Talk:Battle Hymn of the Republic

Colorado Buffaloes
The athletic teams of the University of Colorado at Boulder have several "fight songs," one of which is "Glory Colorado," using the same tune as the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Please do not confuse the American football team at the University of Colorado with the Colorado Rapids professional soccer team. Although the word "football" is applied to both, they are vastly different phenomena. Paul (talk) 03:59, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Hanging Jefferson Davis
I think during the Civil War the Union troops would sing: But I cannot document it, and at any rate Mr. Davis was not hanged. Das Baz, aka Erudil 22:17, 28 September 2011 (UTC)
 * "Oh, we're gonna hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree..."

The apples were sour just so the words would fit the music of the Battle Hymn. Das Baz, aka Erudil 22:17, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

instrumental version with trumpets
Do you know how plays the instrumental version of that song? It was used in the KLTJ ID back in the 90's. It sounds like the version from the album Ferrante & Teicher - Spirit Of 176, accept it has trumpets. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.89.174.192 (talk) 03:16, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

"Balay ko sa langit"
Visayan, the language of this children's song, is not a "dialect" as the article said, but a subfamily of languages in the Philippines:
 * Native speakers of Visayan languages, especially Cebuano, Hiligaynon, and Waray-Waray not only refer to their language by their local name, but also by Bisaya or Binisaya, meaning Visayan language. This is misleading or may lead to confusion as different languages may be called Bisaya by their respective speakers despite their languages being mutually unintelligible. However, languages that are classified within the Visayan language family but spoken natively in places outside of the Visayas do not use the self-reference Bisaya or Binisaya. To speakers of Butuanon, Surigaonon, and Masbatenyo, the term Visaya usually refers to Cebuano.

--Thnidu (talk) 01:37, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Another spanish lyrics, sung in spanish churches
http://www.musica.com/letras.asp?letra=815283 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.214.94.216 (talk) 10:17, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Verse 5: ... Let us 'LIVE' to make men free?
It's more than curious and so perhaps "politically correct" that the authors of some versions, including the lyrics typed into this version, have found it necessary to change the lyrics written in 1862 by Julia Ward Howe. One need only click on the Atlantic Monthly image on this article to actually read and see that in the 5th Verse, Ms. Howe clearly wrote "As He died to make men Holy, let us DIE to make men free." Why folks seem to find it important to change her lyrics to "...let us LIVE to make men free" is beyond me. Her point, no doubt considering this was written just a few months after the beginning of the Civil War, was that the anti-slavery Union forces and sympathizers were willing to lay down their lives, to "DIE," to make other men free. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TheBirdsIView (talk • contribs) 10:41, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

===Agreed- significantly weakens the song, and flat out wrong to boot.

The article really should be changed to the correct lyric, with a note made somewhere that "live to make men free" is a popular, if insipid, variation. 68.48.45.165 (talk) 04:24, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

===Agreed, historical revisionism leading to banality. Please edit to "as he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free."

===Additional topic required "Lyrical Revisions" 75.149.80.46 (talk) 22:22, 30 April 2014 (UTC)


 * By the way, if people feel that they have to put out the alternative-less "let us die" out, why did they not put let us fight? Thus the hymn would still make sense.--2001:A61:260D:6E01:4CD6:D1C2:B079:6AD8 (talk) 17:53, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Consider that this is a woman writing for a certain purpose as dictated by the women of that age. Southern women recruitment also made the thought of death in battle a romantic one, until they started losing and became widows. "One Alabama schoolgirl spoke for many of her peers when she declared, “I would not marry a coward.” At balls and parties girls linked arms and sang, “I am Bound to be a Soldier’s Wife or Die an Old Maid.” One belle, upon hearing that her fiancé refused to enlist, sent her slave to deliver a package enclosing a note. The package contained a skirt and crinoline, and the note these terse words: “Wear these, or volunteer.” He volunteered." More importantly, “One looks at a man so differently when you think he may be killed tomorrow,” one South Carolina woman mused. “Men whom up to this time I had thought dull and commonplace … seemed charming.” The line reflects a rather unflattering side of the civil war where women's contributions included shaming men as cowards and romanticism of death. 2600:1700:F270:15D0:C07B:6200:EEF0:B85 (talk) 02:37, 21 June 2018 (UTC)

