http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder9291

Carry me back to old Virginny.
There's where the cotton and corn and taters grow.
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring-time.
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

There's where I labor’d so hard for old massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn;
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginny, the State where I was born.

[Refrian]
Carry me back to old Virginny.
There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow;
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring-time.
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

“Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” was written by James A. Bland, an African-American minstrel performer in 1878. As with the previous pieces, the lyrics contain several pseudo-African American colloquialisms that are racially sensitive including personal experiences as seen in this song where the singer expects to meet his “Massa...where the cotton and the corn and taters grow.” However, this time, the songwriter is an African-American. This gives listeners a chance to hear a song from the perspective of black Americans. The song tells of a slave who wants to return home to Virginia where he was born, a narrative that would have evoked nostalgia among soldiers as they looked forward to homecoming day.

Minstrel songs, where this song was popularized, were often met with controversy. While integrationists saw these shows as a misleading picture of showing happy slaves while poking fun at them at the same time, segregationists thought these shows broke social norms as they depicted runaway slaves. With audiences in the shows knowing that the composer is black, the issue of race would have played an important role in popularizing this song.

Nevertheless, the song was popular prior to America’s entry into World War I and was commonly used in the repertoire for minstrel performances. In 1915, Alma Gluck and Len Spencer recorded this song and because of its popularity, it became one of the most recorded songs of the pre-war era. “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” became the official song of Virginia in 1940.

Music of the First World War p.97 By Don Tyler
A History of the Minstrel Show (2000) By Frank W. Sweet, Backintyme, p. 28

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder2165

Roll, Jordan, roll, roll, Jordan, roll
I want to go to Heaven when I die, To hear Jordan roll.

1. Oh, brothers, you ought t’have been there,
Yes, my Lord! A sitting in the Kingdom, to hear Jordan roll.

2. Oh, preachers, you ought t’have been there, etc.
3. Oh, sinners, you ought,
4. Oh, mourners, you ought,
5. Oh, seekers, you ought t’have been there
6. Oh, mothers, you ought
7. Oh, children, you ought,

Written as a spiritual by Charles Wesley in the 18th century, this song was sung at religious camp meetings as part of the Second Great Awakening. In the 19th and early 20th century, the song was mostly popular among African-Americans.

“Roll, Jordan, Roll” reflects the Biblical story of Joshua and the Israelites crossing the River Jordan into the Promised Land of Israel. Black slaves during the Civil War felt similarly as many of them sought refuge in their promise land, the free North where slavery was outlawed. Similar to the Israelites, slaves had to cross the Mississippi or Ohio Rivers to cross into the North. In James Cone’s book, Black Theology and Black Power, he suggests that referencing the River Jordan not only expressed freedom, but death – a death that was seen as a liberation from the harsh realities of slave life.

During the Civil War, spirituals were considered to be “code songs,” songs that contain lyrics referencing the Underground Railroad as a way to escape slavery. Songs used biblical imagery and the expression of desire to be free from bondage in the lyrics contain codes to help slaves find a way to escape to the slave-free North. The slave master however has no grasp of its interpretation. Given its popularity, the genre of spirituals influenced the creation of blues. After the Civil War, large numbers of rural blacks began moving to urban cities such as New Orleans. They developed the blues, a fusion of ragtime and spirituals.

During the war, the song was popular among black soldiers. However, with some modifications. Arthur Little, commander of the regimental band, attested that when they were passing through Vitryle-Francois in France, the black soldiers sang:

Roll, Jordan, roll – roll, Jordan, roll –
Soldier, you’ll be called on
To shake that thing you’re sittin’ on,
There’s a battle being fought in the Argonne,
Roll, Jordan, roll
Pray for forgiveness, Pray for forgiveness –
Pray for forgiveness –
That’s all a poor black sinner can do

In France, black regiments were under the French command. African-American spirituals were used to console recuperating French and later American soldiers returning from the front. The French welcomed spirituals as a way to express sentimentalism and hope.

These songs evoke spiritual meaning to the soldiers. Originally used in religious camp meetings and popularized later on by slaves, spirituals functioned as a common ground for both social classes and as a social commentary for the people singing the song.

Nelson, Peter. A More Unbending Battle: The Harlem Hellfighters' Struggle for Freedom in WWI and Equality at Home. New York: Basic Civitas, 2009. 2009. Accessed September 27, 2018.

http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/4076

Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home.

