Talk:When the Saints Go Marching In

Consolidation
I have consolidated as many varients of the title as I could find, redirecting the others here. I then rewrote the article using information gleaned from them all and adding substantial new work of my own. B00P 08:14, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

And Bo Weevil Jackson...
...in 1926. Stephan KŒNIG 01:10, 26 February 2006 (UTC)


 * And Bo Weevil Jackson what? Please expand. B00P 06:17, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Template
removed, contains same functionality


 * I disagree with this. The importance and topic coverage of an article relating to the Beatles and relating to songs in general may be very different. (For example if this article left out all mention of the Beatles, it would be be poor for that project, but still a fairly good article about the song in general.) As long as this is not going to be a Beatles related only article, I think both projects header should be here-- as is done with a number of other articles relevent to more than one project. -- Infrogmation 16:41, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * It's a technical statement and so is 100% true :) The Beatles template with song=yes displays the text "This article is also within the scope of WikiProject Songs, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to songs on Wikipedia." and places this article in the categories Category:WikiProject Songs articles, Category:B-Class song articles and Category:Articles in need of Song Infoboxes. That said, it's not meant to be controversial and as this article isn't about specifically a Beatles song by all means turn the feature off. Just remove song=yes and hey presto :) Pretty cool stuff if I say so myself! --kingboyk 16:51, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * P.S. With regards to importance, the Songs WikiProject don't currently assess for importance. However, WPBeatles has a song-importance parameter by which the importance to the Songs WikiProject can be assessed seperately from the importance to the Beatles Project, should the former wish to start assessing importance. --kingboyk 16:53, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

I do not agree with this song being placed only under the Beatles banner as it is not primarily known as a Beatles song. This isn't a "She Loves You" situation. 23skidoo 18:00, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * It's got nothing to do with ownership, only scope. But, anyway, with pleasure I'll change it back. --kingboyk 18:04, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I never saw it as an ownership question myself. It was more a case of it being a bit confusing. I think this particular usage of the Beatles project banner (with song "yes") should be reserved for songs either written by or strongly associated with the Beatles. 23skidoo 18:22, 16 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I believe that 23skidoo is spot on correct. I have placed the "Song" Template above the "Beatles." It is certainly less jarring to see them in this order. -B00P 04:28, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

With the creation of the Performers of When the Saints Go Marching In page, and the transfer of the artists' templates there, the issue has become moot. B00P (talk) 07:06, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Origins?
{WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN Is an American Negro Spiritual and is the theme song for both the City of New Orleans and the football team, the Saints who were named for the City’s theme song. The practice of copyrighting songs which would have been considered folk or spiritual was ubiquitous in the 1800’s and into the early 1900’s. But Alan Lomax in “Folk Songs of North America”1960 places “Saints” in the Negro Spiritual section of his book. Page 449. “The backwoods whites, who owned few slaves, often brought them to their summer revival meetings, where the Negroes contributed to the singing and to the general excitement. This contemporary account of a camp meeting in frontier Alabama captures the irony inherent in this moment of human comedy. . .” Lomax then quotes an amusing episode from Johnson Hooper’s (1815 – 1862) “Simon Suggs Attends Camp Meeting”. Lomax goes on to write “The white camp meeting hymn, “The Old Ship of Zion”, crossed the race line on some such occasion. . .Negro Folk singers have used the melody to create a whole family of spirituals—“The Gospel Train”, “The Whole Round World”, “Way Beyond the Sun”, and, best known of all, “The Saints”.” Lomax includes the verse, “When the sun refuse to shine”. The song IS apocalyptic. Our church sang, “When the stars refuse to shine” The words refer to the biblical end of world concept when the stars will no longer be seen because the sun will fill the sky both day and night. Of course people will never live to see it because we will all be burned to a crisp long before the sun goes nova. Expanding to a red sun will kill all life upon the earth, boil away all water and set the volcanoes ablaze. The Saints will have marched on in by then. Isn’t it notable that those non-literate African shepherds got the order right, from the beginning ball of gas without form and void to the blazing fiery finish when the sun goes nova and wipes out the solar system and returns to a ball of gas without form and void. The ‘playmate’ concept is modern. The original (sic) words were “Oh once I had a brother, he was near and dear to my soul. But he did not love the Lord, so he shall not go!” Yes the Preservation Hall musicians’ sign changed from $1, $2, $5 in increments of $2, $5, $10 to $5, $10, $20 conforming to inflation.

And no the song did not originate in the Bahamas. ©9-11-2013 Roselyn Lionhart, New Orleans, LA 70172-0813}

There appears to be at least some evidence that the song originated in the Bahamas, for instance here - - I think this could be added to the article.

{This Negro Spiritual was sung in Alabama & Tennessee before the Civil War.}

I originally heard from people in my area that the writer of this song was Luther Presley and he was from just outside of Searcy in White County, Arkansas. Further investigation leads me to believe that this may be true. Here is an article originally published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette -- —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 162.40.177.30 (talk • contribs).


 * Thanks for the link. For all I know, Luther Presley may have "written" it in 1938 (meaning written it down), but it certainly existed before. For example it was recorded as a gospel number by the Paramount Jubilee Singers back in 1923.

