Just to be Jingoist, but that song and bagpipes always gets me fired up to stomp someone.

If I ever heard that song ON bagpipes you can just stand by.

Does anybody know how many women are in the Army chorus? I've always like that song with more sopranos in the chorus.

--|PW|--

At the website, scroll down and pay particular attention to the 2nd picture. Nothing more to be said.

Simply a tear jerker.

I used to insist to people that the "Battle Hymn" should be our national anthem. But not anymore - it is too beautiful and inspirational to be watered down with too-regular use.

I don't quite understand Ace of Spades subheading on his site that Cassio linked to..."Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands and hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats." a quotation ( by controversial and slightly anti-semitic) H. L Mencken.

Anyway, lets hope Pope Benedict who has been called "God's rottweiler" and formerly the '"panzer cardinal" didn't feel so inspired by the martial music to break out his old Hitler youth uniform out from the back of his closest, in place of his familiar white tunic.

It's not a complete day until some lefty spews hate. Mission accomplished. ww

Crickmore, I'm going to presume you're ignorant of the facts from Benedict's youth -- that enrollment in the Hitler Youth was mandatory and automatic, and that young Herr Ratzinger deserted shortly after being drafted into the Wehrmacht, and that desertion in a time of war was an automatic death sentence.

The ferociously anti-Nazi Pope John Paul II made Benedict his right-hand man, and pretty much every major Jewish organization -- when asked -- said they have absolutely no problem with the former Herr Ratzinger and his background, growing up under Nazi rule.

Nor do I, nor should any person with the least bit of common sense and reason and decency.

I thought that included you, Crick. Was I mistaken?

J.

Nice to see the Knights of Columbus Color Corps right out in front.

Crickmore, as usual, you never miss a chance to miss a chance to show some class.

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Dsgstng.
you are disgusitng

Things will be better when you get your enemy life wasted dr lava, hopefully by a US soldier.

horrible quality audio and video, yet still inspiring.

And for all you derisive turds, this wasn't mean for you.

dr lava, you don't get "it". The fact of the matter is that you will NEVER get "it".

More than likely you would be much happier relocated to France where the money spent always counts the most!

No Jay.. I knew was making something of a bad joke. My apology but sharp of you to catch me out. I realized that 85 to 90% of German youths were coerced into joining the Hitler youth and that Ratzinger was unenthusistic and only fourteen years at the time. I have no problem with that.

Though he has been a little more liberal as a Pope than his critics expected, I would still question his fairly strong armed attempts to to cover up the priest pedophilia scandals when he was head of the Doctrine of the Faith Papal agency.

This type of behavor (including the cover-up and enabling ) is extremely dispicable and and far more misdirected or inappropriate than a few lines taken from Reverend Wright sermons. And by the way, I don't think Wright's Obama's ties would have laid a glove on Giuliani's close relationship to Monsignor Alan Placa if really explored. Would you not agree? And it hardly made a ripple with the GOP voters in the nomination battle.

This is well off topic, but this why I think of conservative anger about American values can be alot of humbug. Democrats have their own humbug too, but Conservatives often try to be more pious than they are really are. Bush said this week when he looked into Pope Benedict's eyes he saw God. Somehow, I think this is more a personal statement about Bush than Pope Benedict.

Incidentally, it goes without saying, the Battle Hymm of the Republic is a great hymm and also, has its own great symbolic civil war history and origins, no argument there.

Steve, if you wanna go after the Church over the pedophile scandel, I'm right there with ya. Hell, I'm well ahead of you -- I caught a bunch of shit when I pointed out that, at one point, almost two-thirds of the American bishops had either been accused of pedophilia or had covered up for some of them, and I didn't blink. I'm still pissed that Cardinal Bernard Law, instead of being indicted and sent to prison, got a promotion to Rome and played a big role in John Paul II's funeral.

But if you start off with something as asinine and fuckwitted and so easily dismissable as the current Pope and his very unwilling and ver brief association with Nazism, you do far more damage to your argument than any critic could do.

Bad, bad tactic, Steve. It's not like shooting yourself in the foot. It's aiming a bit higher.

J.

Cassy, thanks for linking that!

And I agree that the video quality SUCKS but what are you gonna do. I wish it was better but it's the music that matters most.

Also, Dr. Lava, you're invited over to our place where we will properly disabuse you of the notion that you know your ass from a hole in the ground.

http://thewickedpinto.wordpress.com/

Ditto on what Rosetta said. We don't do a lot of serious posts at The Hostages, so it's nice that this got noticed.

And, we haven't had a good game of kick-the-troll in quite a while.

Oh, and howdy, Jay.

Just awful, transmogrifying a marching song into a symphonic waltz. Very inappropriate as is the coro vibrato.
This version is more correct:

http://www.authentichistory.com/civilwar/sounds/19170000c_Battle_Hymn_of_the_Republic-Reinald_Werrenrath.html

Note the walking tempo. Even the best martial pop songs employ the walking tempo. It gives you somewhere to put your left foot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUsePoATbrU&feature=related

Pennywit, there are no women in the US Army Chorus "Pershing's Own". The song is great with sopranos but it's something different this way. It's titled the way it is because it IS a Battle Hymn. Done like this, I find it amazingly powerful.

To amend my previous comment, it's the US Army Band as a whole, of which the chorus is a part, that is known as "Pershing's Own".

bryanD

From your own link it says the tune was originally a campfire spiritual. I don't know about your, but I'm not usually marching around a campfire while singing.

I don't find it "disgusting" (???!!!) at all that this cover is more spiritual than the oft performed "march".

The song is a nice bit of Americana in a quaint, Old Testament kind of way but hardly a tear jerker. I just can't get behind the idea that whatever God is, it has any relationship to, or affect on patriotism. The sooner we cough that notion out of our collective gullet, the more healthy a nation we will be, and the world will no doubt be a little safer as well. Keep God in your hearts, your life, (but just yours), or wherever it fits, but stop flattering yourselves that he's on your side.

The opening brass section seems a bit Monty Python-ish.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Hey Crickmore, I wonder if Robert Byrd still has his old KKK bedsheets hanging in his closet. Now, I don't suppose he was coerced into wearing them, do you?