1. I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?
Coming for to carry me home,
A band of angels coming after me
Coming for to carry me home.

2. If you get there before I do,
Coming for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I’m coming too,
Coming for to carry me home.

3. The brightest day that ever I saw,
Coming for to carry me home,
When Jesus washed my sins away,
Coming for to carry me home.

4. I’m sometimes up and sometimes down,
Coming for to carry me home,
But still my soul feels heavhly bound,
Coming for to carry me home.

Another spiritual from the Civil War era, “Sweet Low, Sweet Chariot” was considered a code song and a favorite of Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist, who helped many slaves escape slavery.

Examining sermons by African-American preachers given during the turn of the 20th century, three types of transportation were mentioned to express freedom: the gospel train, the gospel ship, and the gospel chariot. Since chariots or horse travel were mainly used by white people during the Civil War and even during World War I, the mere mention of chariot in the context of a spiritual, which was popularized by slaves, creates an interesting contradiction of themes. Simply, how will the lowest social class be able to ride in the highest social form of transportation? In the context of military organization, it is not too far to think that many privates, to whom the Army Songbook was intended, would have had the ambition to achieve a higher rank.

However, there is an underlying ironic message in verse 1.

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?
Coming for to carry me home,
A band of angels coming after me
Coming for to carry me home.

 As mentioned in the previous song, the mention of Jordan expresses both death and homecoming. Verse 1 seems to express death rather than an ambition to achieve a higher rank.  This song may have had this dual feeling of returning home to their families as well as dying in battle with “a band of angels coming after me, coming for to carry me home.”

 Since 1988, this song has been the favorite of English rugby fans. 

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder1968

1. Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss within the cup,
And I'll not ask for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.

2. I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honoring thee
As giving it a hope, that there
It could not withered be.
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent'st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee.

The first love song in the songbook, “Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes” was a popular English song written by Ben Jonson in 1616 as a poem, “Song to Celia.”

This song was popular during the war. Indeed, the harpist Melville Clark recalls that President Wilson, who was an avid singer oftentimes asked Clark to play this song; “soon the president began to sing in a clear, lyric tenor voice.”

 Presidential Praise: Our Presidents and Their Hymns By C. Edward Spann, Michael Edward Williams

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder11787

1. Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never bro’t to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?

(Refrain)
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne;
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne

2. We twa ha’esported I’ the burn
Frae mornin’ sun tille dine,
But seas between us braid ha’e reared,
Sin auld lang syne.
(Refrain)

3. And here’s a hand my trusty frien,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine;
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

“Auld Lang Syne” is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to a traditional folk song. Well known especially in the English-speaking world, it has traditionally been associated with New Year’s Eve, funerals, and occasions that evoke farewell or symbolize endings and new beginnings.

To illustrate the international popularity of the song, a letter from Sir Edward Hulse of the Scots Guards remembers how the British and German soldiers joined together to sing "Good King Wenceslas," "The Tommies Song," "Annie Laurie," and "Auld Lang Syne" during the Christmas Day Truce of 1914. Even before the war, the song was popular enough for George M. Cohan, the composer of “Over There,” to quote the melody of the first lines of “Auld Lang Syne” in the second to the last line of the chorus of “You’re a Grand Old Flag” in 1906 for his stage musical “George Washington, Jr.”

 Given its Scottish origins, this song would have appealed to Scottish-American soldiers. In the context of the war, the song would also have given the sense of hope to all the soldiers with its association of ending the war and the beginning of a new life when they return home.

One doesn't do tantrums and tiaras – Telegraph". London: Telegraph.co.uk.                https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-25402099

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder7745

1. Maxwelton's braes are bonnie,
Where early fa's the dew,
And it’s there that Annie Laurie
Gave me her promise true.
Gave me her promise true -
Which ne'er forgot will be,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doon and dee.

2. Her brow is like the snow-drift,
Her neck is like the swan,
Her face it is the fairest,
That 'er the sun shone on.
That 'er the sun shone on -
And dark blue is her e'e,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doon and dee.

Based on a poem by William Douglas, this old Scottish song is also known as Maxwelton Braes. In 1883, John Philip Sousa remarked that “Annie Laurie" was one of the most beautiful folk songs. He was inspired to write a march based on it. Unfortunately, Sousa’s piece was soon forgotten.

