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"John Brown's Body" (originally known as "John Brown's Song") is a United States marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. According to an 1890 account, the original John Brown lyrics were a collective effort by a group of Union soldiers who were referring both to the famous John Brown and also, humorously, to a Sergeant John Brown of their own battalion. Various other authors have published additional verses and/or claimed credit for originating the John Brown lyrics and tune. The "flavor of coarseness, possibly of irreverence"〔George Kimball, "Origin of the John Brown Song", ''New England Magazine'', new series 1 (1890):374. ((online via Cornell University ))〕 led many of the era to feel uncomfortable with the earliest "John Brown" lyrics. This in turn led to the creation of many variant versions of the text that aspired to a higher literary quality. The most famous of these is Julia Ward Howe's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," which was written when a friend suggested, "Why do you not write some good words for that stirring tune?"〔George Kimball, "Origin of the John Brown Song", ''New England Magazine'', new series 1 (1890):376. Kimball suggests that President Lincoln made this suggestion to Howe, though other sources do not agree on this point.〕 Numerous informal versions and adaptations of the lyrics and music have been created from the mid-1800s down to the present, making "John Brown's Body" an example of a living folk music tradition. ==History of the tune== "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us", the tune that eventually became associated with John Brown's Body and the Battle Hymn of the Republic, was formed in the American camp meeting circuit of the late 1700s and early 1800s.〔Stauffer & Soskis, p. 21. Accessed via (Google Books ) 1 June 2014〕 In that atmosphere, where hymns were taught and learned by rote and a spontaneous and improvisatory element was prized, both tunes and words changed and adapted in true folk music fashion:〔Randall ((Google books ))〕 Early versions of "Say, Brothers" included variants, developed as part of this call-and-response hymn singing tradition such as: This initial line was repeated three times and finished with the tag "On Canaan's happy shore."〔Stauffer & Soskis, p. 22. Accessed via (Google Books ) 1 June 2014〕 The first choruses included lines such as The familiar "Glory, glory, hallelujah" chorus—a notable feature of both the John Brown Song, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and many other texts that used this tune—developed out of the oral camp meeting tradition some time between 1808 and the 1850s. Folk hymns like "Say, Brothers" "circulated and evolved chiefly through oral tradition rather than through print.〔Stauffer & Soskis, p. 19. Accessed via (Google Books ) 1 June 2014〕 In print, the camp meeting song can be traced back as early as 1806-1808 when it was published in camp meeting song collections in South Carolina, Virginia, and Massachusetts.〔Stauffer & Soskis, pp. 17, 21, 26. Accessed via (Google Books ) 1 June 2014〕 The tune and variants of the "Say, brothers" hymn text were popular in southern camp meetings, with both African-American and white worshipers, throughout the early 1800s, spread predominantly through Methodist and Baptist camp meeting circuits.〔Stauffer & Soskis, pp. 24, 27. Accessed via (Google Books ) 1 June 2014〕 As the southern camp meeting circuit died down in the mid 1800s, the "Say, brothers" tune was incorporated into hymn and tune books and it was via this route that the tune became well known in the mid 1800s throughout the northern U.S. By 1861, "groups as disparate as Baptists, Mormons, Millerites, the American Sunday School Union, and the Sons of Temperance all claimed 'Say Brothers' as their own."〔Stauffer & Soskis, p. 27. Accessed via (Google Books ) 1 June 2014〕 For example, in 1858 words and the tune were published in ''The Union Harp and Revival Chorister'', selected and arranged by Charles Dunbar, and published in Cincinnati. The book contains the words and music of a song "My Brother Will You Meet Me", with the music but not the words of the "Glory Hallelujah" chorus; and the opening line "Say my brother will you meet me". In December 1858 a Brooklyn Sunday school published a hymn called "Brothers, Will You Meet Us" with the words and music of the "Glory Hallelujah" chorus, and the opening line "Say, brothers will you meet us".〔James Fuld, 2000 '' The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk'' Courier Dover, ISBN 0-486-41475-2, page 132.〕 Some researchers have maintained that the tune's roots go back to a "Negro folk song",〔C. A. Browne, ''The Story of Our National Ballads'' (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1960), p. 174〕 an African-American wedding song from Georgia,〔''Music of the Civil War Era'' 2004, by Steven Cornelius, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0-313-32081-0 ,page 26〕 or to a British sea shanty that originated as a Swedish drinking song.〔Boyd Stutler, "John Brown's Body", ''Civil War History'' 4 (1958): 260.〕 Anecdotes indicate that versions of "Say, Brothers" were sung as part of African American ring shouts;〔Stauffer & Soskis, p. 24. Accessed via (Google Books ) 1 June 2014〕 appearance of the hymn in this call-and-response setting with singing, clapping, stomping, dancing, and extended ecstatic choruses may have given impetus to the development of the well known "Glory hallelujuah" chorus. Given that the tune was developed in an oral tradition, it is impossible to say for certain which of these influences may have played a specific role in the creation of this tune, but it is certain that numerous folk influences from different cultures such as these were prominent in the musical culture of the camp meeting, and that such influences were freely combined in the music-making that took place in the revival movement.〔 It has been suggested that "Say Brothers, Will You Meet Us", popular among Southern blacks, already had an anti-slavery sub-text, with its reference to "Canaan's happy shore" alluding to the idea of crossing the river to a happier place.〔Randall, n45.〕〔Stauffer & Soskis, p. 25. Accessed via (Google Books ) 1 June 2014〕 If so, that sub-text that was considerably enhanced and expanded as the various John Brown lyrics took on themes related to the famous abolitionist and the American Civil War. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Brown's Body」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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