"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (sometimes
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again")
is a popular song of the American Civil War that expressed
people's longing for the return of their friends and
relatives who were fighting in the war.
Some believe the tune is that of the Irish antiwar
song "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", presumed
to be the original on the basis of oral and textual
evidence, although no published version is known to
pre-date "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again"
[1]. However, expert James Fuld, author of the standard
text on popular music, The Book of World Famous Music,
states on page 640 of that volume that Donal O'Sullivan,
the Irish authority, has written the Library of Congress
that he does not consider the melody of "When
Johnny Comes Marching Home" as Irish in origin.
As stated, no printed music of Irish origin has been
discovered that predates American publication in September
of 1863 by Henry Tolman in Boston under the title
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home". Library
of Congress records do show a title "Johnny Fill
Up The Bowl" that was published in July of 1863
by John J. Daly that appears to contain the song's
melody.
The lyrics, written by Irish-American bandleader
Patrick Gilmore, and published under the pseudonym
'Louis Lambert', effectively reverse those of "Johnny
I Hardly Knew Ye", in which Johnny returns home
blind and crippled, to the woman he abandoned in order
to join the army. The "Johnny" so longed
for in the song is Patrick Gilmore's future brother
in-law a Union Light Artillery Captain named John
O'Rourke. The song was written by Patrick for his
sister Annie Gilmore as she longed for the safe return
of her Captain from the Civil War. |