Like “Auld Lang Syne,” Annie Laurie was an international favorite. Private William Quinton of the British Army recounts the Christmas Truce:

We could see what looked like very small coloured lights. What was this? Was it some prearranged signal and the forerunner of an attack? We were very suspicious, when something even stranger happened. The Germans were actually singing! Not very loud, but there was no mistaking it. Suddenly, across the snow-clad No Man’s Land, a strong clear voice rang out, singing the opening lines of “Annie Laurie." It was sung in perfect English and we were spellbound. To us it seemed that the war had suddenly stopped! Stopped to listen to this song from one of the enemy.

American composers, J. Will Callahan and F. Henri Klickmann released “They All Sang ‘Annie Laurie’ (the song That Reaches Ev’ry Heart)” in 1915.

Paul E. Bierley, The Works of John Philip Sousa (Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1984), 43.       Hart, Peter. Fire and Movement:The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder5563

1. By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

Chorus:
O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland a'fore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

2. 'Twas there that we parted, in yon shady glen,
On the steep, steep side o' Ben Lomond,
Where in purple hue, the hieland hills we view,
And the moon coming out in the gloaming.
Chorus

3. The wee birdies sing and the wildflowers spring,
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping.
But the broken heart it kens nae second spring again,
Tho’ the waefu’ may cease frae their greetin’.
Chorus

The origins of this Scottish song are ambiguous and there is no definitive interpretation of this song. The lyrics clearly show that the song deals with separation or death. There is a common misinterpretation that this song portrays the unfortunate separation of two lovers. Rather, this song was written as a lament responding to the loss of the Jacobite rebels after the Battle of Culloden. During the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, captured rebels were brought to London to be executed after a show trial. Their heads were set upon pikes and exhibited on a procession back home to Scotland. The procession was on the “high road” while relatives and friends who accompanied the executed to London returned back to Scotland along the “low road,” the ordinary road travelled by commoners. Soldiers serving in the trenches would have easily related to the hope of homecoming this song intends to convey as well as the underlying theme of despairing about death.

Leslie Howard interview https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4766584

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder0373

Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled!
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led!
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory!
Now’s the day and now’s the hour,
See the front of battle hour!
See approach Edward’s pow’r,
Chains and slavery!

Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward’s grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let him turn and flee!
Wha for Scotland’s king and law,
Freedom’s sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or freeman fa’,
Let him follow me!

By oppression’s woes and pain!
By our sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!
Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in ev’ry foe!
Liberty’s in ev’ry blow!
Let us do, or die!

“Scots Wha Hae” was written by Robert Burns in 1793 based on a speech given by Robert Bruce before the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 that called the Scots to fight against King Edward II of England.

 During the war, this song was “seen to be supporting, not necessarily the Scots in the war, but the British war effort,” says Dr. David Goldie, an expert in Robert Burns’ influence on World War I and a senior lecturer at Strathclyde University. Goldie further says “People were able to use the sentiments of the Battle of Bannockburn, a battle in which the Scots had fought the English and actually turn it on its head and used it as a way of suggesting that if people could harness this patriotic spirit for the British cause then all would be well.” Burns’ influence on World War I could also be seen in British recruitment posters from 1915 that often quote his poems. In an effort to consolidate the Allied effort, this song was a rallying cry for the Allies to fight as a single unit, not only for the Scottish soldiers.

From the social perspective, Goldie extends Burns’ influence to the civilian population saying, "Scots Wha Hae" was both a Scottish patriotic and a patriotic hymn to the working man and the independence of the working man but it could also be seen to represent the independent spirit that Britain was showing against Germany.” 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-30904019)

1. Who would not fight for freedom?
Who would not draw the sword?
Who would not up and rally
At the great Republic’s word?
Italy’s fair plains are ravaged,
Venice threatened by Hun
Quickly let us cross the ocean
Ere the cruel deed is done.

Chorus
Who would not fight for freedom?
Who would not draw the sword?
Who would not up and rally
At the great Republic’s word?

2. Who would not fight for Belgium?
Who would not fight for France?
Who would not stand with England?
To repel the foe’s advance?
We have heard their women calling
For our help across the sea,
We have heard their weeping children;
Come and fight to set them free!

Chorus

3. Who would not fight the Prussian?
What man would be a slave?
Up, then, let ev’ry freeman
Fight, his country’s life to save,
Ev’ry man whose hear is loyal,
Ev’ry man of courage tried,
Let him heed his country’s summons,
Let him stand on Freedom’s side.

