Through the Eyes of the Songwriters Cindy Jantz April 22, 2003 ED 195

Through the Eyes of the Songwriters

Cindy Jantz

April 22, 2003

ED 195


What do people write songs about?•Things they have knowledge of

•Things they have experienced

•Things they believe

•Things that cause them strong emotion

Through the Eyes of the SongwritersClues to point of view

• Who appears to be speaking?

• Who is the writer speaking about?

• What is the event being discussed?

• Who is spoken of favorably?

• Who is spoken of unfavorably?

• What information is given or omitted?


What affects your point of view?

•What you know and don’t know

•You may not have all the facts

•What you believe •Who you think is right or wrong


Songs of the Civil War


“The Volunteers’ Song”


Onward! Onward! is the cry now,Treason stalks throughout the land;To guard our honor, each one try now,March together, heart and hand.


Though revolution, dark as night,Enshrouds the banner of the free,There are none so base that will not fightFor this great land of Liberty!


The traitors would the Union severOur fathers worked so hard to form;Yet we are for the Union ever,Through sunshine, peace or storm.


Then hear! oh hear! our country’s call,Raise our glorious banner high!Come rally! rally! one and all!To save the Union or to die!


Chorus:So let the Southerners

do as they will,We will fight for the Union still,Fight for the Union,Fight for the Union,We will fight for the Union still.


“That’s What’s the Matter” by Stephen Foster


We live in hard and stirring times,Too sad for mirth,

too rough for rhymes:For songs of peace

have lost their chimes;And that’s what’s the matter!


The men we heldas brothers trueHave turned into a rebel crew;And now we have To put them through;

And that’s what’s the matter!


Oh! Yes, we thought our neighbors true,

Indulged them as their mothers do;They stormed our

Red, White and Blue;And that’s what’s the matter!


We’ll never give up what we gain;For, now, we know we must maintainOur laws and rights

with might and mainAnd that’s what’s the matter!


We’ve heard of General Beauregard,And thought he’d fight us long and hardBut he has played out his last card;

And that’s what’s the matter!


So what’s the use to fret and pout?We soon will hear the people shoutSecession dodge is all played out!

And that’s what’s the matter.


Chorus:That’s what’s the matter,The rebels have to scatter;We’ll make them fleeBy land and sea;And that’s what’s the matter.


“The Retreat Of

60,000 Lincoln Troops”


T’was a clear and a beautiful day, And the sun was in the sky, And glistened with many a brilliant ray, On the host as it hurried by.


T’was McDowell who had the command, Who’d been ordered Manassas to take, He’d Sixty Thousand for his band, Lest the Rebels he’d underrate.


The grand army came up to Bull’s Run, They thought the Southerns had fled, They believed by the next day’s sun, To Richmond they’d be led.


But suddenly on their front and flank, The masked batteries opened their fire, They moved down rank after rank, And thousands fell in the mire.


Nine hours they fought in vain, For the Southerners did not flinch, And many a man in death was lain, For the Rebels contended to the very inch.


But a sudden panic seized their rear, Which t’is said the teamsters began. Soon the whole army was driven by fear, That to Washington quickly they ran.


They threw away their gun, That might encumber their flight, They never ceased to run, Till they’d reached Arlington Height.


Broadside Ballads•Set to a familiar tune

•Told the story of a current event

•Spread the news with the song

•Called “singing newspapers”

•Published or distributed freely

Through the Eyes of the Songwriters Credits:

• All songs and photographs are taken from the American Memory Collection and are used with the gracious permission of the Library of Congress.

• Pictures

• Slide 6 – musician 2nd Regular, US Cavalry

• Slide 8 – 1st Georgia Infantry

• Slide 9 – 1st District of Columbia Cavalry

• Slide 10 – 3rd Maryland Infantry

• Slide 11 – 38th Illinois Volunteer Infantry

• Slide 15 – soldier group

• Slide 18 – General Beauregard

• Slide 19 – General Burnside and his staff

• Slide 23 – General McDowell

• Slide 24 – Bull’s Run, Virginia

• Slide 25 – 1st New York Battery

• Slice 28 - 41st New York Infantry

Documents

Through the Eyes of the Songwriters Cindy Jantz April 22, 2003 ED 195