116. The Battle Hymn of the Republic

I know. Weird, right?

In fact, it's not just this one, it's pretty much any song that was originated for troops to sing as they marched to battle. So Onward Christian Soldiers is a favourite, and I'm even quite fond of the Marseillaise.

But the great thing about the Battle Hymn of the Republic, or Glory, Glory, Hallelujah as others will know it - is that it has many incarnations. So if you don't like the Christian element of it you can sing the original - John Brown's Body - and mourn that particular abolitionist's mouldery grave forever.

I struggle with the God bits, but there is something undeniably powerful about many of the lyrics. Take this one,

'As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free'

Now, you can quibble with the first part (and I do), but surely not with the second. It doesn't surprise me that it was the song of the Civil War and is still sung by American military choirs now - it has a rabble-rousing, hair-raising quality to it that does make the heart beat faster and, who knows, might give weary troops the strength they need to face the next bloody skirmish. I don't know, I'm not a soldier. But I was once taught to sing it by an American teacher visiting my school - and when we sang it for a crowd (and there were maybe 40 in the choir) it was an amazing, powerful, thing.

It's good for cleaning. It's good for the last half mile of a longish run. It's good for the last 20 miles of a long car journey when you're about to fall asleep. It's good when you're on your way to the dentist. If you're on your way to battle - let me know how it goes.