"The Army Goes Rolling Along" is the official song of the United States ArmyArmy Regulation 220-90
''Army Bands'', 14 December 2007, para 2-5f, g and is typically called "The Army Song". It is adapted from an earlier work titled the "

U.S. Field Artillery March The "U.S. Field Artillery March" is a patriotic military march of the United States Army written in 1917 by John Philip Sousa after an earlier work by Edmund L. Gruber. The refrain is the "Limbers and caissons (military), Caissons Go Rolli ...

History

The original version of this song, written in 1908 by

Edmund Gruber Edmund Louis "Snitz" Gruber (November 11, 1879 – May 30, 1941) was an artillery officer and general in the United States Army who also gained popularity as composer of military music. He served as Commandant of the Command and General Staff Co ...

, was titled "The

Caissons Caisson (French for "box") may refer to: * Caisson (Asian architecture), a spider web ceiling * Caisson (engineering), a sealed underwater structure * Caisson (lock gate), a gate for a dock or lock, constructed as a floating caisson * Caisson (pe ...

Go Rolling Along." Those lyrics differ from the current official version. Gruber's version was transformed into a march by John Philip Sousa in 1917 and renamed the "

." The United States Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard had adopted official songs, and the Army was eager to find one of its own. They conducted a contest in 1948 to find an official song, but no entry received much popular support. In 1952,

Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...

Frank Pace Frank Pace Jr. (July 5, 1912January 8, 1988) was the 3rd United States Secretary of the Army and a business executive. Biography Pace was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and attended The Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania. In 1933 he graduated ...

asked the music industry to submit songs; he received more than 800 entries. "The Army's Always There" by Sam H. Stept won, and an

Army band An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

performed it at President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inaugural parade on January 20, 1953. Many thought that the

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

was too similar to " I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts". The Army decided to use much of the melody from Sousa's "

" with new lyrics. Harold W. Arberg, a music advisor to the Adjutant General, submitted lyrics that the Army adopted. Secretary of the Army Wilber Marion Brucker dedicated the music on Veterans Day, November 11, 1956. The song is played at the conclusion of the most U.S. Army ceremonies, and all soldiers are expected to stand at attention and sing. When more than one service song is played, they are played in the order specified by Department of Defense directive: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard.

Lyrics

The following lyrics are to "The Army Goes Rolling Along." This is the current official version, dating to 1956. As of May 8, 2013, only the first verse, the chorus, and refrain are sung. Verse: :March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free :Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory :We're the Army and proud of our name :We're the Army and proudly proclaim First Chorus: :First to fight for the right, :And to build the Nation’s might, :And The Army Goes Rolling Along :Proud of all we have done, :Fighting 'til the battle’s won, :And the Army Goes Rolling Along. Refrain: :Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey! :The Army's on its way. :Count off the cadence loud and strong :For where e’er we go, :You will always know :That The Army Goes Rolling Along. Second Chorus: : Valley Forge, Custer's ranks, : San Juan Hill and Patton's tanks, :And the Army went rolling along :

Minutemen Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...

, from the start, :Always fighting from the heart, :And the Army keeps rolling along. :(''Refrain'') Third Chorus: :Men in rags, men who froze, :Still that Army met its foes, :And the Army went rolling along. :Faith in God, then we're right, :And we'll fight with all our might, :As the Army keeps rolling along. :(''Refrain'')

In popular culture

*The tune was used in 44 movies or television series from 1934 to 2011. * Robert A. Heinlein used the 1908 Caisson Song as the basis for "The Road Song of the Transport Cadets," the official song of the fictional United States Academy of Transport in his 1940 short story " The Roads Must Roll". However, characters in the story refer to the origin as both "Song of the Caissons" and the "field artillery song." * Hasbro used the tune for its G.I. Joe toyline during the 1960s with the words "G.I. Joe...G.I. Joe...fighting man from head to toe...on the land...on the sea...in the air." *In the 1960s, the

