When the Saints Go Marching In
When the Saints Go Marching In is a well-known, popular in countless variations hymn and gospel piece that has become an Evergreen popular music and a jazz standard.
Melody
Authorship and variants
The tune is probably from Edward Boatner, of the song in 1927 in Nashville in his hymnal Spirituals Triumphant - published Old and New. Falsely they will gladly attributed to James Milton Black, but rather 1896, has composed to When the Saints are marching in, a piece that is often confused with the present in the present literature. Is increased the confusion by many similar titles such as " When the Saints March In for Crowning ' " (1898), "When all the Saints Come Marching In" ( 1923) or " When the Saints Go Marching Home" ( 1927).
The lyrics of " When the Saints Go Marching In " is based ultimately on the oral tradition spirituals of the black population of the United States. There are a number of different versions, the author usually can not be reliably determined. Contrary to widespread assumption in any case none of them comes from Catherine Purvis, who has written the text but rather to the already mentioned When the Saints Are Marching In.
To date, always new versions of the text in all the languages of the world, which is especially facilitated by the relatively simple metric of the melody and the large share of the refrain of the total text.
Meaning of the text
Regardless of the version of the text gives the hope of the faithful expression, on the Day of Judgment to be among the chosen ones, who may move into the kingdom of heaven. The verse texts usually refer to the Apocalypse and report about from the eclipse of the sun or the trumpet of the archangel Gabriel. The chorus is, however, " Oh, when the saints go marching in Lord, how I want to be in did number, when the saints go marching in ". Sometimes here an influence of the Ambrosian Te Deum from the 4th century is believed that contains a line of verse Aeterna fac cum Sanctis tuis in gloria numerari.
Effective history
It is sometimes if its contents played " When the Saints " also at funerals, and in particular the Jazz Funerals in New Orleans. Sidney Bechet to Chris Barber - The interpretation of Louis Armstrong (1938 ) the piece even for " theme song of the Trad Jazz" was. This new, profane verses were hinzugedichtet to the song, such as " When the band begins to play" or "Because Jimmy Brown plays Dixie". Some versions, such as Haley, pay off even any religious reference ( "When did rhythm starts to go ... "). These countless variations come in instrumentation, so that it is difficult to identify a " canonical " version of the play.
" When the Saints Go Marching In " has been taken up and adapted by a variety of different styles of music. Especially common is the piece in jazz and gospel music. Charlie Byrd, Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel made from modern material session, Ray Brown and Milt Jackson interpreted the nature of the soul jazz, Albert Ayler took the piece to the output of a free-jazz improvisation and Monty Alexander transplanted the song in the Caribbean.
After 1951 The Weavers have recorded the song, he has also developed the general public on Evergreen. So there are also various blues, pop and rock versions. Known interpretations come from Mahalia Jackson, Judy Garland, Mitch Miller, Golden Gate Quartet, Harry Belafonte, The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, Bruce Springsteen, Million Dollar Quartet and Alphaville. Many jazz bands, the song is feared, yet it is one of the few well-known jazz pieces to a wider audience and is therefore often desired.