The Marines' Hymn

[Silva0311]

Howdy devil dogs, was wondering if you can help a fellow Marine out. I am taking college courses and i need help with an assignment. I need to find a song or hymn and break it down and explain the rhyme and rythmn and other things like that. I decided to do it on The Marines' Hymn. Problem is that I can find the hymn with the music, but I need to find it witht the words. Can anyone help me out? I would really appreciate it. Semper Fi

[LivinSoFree]

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the Shores of Tripoli
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea.
First to fight for right and freedom,
and to keep our honor clean.
We are proud to claim the title
of United States Marine.

Our Flag's unfurled to every breeze,
from dawn to setting sun.
We have fought in every clime and place
where we could take a gun.
From the snowy far off northern lands,
to a sunny tropic scene,
you will find us always on the job,
the United States Marines.

So here's health to you and to our Corps,
which we are proud to serve.
In many a strife we've fought for life,
and we've never lost our nerve.
If the Army or the Navy,
ever looked on Heaven's scenes,
they would find the gates are guarded by
the United States Marines.

HOORAH!

[WillManning]

by Colonel John R. Bourgeois, USMC (Ret)
Twenty-Fifth Director, U.S. Marine Band



When Marine Lt. Presley O'Bannon and his troops captured Derne, Tripoli, during the was with the Barbary Pirates in 1805, the American flag was hoisted for the first time over a fortress of the Old World. To mark the event, the Colors of the Marine Corps were inscribed with the words: "To the Shores of Tripoli."

Following the war with Mexico and the capture of Mexico City in 1847, Chapultepec Castle and the National Palace, known as the "Halls of Montezuma," the words on the Colors were changed to read: "From the Shores of Tripoli to the Halls of Montezuma." These two historical references give us the origin of the opening words to The Marines' Hymn. But the musical origins of the hymn have been a matter of dispute through the years.

Marine Col. Albert S. McLemore and Walter F. Smith, assistant director of the Marine Band during John Philip Sousa's directorship, attempted to trace the tune of The Marines' Hymn to its source. Col. McLemore wrote, "Major Wallach, USMC, says that in 1878, when he was in Paris, France, the air to which the Marines' Hymn is now sung was a very popular one, that two Frenchmen, whose reputation in that day approximated the later reputation of Montgomery and Stone, sang a song to that tune. The opera ran hundreds of nights, and was enthusiastically acclaimed."

The name of the opera and a part of the chorus was secured from Maj. Wallach and forwarded to Mr. Smith, who replied: "Major Wallach is to be congratulated upon a wonderfully accurate memory, for the air of the Marine Hymn is certainly to be found in the opera, Genevieve de Brabant... The melody is not in the exact form of the Marines' Hymn, but it is undoubtedly the air from which it was taken. I am informed however by one of the members of the band, who has a Spanish wife, that the air was one familiar to her childhood and it may, therefore be a Spanish folk song."

The melody from Jaques Offenbach's comic opera Genevieve de Brabant appears in a duet sung by two gendarmes. However, this opera was first heard in 1859 in two acts without the duet. As a result of the opera's popularity it was expanded to three acts in 1867, and then to five acts in 1875. Both of these later versions contain the duel. It is quite reasonable to accept Maj Wallach's report as correct. But one could conjecture that Offenbach, a prolific writer of musical satire, might just as easily have based his music to this duet on a pre-existing melody; and even perhaps on a Spanish folk song.

The words and the air of The Marines' Hymn have been sung and played in every corner of the globe, and it is recognized today as the most popular and revered of our service songs.

[kentmitchell]

Find the school band. They'll have sheet music

[tracyshaw21043]

Hi. Here's a link that has the words to the hymn ...

http://www.marinemoms.us/usmc/marinecorps.asp

scroll down just a little, there's some cool info here, it's about the 3rd item down... I would assume it's 100% correct, since it's on the marinemoms website ...

God Bless You and Yours!
Tracy

[Silva0311]

i appreciate all of you responding, but I dont think I made it clear on what i was asking (sorry). I know the words, and I have the hymn. But what I am looking for is the hymn with someone singing along with the music. I can only find the hymn but no one singing it. If you know where i can get the hymn with someone singing all the words to it, I would appreciate it.

[marinemom]

www.gyrene.com

Go to that website, folksong singer Oscar Brand sings a lot of Marine songs, including the Hymn. You can get the CD at pretty much any base exchange - or order it on the site.

(and the other songs are pretty good, too)

[Lock-n-Load]

If all else fails you...watch rerun movies on your local film channels...the greatest rendition of the Marines' Hymn [all three [3] verses] is a movie from 20th Century Fox [1942]..."To The Shores Of Tripoli"...get the lead-in fanfare music and two other scenes: the dress blues graduation played by 180 field music Marines and the final parade to the docks where you'll get all three verses sung with the urgency of WW2 gusto backed up by the 180 field music Marines at the final fade/out...no better version has ever been recorded to this day...be patient and read the daily lineup of movies for you to record on VHS or DVD for your listening/viewing pleasure...it's in vivid,primary color/technicolor, too....Semper Fi

[greybeard]

Silva0311, I have it in .wav format somewhere on another computer. I'll see if I can get that old thing fired up and email it to you this weekend. Pretty big file as I remember. I'll get back with you here this weekend.

[greybeard]

Here's an easy way to hear, then save the entire 3 stanza Hymn.
1. Go here:
http://chezjacq.com/usmc.html

We don't care if he has a French sounding name-it's a MARINE website!!

2. Let the page load fully. About 1/4 of the way down, just below "You want to be a Marine",you will see an area right in the middle of the page that says "Play a vocal rendition of the Marine Hymn".
3. Click on the > tab & let it play thru at least once. Then minimize, not close, your browser-without changing web pages. (this is important-if you close the browser, the file wll likely be automatically deleted-that's why it's called 'temp internet files')
4. From your desktop, or where ever you have access to it, open windows explorer(for us old farts, it used to be called 'file manager'). No, not Internet Explorer---Windows Explorer-where you see all your hard drive stuff.
5. In the directories, click on Windows. Scroll down on the left to Temp Internet Files. Scroll down the right side, till you see a file called
'marines.wav-----1116kb----wave sound'.
6. Place your mouse cursor on the name, and drag it over to another folder (directory) such as "TEMP". This will copy the entire file into a permanent directory or folder, so it doesn't self delete when your IE cache refreshes.
7. Now you can close Windows Explorer, maximize your browser and go back to surfing the web. The file will always be in whichever folder you copied it to.

Next, when time permits, I'll tell you how to use scheduler.exe to automatically open, then play that wave file every morning at Reville. It used to drive my wife nuts every morning at 0500..

The bearded one.

[Silva0311]

hey thanks greybeard, i was already losing hope that i wouldnt be able to find it. i am going to try to save it and then burn it. wish me luck. Semper Fi

[Doc Crow]

Never lose hope on this board someone will always know where obscure information can be found

[femalemarine_89]

I have learned that now Doc.. dont ever worry about not finding something cause there is always someone who knows where to find it, or they have it or whatnot.

[Doc Crow]

Yep if not on this board they will know a board where you can find it