h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: John Brown's Body: The Battle Hymn of Snark - A87885887
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - U1590784

An apology to Bluebottle: I got the Isle of Wight in there, but I couldn't work in a Beatles reference.

However, you may find that this clarification of a song's origins proves, as I always say, that there's nothing new under the sun.

John Brown was the joker of the group..rather like another John in a famous Liverpool band! Anything to keep blue bear happy!

Oh, !

that is brilliant well done.

Thanks, Bob.

A pleasure

You can never have too many Beatles (I knew you could do it and sneak one in) and Isle of Wight references (although not that many people paid to attend the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, which is one of the reasons the 1971 Isle of Wight Act expressly forbade the gathering of more than 5,000 people on the Isle of Wight and outlawed any more festivals from taking place on the Isle of Wight ever – until 2002.)

In the UK I believe the commonest song to this tune is probably 'Peter Rabbit has a fly upon his nose' which is widely sung to babies and toddlers. The version I heard first was that old campfire classic, 'He jumped from fifty thousand feet without a parachute'

He jumped from fifty thousand feet without a parachute
He jumped from fifty thousand feet without a parachute
He jumped from fifty thousand feet without a parachute
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

Glory glory what a helluva way to die
When you're hangin' from your braces and you don't know how to fly
Glory glory what a helluva way to die
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

And so on.

<BB<

Just spent the morning doing an image full of snarkiness....then deleted it by mistake! Arghhh

What a catastrophe, FWR!

I like the rabbit with the fly on its nose. Mudcat and other sources have the parachute one. They insist the chorus is 'Gory, gory,' rather than 'Glory, glory', and that it comes from the Second World War.

Well done it really puts this song in context§

Perhaps a little more in the Afterlife section its popularity in WWII has hardly any mention.

I really didn't find that much about World War II. And I didn't want to overload the entry with too many modern 'John Brown' versions, since the main thrust of the story was its origin.

I mentioned the US air force version. Did you have anything particular in mind?

There are stories of the Rhine crossing of the British troops in the boats singing it with the orchestral accompaniment of the heavy machine guns

Ah, now I've never heard about this, probably due to not being British. I usually think of my dad and his buds (95th Infantry, attached to the British Second Army) crossing the Rhine. I suspect they were singing 'Old Dan Tucker', my dad's favourite guitar number. Or else that ubiquitous 1940s hit,'Pistol Packin' Mama'.

I have looked, and cannot find this story. Do you have a good source you can recommend? I can always slip in a footnote if I can find a good reference.

The men were a mixture of RASC and paratroops taking heavy fire from the far bank.
Veterans tale I shall try and find it.

We'd appreciate it. I'd like to hear this story.

From the Great War DG

The army corps commander had 100,000 men
The army corps commander had a 100,000 men
The army corps commander had a 100,000 men
But the Red Tabs went and frittered them all away
Glory glory alleluia,
Glory glory alleluia
Glory glory alleluia I
But the Red Tabs went and frittered them all away -
http://www.westernfrontassociation.com

Not nearly as bad as some of the ones I've seen, FWR.

All right, you terrible people. I can see that the military buffs are not going to let me have any peace until I include something about more modern wars.

SO: I've added one WHOLE paragraph about the two world wars, with some links, including a Youtube. Sung by paratroopers. And no, I will not throw in five more sets of lyrics, no matter how funny they are. This thing is long enough, have pity.

If, however, you find a really cool story about those troops crossing the Rhine, I will be glad to do a footnote on it.

During the crossing of the Rhine an RASC Captain was on a boat with his Sergent manning the heavy machine gun in the bow. Unfortunately this well liked Sergent was in an exposed position and has hit by enemy fire, the Captain chose to take the sergeants position and continued firing on the far bank.

The silence was oppressive so the song "John Brown’s body" started, all on board joined, the nearby boats joined in when they herd the tune.
There is nothing like a song with plenty of profanity to lift the spirit, the singing went on until thy reached the far bank, where they established a firm foothold.

And you found this where?

From a chap who was there the RASC Captain. His participation and location can be verified by http://en.ww2awards.com/person/4+++