My son was in the playroom digging through an old toy chest, looking for stray Lego pieces he was missing, when he came across a toy he was unfamiliar with. It was a windup clock that played a song, old enough that you had to wind it up, and then gently push the windup wheel to get it to play at the correct speed, instead of 1/4 speed.
He brought over the old Fisher Price clock (which I recognized as a toy from my childhood), and asked “what song is that?”
“I can play it for you” I told him, “Once I finish doing this online survey I am taking.”
The survey was almost done, and once I completed it, I went to my music books and found the book I was looking for: Popular Songs of Nineteenth-Century America: Complete original sheet music for 64 songs.
I pulled it out, looked up Grandfather’s Clock, and played it for him.
I also showed him the inscription on inside cover:
Johnathan Lightfoot
1977
~Aunt Olive
And we spent much of the evening after that going through several of the 64 songs. (Thank you, Aunt Olive, even if you misspelled my name, your gift of music is still blessing me and the next generation.) So tonight I will be sharing some of that music in this blog, and perhaps a few other blogs.
So I may or may not talk more about Grandfather’s Clock in this blog. The book is arranged alphabetical, and I will be reviewing and commenting on the songs I select in that order.
Battle Hymn of the Republic
One of the interesting thing about the songs in their original sheet music is how the music is arranged. For example, the Battle Hymn is written in a staccato 4/4 chord progression.
It has a third verse that I knew, because I had played from the book as a child, but which is not in any of the hymn books that I have on my shelves, and which Betsy, who knows all the verses to most hymns, was not familiar. The verse is:
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my contemners so with you my grace shall deal;
“Let the Hero born of woman crush the serpent with his heel,
“Since God is marching on.”
One of the things I like about this version, besides it militant marching accompaniment, is the ending tags of each verse. Several hymn books like to change the end of each verse to “His Truth Is Marching On”. But here, the five verses have five different tags:
His Truth is marching on
His day is marching on
Since God is marching on
Our God is marching on
While God is marching on
The subtle changes of the wording have significant relationship to the text of each verse.
The music is written with unison verse and three-part chorus — soprano, alto and baritone. A lot of the music was arranged with parts for the chorus. This was in the time where people created their own entertainment, so being able to play instruments or sing music in parts was a standard part of people’s lives.
(Next: Beautiful River)
At The Rainbow 