Chorus

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder12502

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,
Were to change by tomorrow, and flee from my arms
Like fairy gifts, fading away!
Thou wouldst still be adored as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will;
And, around the dear ruin, each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still!

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervor and faith of a love can be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear!
No, the heart that has truly loved, never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close;
As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets,
The same look which she turned when he rose!

A popular song written by Thomas Moore in 1808 using a traditional Irish air, this is a selection from his book “Irish Melodies” that focuses on unconditional love. The lyrics describes that the love of the speaker for someone will continue despite aging and even after death.

Moore’s first words, “Believe me,” asks the reader for trust and the first four lines set the scene. The lyrics imply that the subject spoken of is very beautiful, but the speaker understands that beauty could “flee” from his arms. He demonstrates the depth of his love as being more substantial than the visible charms of the subject. Words such as “fairy gifts” set the imagery of this song as magical – a love that transcends boundaries, thus having no regard for physical elements that might interfere with the relationship of the speaker and the subject.

The second set of four lines is a direct response to the first verse and sets up a hypothetical situation that even though “thy loveliness fade as it will,” the speaker’s love centers not on beauty. Line 13 in the second verse seems to be the climax and the comma after “No” as well as the leap of a perfect 5th interval dispels any doubts that the reader may have had in the past. The speaker argues “The heart that has truly loved, never forgets” and reiterates his love for his beloved.

The lyrics of this song would have meant multiple things to the soldier in the trenches. Away from his family and country, the disgruntled soldier may have viewed the beloved in this song as his love for America despite the political ugliness that tainted the country. Given that the army often had trouble keeping American soldiers away from brothel houses, another possible interpretation could be that this song may have encouraged soldiers to remain faithful to their wives and sweethearts they left back home.

http://courses.wcupa.edu/fletcher/britlitweb/smcelroya.htm

http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/2599

1. Men of Harlech! in the hollow
Do you hear, like rushing billow,
Wave on wave that surging follow,
Battles distant sound?
‘Tis the tramp Saxon foemen, Saxon spearmen, Saxon bowmen,
Be they knights, or hinds or yeomen,
They shall bite the ground!
Loose the folds asunder,
Flag we conquer under!
The placid skies that hear our cries
Shall launch their bolts in thunder!
Onward! ‘tis our country needs us!
He is bravest, he who leads us!
Honor’s self now proudly heads us!
Freedom, God and Right!

2. Men of Harlech! honor calls us
No proud Saxon e’er appals us!
On we march what e’er befalls us
Never shall we fly!
Tho’ our mothers may be weeping,
Tho’ our sisters may be keeping
Watch for some who now are sleeping
On the battle field!
Forward, lightly bounding,
Hear the trumpet sounding,
Forward, ever backward never,
This proud foe astounding.
Fight for father, sister, mother,
Each is bound to each as brother,
With this faith in one another
We will win or die!

“Men of Harlech” is a Welsh military march that describes the seven-year siege of Harlech Castle in the 15th century. The tune is widely used as a regimental march in the British Army and Commonwealth. While being associated with Wales, the tune is performed differently throughout the regiments. In the Welsh Guards, the tune is played as a slow march, the Royal Welsh use it as a quick march, and the Royal Canadian Hussars stationed in Montreal, Canada uses it as a regular march.

Apparently, the song was popular during World War I. During the Second Christmas Truce in 1915, British Private Robert Keating wrote in his diary:

"Here we were Welsh and Scots all clustered around the burning brazier which was placed on the outer parapet. The Germans were sending up star lights and singing - they stopped, so we cheered them and we began singing Land of Hope and Glory and Men or Harlech... we stopped and they cheered us. So we went on till the early hours..."

The patriotic lyrics clearly call for a consolidated effort to “Fight for father, sister, mother” and that “Each is bound to each as brother.” Simply remembering their history, the Welsh would have easily remembered their resistance to the Normans and their defiance at Harlech. These events are similar to the plight of Belgium – the reason Britain entered the war. Belgium, a small country like Wales, is now defenseless against the aggression from its powerful, bullying neighbor, Germany. Recalling their fight for independence from Great Britain, Americans would have seen themselves similarly in this situation and have sympathy for the Belgian cause.