The Army Goes Rolling Along

[Buffa1oso1di3r]

The United States Army Song:
http://bands.army.mil/docs/ArmySongCombined.mp3

Intro: March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free
Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory
We’re the Army and proud of our name
We’re the Army and proudly proclaim

Verse: First to fight for the right,
And to build the Nation’s might,
And The Army Goes Rolling Along
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting till the battle’s won,
And the Army Goes Rolling Along.

Refrain: Then it’s Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army’s on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong
For where e’er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.

Verse: Valley Forge, Custer’s ranks,
San Juan Hill and Patton’s tanks,
And the Army went rolling along
Minute men, from the start,
Always fighting from the heart,
And the Army keeps rolling along.
(refrain)

Verse: Men in rags, men who froze,
Still that Army met its foes,
And the Army went rolling along.
Faith in God, then we’re right,
And we’ll fight with all our might,
As the Army keeps rolling along.
(refrain)

HISTORY OF THE ARMY SONG:
http://bands.army.mil/music/soldierssong.asp

The Army Song got its beginnings during a difficult march across the Zambales Mountains in the Philippines. As a lieutenant leading a small detachment to select a route, Brig. Gen. Edmund L. "Snitz" Gruber overheard a section chief call to his drivers, "Come on! Keep them rolling!"

Gruber, an artillery officer whose relative, Franz, composed "Silent Night," was stationed with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, in the Philippines. In March 1908, about a year after Gruber overheard that section chief in the mountains, six young lieutenants - including William Bryden and Robert Danford - gathered in his thatch hut and decided they needed a song for the field artillery.

"A guitar was produced and tuned and - in what seemed to us a few moments - as if suddenly inspired, Snitz fingered the melody of the now-famous song," recalled Danford, who retired as a major general. Danford and Bryden helped complete the lyrics.

Gruber taught the song to officers of the 1st Battalion as they arrived at Fort Stotsenburg. Wrote Danford: "A few evenings later at the post reception for the new unit and adieu to the old, 'The Caisson Song' was given its first public rendition. Its popularity was instantaneous, and almost in no time all six of the regiments then composing the U.S. Field Artillery adopted it."

During the last days of World War I, senior artillery leaders wanted an official marching song. An artillery officer who did not know Gruber and thought "The Caisson Song" dated back to the Civil War, gave the piece to noted composer and bandmaster John Philip Sousa and asked him to fix it up.

Sousa incorporated Gruber's piece into his composition, which he titled, "The U.S. Field Artillery March" - a few beginning measures being his own and the balance from Gruber.

The resulting song became a blockbuster record during World War I, selling about 750,000 copies. Gruber heard of it and asked Sousa, "How about some money, since I wrote the song?" Embarrassed, the innocent Sousa made certain Gruber got his royalties.

In 1948, the Army conducted a nationwide contest to come up with its own official song. None of the five winners achieved any notable popularity. In 1952, the secretary of the Army appealed to the music industry for a composition. Composers submitted an avalanche of more than 800 songs.

But no submission sparkled enough to be accepted. So a soldier music adviser in the Adjutant General's office was asked to try his hand at it. As a result, H.W. Arberg adapted "The Caisson Song" to become the official U.S. Army song, "The Army Goes Rolling Along."

(Originally posted by CAPSmith)