babylon has fallen

[riptailedroarer]

Does any one know of the song " Babylon has fallen ( to rise no more)". I've found it was in the scard harp with music by W.E.Chute C.1878 but in other links it says the words are "traditional", and to confuse my search there is a vertion by henry work (?) and various Reggae artists.
I first heard the song when I was involved in English civil war reenacting in the 80s, great song to sing as you walk in to battle.with just the drum.
I have found the song on you tube being sung from the sacred harp, I just wondered if there was c/w tune for it.

[bhutton]

I know that the '97th' Regiment String Band recorded a 'Civil War' version of this , but I don't know if the lyrics in their rendition are period or not, I always thought that they were.

[Danny]

At least you can document the Henry Work Civil War version to an 1863 publish date:

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/lo...rom=pageturner

It's in a folio of Union-leaning songs written for Pianoforte.

Dan Wykes

[riptailedroarer]

Thanks guys, thease are the lyrics I know http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=415

[amity]

"Babylon is Fallen" is just a phrase from the Bible, and you can bet there have been MANY pieces of music by that title over the millenia. Be careful not to confuse them.

The Chute words I would bet are from 1878, because the people who do the editing on the Sacred Harp know their stuff pretty well. The tune that goes with those words is apparently a set piece, so from the same date.

In general, each piece of poetry has a specific meter, for example in the Sacred Harp's Babylon is Fallen it is 8s7s (8 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second, and so on), and you can sing those words to any piece of music with that same meter. ('Meter' is not the same thing as 'time signature.') That is what was done in the period, too.

[Hank Trent]

Thanks guys, thease are the lyrics I know http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=415

Search the first line in google books. There are several hits for the same words in songbooks going back to the very early 19th century.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[amity]

You are right, Hank. I just checked and it is only the tune that is 1878. My bad.

[Danny]

...The Copyright was issued August 1864.....so are you square to play it at an 1863 event...

For the Civil War version sheet music, it was issued in1863. Then, as now, applying for Copyright was all that was necessary to protect it pending formalities.

Dan Wykes

[Pvt Schnapps]

I hate "Babylon is Fallen," but sure enough it's ACW and it's 1863:

http://www.pdmusic.org/work.html

Also:

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/lo...0/default.html

[Pvt Schnapps]

The first site has a publication date of 1863 and the second site has an issue date of 1863.

Even today copyright can follow publication. You send the Library of Congress a couple copies of your book, sheet music, or whatever and then they process it. The process isn't instantaneous now, and I imagine the music division (or clerk) was inundated with stuff back then.

I can't say how widespread it was, but Work's stuff got around. "Marching Through Georgia" couldn't have been written until the beginning of 1865, but by the time of the Grand Review Sherman was already sick of it.