Hoover Company The Hoover Company is a home appliance company founded in Ohio, United States. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom; and, mostly in the 20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the Ho ...

used this tune for the promotion of their "Hoover Junior" vacuum cleaner with the lyrics "All the fluff, dust and grit. Hoover gets at every bit. For it beats as it sweeps as it cleans". *It was again used by the toy company for their Army Ant toys in the 80s. *In 1962, the song was parodied in '' The Jetsons'' Season 1, Episode 6, "The Good Little Scouts." It was the marching song of Elroy Jetson's space troop. *In '' The Muppet Show'' episode '' Juliet Prowse'', when Kermit asks the Muppet Glee Club to sing something, the Glee Club all sing a bunch of different songs in unison, and one frog sings ''The Army Goes Rolling Along''. *In 1979, the song was sung by Margaret Houlihan in '' M*A*S*H'' Season 7, Episode 16 (titled "The Price") while she was in the shower. It is also partially sung in Season 3 Episode 19 (titled "Aid Station") by

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

, Hawkeye Pierce, and

Max Klinger Max Klinger (18 February 1857 – 5 July 1920) was a German artist who produced significant work in painting, sculpture, prints and graphics, as well as writing a treatise articulating his ideas on art and the role of graphic arts and printmak ...

as they arrive back at their unit, '' M*A*S*H'' 4077th. In Season 6 Episode 16, Margaret loses her wedding ring, which is inscribed with "Over hill, over dale, our love will never fail," inspired by the original lyrics to "The Caisson Song." Hawkeye and BJ get a tinker to inscribe an identical ring, but the inscription is humorously misspelled as "Over hill, over dale, our love will ever fail." *The fight song of

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

is a sped-up version of the tune.North Carolina State University.
Retrieved on February 7, 2012. (See

NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college footb ...

.) *The Australian A-League Club Adelaide United FC uses the tune for their club song "United Is Rolling Along." *A version of the song is in the '' Girls und Panzer'' Original Soundtrack, under the title "America Yahoutai March." *The '' Barney & Friends'' version used "The Rocket Song," which can be found in ''

Barney in Outer Space ''Barney in Outer Space'' is a 1998 Barney & Friends home video. It features an array of traditional children's songs and school songs. The video was released on March 17, 1998. Plot When Barney sees a new friend on another planet they zo ...

'', and other Barney episodes and videos. * Tom Lehrer references the late 1940s-mid 1950s contest that eventually resulted in the adoption of the song in a spoken-word section on his 1959 album '' An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer''. Lehrer discusses the contest to introduce his song "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier", which satirizes the Army of the 1950s from the perspective of a young conscript, by humorously suggesting he had submitted it for consideration as the Army song. * This song is sung by

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

, Chip 'n' Dale, Christian Buenaventura, Michelle Montoya, Toby Ganger, and

Brandon Hammond Brandon La Ron Hammond (born February 6, 1984) is a former child actor who appeared in several movie and television roles mainly during the 1990s. He appeared in the feature films ''Waiting to Exhale'' (1995), ''Mars Attacks!'' (1996) and ''Soul F ...

in ''Mickey's Fun Songs: Campout at Walt Disney World''. * The Kidsongs Kids sing this song in "A Day At Camp". In that same series, the song "The Circus is Coming to Town" is set to the tune to the song. * In

Army Wives ''Army Wives'' is an American drama television series that followed the lives of four army wives, one army husband, and their families. The series premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007, and ran for seven seasons, ending on June 9, 2013. The sh ...

season 4 episode 9, Frank and General Holland sing to Sara Elizabeth Burton.

References

External links

Lyrics and Sheet Music
sheet music

recordings
Dallas Wind Symphony
recording

article
1921 recording of "U.S. Field Artillery," at the Library of Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Army Goes Rolling Along, The American military marches Songs about the military United States Army traditions American patriotic songs Year of song unknown Anthems of organizations

History

Lyrics

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links