Many familiar tunes we have all heard have their origins in some of the strangest places, and even stranger is the uses they have today.
Take Amazing Grace, the music the words are sung to is a very old Irish or Scot bagpipe tune, the words were written in 1772 by a slave in England.
And, if you are curious as to why the song is played at military funerals, or the funerals of fallen firefighters and police officers, it is very simple.
Early in United States history, the majority of our firefighters, policemen, and soldiers were from Scotland and Ireland, a tradition that still holds true in many of our northeastern states.
Oh Shenandoah, believe it or not dealt with the life of an indentured servant, usually a period of seven years.
During the civil war, southern soldiers from the region took to singing the song as a way to remember home.
Oh, and "when johnny comes marching home" was started in the south, in the early part of the war of northern aggression, when the rebs were kicking yankee butt, i.e both bull runs, fredricksburgh, and other places.
There is Gary Owen, the air of the 7th Cav (Custer's Outfit) which is an old irish drinking song. Funny thing is that one of the versions deals with the dance of gary owen, referring to a man being hung. Yet the song is a favorite among the military, as well as some flag and drill teams in high school and college.
As a regimental air, it began with the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers, who were garrisoned in Limerick and was played throughout the Napoleonic War, becoming the regimental march of the 18th Foot (The Royal Irish Regiment.)
But there is one piece of music that few will know, except for the British fubarians. It is March of the Men of Harlech, the regimental march of the The South Wales Borderers, aka the 24th foot.
They epitomized British Military Honor at two places, one Isandhlwana, the other Rourke's Drift.
To be quite honest in referencing this particular unit, and the only reason I have is that, in my humble opinion, they pretty much behaved like Texans.
At Isandhlwana, they lost 540 dead, while at Rourke's Drift, one company of the 24th beat off repeated attacks by 4 to five thousand zulu warriors.
Any way you look at it, this is something to be proud of.