{The Fisk Jubilee Singers first sang "THE SAINTE" as part of their repertoire of Spirituals in 1867!}

MP3 sample. Cheers, -- Infrogmation 21:44, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Origin: late 1890's. I have 1950's Dukes of Dixieland record liner notes which state the first documented accounts of hearing Oh When the Saints come from the late 1890's. I can quote that if you're interested. Furthermore, I found: When The Saints Go Marching In - 1896 (by Katherine E. Purvis & James M. Black) on popular music of the 1800s

A section on origins are needed. Fig (talk) 16:18, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

The explanation of the song's origins is a real mess the way it is written. The article says that the song is a "Belgian christian hymn" of "unknown origins" that "originated as an "American gospel hymn" that was written by Luther G. Presley & Virgil Oliver Stamps. Several contradictions in there. Jim C. (talk) 13:16, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Barbecue Bob
I think this song is far too ubiquitous to have every version mentioned, but blues artist Barbecue Bob did a version of the song (would have been 1927-28) that had some other lyrics. MDuchek (talk) 18:53, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Spinoffs
Back when I consolidated this article (see above), one feature was out of proportion to the rest. So many athletic teams use the song that merely naming them threatened to overwhelm the article. It seemed a good idea to create a separate page, When The Saints Go Marching In in sport, and move the entries there. By organising the teams by categories, fixing a standard layout for entries, and supplying links to the teams themselves, the new article made it easy for fans to include their favorite sides. They have done so, and the page is doing quite well, thank you.

It is now time to repeat the process. The removal of the sports entries to their own page granted space for the expansion of this article, and contributors have improved it beyond what was originally here. However, one type of contribution is problematic. So many artists have performed the song that, again, just listing them takes up too much space. Additionally, merely mentioning that singer X has recorded it, or that it plays when one scores on pinball machine Y, can for this article only be considered Trivia. Therefore, I have created a new article, Performers of When the Saints Go Marching In, and transferred such information there. On that page such entries will be valuable contributions. Further, contributors will not feel constrained to limit themselves to the bare mention of particular performances, but will be free to expand on them.

It is now necessary to determine the proper place to draw the line in this article regarding artists. As Louis Armstrong was the one most responsible for bringing the song to full public consciouness, he belongs here. Anyone before him is, also, part of the historical development, and remains. Later artists may be considered as "covering" Armstrong, and should be noted on the new page. The exceptions are Fats Domino and Bill Haley, who get brief mentions here (and longer ones there), for transforming it to a rock-and-roll format.

Some Wikiproject announcements and categories have been shifted to the new article, where they make more sense. B00P (talk) 21:59, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

When the Saints ARE Marching vs. When the Saints GO Marching
I am removing the following line "The song is a slight modification (in 1927) of the similarly titled song "When the Saints are Marching In" from 1896 by Katharine Purvis (lyrics) and James Milton Black (music).", for although the two songs have similar names, they do not have similar music or lyrics. There is good information about this at NetHymnal.org. —Preceding unsigned comment added by LadyIslay (talk • contribs) 06:15, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Composition
Regarding the song's composition, the website of the Southern Gospel Music Association (SGMA) claims that harp (i.e. shaped note) composer V. O. Stamps wrote the music and Luther G. Presley wrote the lyrics.

Whether this is true or not, non-identification of the song's authors is a major shortcoming of the main article.76.247.164.135 (talk) 19:14, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

I want to be in that number
What's the meaning of "Lord, I want to be in that number"? I guess it's something like "when the saints are marching in, I want to be part of the event"/"join them" but I don't really understand the "number" part and can't find the "wanting to be in that number" as a phrase anywhere else. Joepnl (talk) 01:27, 13 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Remember this song started its life as a spiritual. If you read Isaiah 35:8-10 you will see it talks of the joy of the redeemed as they walk on the Holy Highway and enter Zion at the start of the Millennial reign of Christ - and you will know why you "want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in." Here are the verses :" And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way, wicked fools will not go about on it....But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."

NHawke (talk) 21:28, 9 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the info, though I still don't really understand what it means to "be in a number". For a more worldly example, could you make a song "when the new IPad is coming out, and the lines are forming, I want to be in that number"? Would you be referring to this song using a special (archaic?) way to say "I want to join them" or does it just mean "I want to join them"? Joepnl (talk) 00:10, 11 July 2011 (UTC)


 * From [], explanation #8: A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show. I think that tells all. 85.217.20.33 (talk) 19:38, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

As you have inferred, Joepnl, "that number" has a very specific meaning. As the article's section had already explained, the verses of the song are recounting events told in the Book of Revelations, with eclipses of the Sun and Moon, etc. The "number" given in Revelations is the 144 thousand people who were "sealed" and "redeemed from the earth". The book lists where these 144 thousand come from, with 12 thousand from each of the Tribes of Israel (12 x 12 = 144). I've just added this info to the article, including a link to the article on 144,000. It's interesting to note that the Bible does not refer to this group as saints, but if out of all the billions of people alive on the planet only 144 thousand are redeemed (that's roughly 0.2% of one percent!) then one might conclude that the author of the lyrics is making a safe assumption.--Tdadamemd (talk) 19:43, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Removed specific Jehovas Witness explanation of "saints" as strict 144000. The common religious interpretation of the term "saints" is either an especially holy member of heaven or any general resident; using the JW interpretation (and explaining it here) doesn't really make sense, as A) there's no evidence presented that the original author meant the song in the JW sense, B) the JW interpretation of the passage referring to 144,000 as the total of saints in heaven represents a fringe minority of general christian interpretation, and C) as Tdadamemd noted, the JW bible doesn't refer to these people as "saints" at all, so applying JW theology to the term seems particularly inappropriate.--71.63.21.14 (talk) 15:31, 1 October 2015 (UTC)

Naval Academy
While they had many real fight songs, this was used by the Naval Academy (and probably other colleges as well) as yet another song played at football games in the 1950s. It was a "crowd pleaser" at the time and got quite a rise out of everyone. Student7 (talk) 19:42, 1 November 2010 (UTC)


 * See though this seems to be a "Navy Band" and not an/the Academy one. Student7 (talk) 23:47, 9 July 2011 (UTC)