Attended grandpa’s birthday lunch last Sunday, 17 January 2010, and talk turned to the internet. Is it really possible to find anything and everything on the web?
Anyway, grandpa talks about certain songs, one of which is “Just Before the Battle, Mother” so I asked if he would sing it…
I found this Wikipedia entry about Just Before the Battle, Mother:
Just before the Battle, Mother was a popular song during the American Civil War, particularly among troops in the Union Army. It was written and published by Chicago-based George F. Root. It was also a popular song with adherents of the Primrose League in England, and was a central part of Victoria Day celebrations in Canada during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th Centuries.
And here are the lyrics:
Just before the battle, mother,
I am thinking most of you,
While upon the field we’re watching
With the enemy in view.
Comrades brave are ’round me lying,
Filled with thoughts of home and God
For well they know that on the morrow,
Some will sleep beneath the sod.CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your heart again,
But, oh, you’ll not forget me, mother,
If I’m numbered with the slain.Oh, I long to see you, mother,
And the loving ones at home,
But I’ll never leave our banner,
Till in honor I can come.
Tell the traitors all around you
That their cruel words we know,
In every battle kill our soldiers
By the help they give the foe.CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your heart again,
But, oh, you’ll not forget me, mother,
If I’m numbered with the slain.Hark! I hear the bugles sounding,
‘Tis the signal for the fight,
Now, may God protect us, mother,
As He ever does the right.
Hear the “Battle-Cry of Freedom,”
How it swells upon the air,
Oh, yes, we’ll rally ’round the standard,
Or we’ll perish nobly there.CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your heart again,
But, oh, you’ll not forget me, mother,
If I’m numbered with the slain.
You’ll find the Just Before the Battle, Mother – musical score online.
So, grandpa warns me that whenever he sings that song, he cries. But he went on and sang just the same…
(NOTE: MP4 video taken using a Sony Ericsson cell phone doesn’t play properly when the file is stored in a remote server. There’s audio, but no image. The solution: Convert the MP4 to FLV first.)
[S3VIDEO file=’http://media.viloria.net/grandpa/MOV00624-20100117-grandpa-justbeforethebattlemother.FLV’ displaymode=’embedded’ buffer=’5′ authurl=’false’ bgimage=’https://www.viloria.net/images/justbeforethebattlemother.jpg’]
(TIP: Click on the PLAY button, then click on the PAUSE II button and give the video about 30 seconds to load, because several people are viewing this vid at the moment…)
You’ll hear my sister say “Ayan!” near the end, which is Tagalog for (rough translation) “There! Now look at what you’ve done…”, because I got my dad nostalgic and teary-eyed.
