Short version: Have we got a tab for “Marching Through Georgia”? I couldn’t find one. Itd be handy for a lesson too. Just a request. Reason below.
I visted Sydney (Australia) recently and spoke with my great uncle, who I’ve met a few times but never in his home town until now as we live about 2000kms apart. Hes still living in the family home, even though all of his sisters and brothers (including my grandfather) have long passed on. He was saying that he remembered his father playing a banjo during the summer nights when folks would come around, play violin and piano and sing together. He’s a bit of a hoarder and after some time found my great grandfather’s banjo in all the bits and bobs lying around, in not the best state. He wanted me to have the banjo, if I could make him a deal and come back on my next visit to play “Marching Through Georgia” like his daddy did when he was young. While sprightly, Uncle has got a tumor in his lung and is going through regular chemo so I’ve got some time but probably not all that much.
He was saying Steve Foster sang Marching through Georgia, but I can’t find any links there. If there are any other civil war tunes that people could recommend, I’ll take those suggestions too.
Thanks all,
Luke
PS: If you’re wondering what happened to the banjo, I couldn’t risk it via courier and couldn’t take it back on the plane. Plan is to get a luthier to have a look and get it shipshape before I head back down.
For other civil war songs you might want to try Soldiers Joy or Ashokan Farewell. I don’t think Ashokin Farewell is really civil war tune because it was written for a movie I think, but it definitely sounds like a great Civil War tune.
Another song suggestion: “The Girl I Left Behind me” and below is a link to that song. This version has singing, but I play it (mandolin) instrumental. If you open this video in YouTube, and click the down arrow to read the description below the video, there is a huge writeup on the historical significance of this song, where it originated(England/Ireland) and how it was eventually adapted into being played & sang during the Civil War.
It think this song first appeared during the period known as The Hundred Years’ War when England (Not Great Britain or the United Kingdom. I know you folks over the pond in the Colonies have a hard time with what to call us) was at war with France and has since been sung by most soldiers and sailors heading off to carry out the business of the English Crown. So by the time old Christopher stumbled on the New World that big chunk of real-estate we now know as America in 1492 every soldier and sailor across Europe was singing some version of it. It’s fair to assume it was sung by soldiers on both sides in the American Civil War which began in the spring of 1861 if my memory serves me. Also a great sentimental tune that slips nicely into a Hollywood Blockbuster. It’s easy to forget that history began long before Christopher Columbus got lost and found the Bahamas.
Doing a bit of research myself this morning I discovered that Christopher C didn’t discover America after all. Opps sorry to be the bearer of bad news folks!
According to the Royal Museums Greenwich England. Christopher C never set foot on US soil. Wow that’s a shocker for sure.
Explorer Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) is known for his 1492 ‘discovery’ of the New World of the Americas on board his ship Santa Maria.
In actual fact, Columbus did not discover North America. He was the first European to sight the Bahamas archipelago and then the island later named Hispaniola, now split into Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On his subsequent voyages he went farther south, to Central and South America. He never got close to what is now called the United States.
If you are shocked by this breaking news and want to know more. Click on the link below.
So I am left wondering who really discovered America.
Google tells me.
In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement . On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their *King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America.
Nova Scotia (1621) The first documented Scottish settlement in the Americas was of Nova Scotia in 1629. On 29 September 1621, the charter for the foundation of a colony was granted by *James VI of Scotland to Sir William Alexander. That’s the same *King James 1 of England.