William Steffe's contribution
We're saying he wrote the music, but William Steffe says he "collected and edited a camp-meeting song with the traditional "Glory Hallelujah" refrain, in about 1856". That is, he fiddled with an existing tune. This makes him an arranger or an editor in my books, but not the "writer" of the music. -- Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  08:31, 25 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I updated the history section based on info from an excellent new source, a scholarly history of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the tune, and related texts: The Battle Hymn of the Republic: A Biography of the Song That Marches On by John Stauffer and Benjamin Soskis. Some of the book is available via Google Books.


 * This makes it clear the Steffe is neither the composer of the tune nor even the first pubisher (that happened in 1806 before Steffe was even born). It is clear that the tune was in use at that time, the early 1800s. Steffe's 1856 publication *might* be the first time the tune was laid out and published in music notation, but that and the fact that he is one of many who collected and published similar existing camp meeting and hymn tunes is his only possible notability in relation to the Glory Hallelujah tune.


 * I've updated the History section with this information and relevant references.Bhugh (talk) 20:25, 1 June 2014 (UTC)

Influence in churches and hymanls
One quite notable omission in the article is the song's cultural influence on Christian churches. The song is included in many Christian hymnals and sung in many Christian churches. This seems to have significantly impacted and increased in cultural influence and awareness and seems worthy of exploration or, at the very least, mention. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Turnerjazz (talk • contribs) 20:27, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Might also be worth mentioning that the blasphemous third verse is omitted from hymnals. 98.81.179.151 (talk) 02:41, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

Rhythm in score
There are several errors in the rhythm in the current version of the score in the article:

Current version
I think the following things are wrong:
 * The initial pick-up note on "Mine" should be a semi-quaver (sixteenth note).
 * The rhythm for "eyes have" should be dotted (i.e. long/short).
 * The rhythm for "he is" should be dotted, without an explicit rest.
 * The notes on "vintage" should be long/short, as elsewhere.
 * It is conventional to put a bar-line at the end.

This is supported by this version, although this has different pitches.

This gives the following version, which I will put in the article.

New version
I am also dubious about the pitches of some of the notes. However, there are probably several versions with minor differences. This version is not obviously wrong, so I won't change it without a good source. Ideally we should use a version from an old (out of copyright) hymn book, which we should cite. Verbcatcher (talk) 02:43, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

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Public Performances - consolidation?
The listing of public performances is a useful listing of many of the recordings and meaningful performances of the hymn. That said, there are three references under the section Influence, sub-section Popularity and widespread use that I think should be moved to appropriate places under public performances: the funeral services of Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, and perhaps? the September 11 memorial service.

Do these references fit better in Public Performances or where they currently exist in Popularity and widespread use? CountryMama27 (talk) 16:45, 1 September 2018 (UTC)

Merger discussion
Request received to merge articles: The Burning of the School into The Battle Hymn of the Republic; dated: December 2018. - Suddenblast (talk) 16:39, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

just wondering
Does this song have any relation at all to Lore, Lore, Lore (Im Wald, Im Grünen Walde)? Or vice versa? Some parts just sound so similar. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:6011:9600:52C0:929:CAE4:4F35:5FD0 (talk) 12:58, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Potential addition for "Other songs set to this tune" section?
Would it be relevant to include "The EDF Deploys!" and it's various localizations Earth Defense Force 4.1 and World Brothers? First time using Wikipedia outside of the Articles page but thought I'd mention it's absence, though I doubt I could contribute myself as I don't have the depth of source knowledge required to accurately say which versions and/or localizations of what games include it. Wisecrack34 (talk) 03:59, 18 February 2024 (UTC)


 * iirc Wastelanders 3 and various Fallout games also include variants that could be further looked into, apologies if I'm breaking typical local etiquette. Wisecrack34 (talk) 04:01, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

"Glory Hallelujah" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glory_Hallelujah&redirect=no Glory Hallelujah] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Jay 💬 14:52, 17 June 2024 (UTC)