The Song: Why Soldiers Why?

A song that asks a question? Why Soldiers Why?.

Maybe James Wolfe

sang this

the night before he died

on the Plains of Abraham

in the Battle of Quebec?

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Legend has it

that General Wolfe

sang this song

the night before

his victory

and his death

at the Battle of Quebec in 1759..

We are sttill researching whether Winchester VA has a street named after James Wolfe in his victory with Boscawen and Amherst in July 1758 over the Fortress Louisbourg in Canada.

Maybe Alexander Hamilton sang this the night before he died in the duel with Aaron Burr at Fraunces Tavern in NYC among the Society of Cincinnati?

How stands the glass around? For shame you take no care, my boys, How stands the glass around? Let wine and mirth abound; The trumpet sound, The colors they do fly my boys; To fight, kill or wound; May we still be found, Contented with hard fare, my boys On the cold ground

.

,

O why, soldiers why? should we be melancholy boys, O why soldiers why? Whose bus'ness is to die; What? sighing? Fye! Drink on, drown fear, be jolly boys;

'Tis he, you or I, cold, hot, wet or dry We're always bound to follow boys, And scorn to fly.

.

'Tis but vain; I mean not to upbraid you boys, 'Tis but vain; For a soldier to complain; Should next campaign, Send us to him who made us boys; We're free from pain, But should we remain, A bottle and kind landlady Cures all again.

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See REDCOATS ALBUM

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNeXl-9vepM

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. HOW OLD IS THIS SONG? "The earliest report of “How Stands the Glass” is in a ballad opera in 1729. The first line of the second verse, “Why Soldiers, Why,” is given as the indicated tune for air 4 in Thomas Odell’s Patron (1729). The lyrics of the air, beginning “Why, Charmer, why” are a parody of this text and fit the tune well. While the song must have existed before this parody appeared, no earlier trace of the song or tune has been located." . Source: http://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/72 .

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. GENERAL JAMES WOLFE?

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."Sometime after 1792 the song became associated with General James Wolfe, and is now almost universally attributed to Wolfe as the composer, or at least to Wolfe as singing the song the night before the battle of Quebec, which had occurred over thirty years earlier. As we have seen in the other Wolfe memorials (see The Death of General Wolfe), Wolfe enjoyed a sentimental revival in the 1790s and attribution of songs like this grew out of and capitalized on this renewed public interest. The spark for this new association probably came from the tune’s use in a popular concert piece called “The Siege of Quebec,” a sonata for keyboard, violin, cello, and timpani, around 1792 (A. Lewis 65; Winstock 58). " . Source: http://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/72 . Winchester VA has a street named after James Wolfe in his victory with Boscawen and Amherst in July 1758 over the Fortress Louisbourg in Canada. . Source http://frenchandindianwarfoundation.org/event/seige-of-louisbourg/

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. HAMILTON -BURR DUEL? "...James Edward Graybill published a letter from Hamilton’s grandson Schuyler Hamilton regarding the song Hamilton sang prior to the duel which stated: . “I have always been of the opinion, from what I have heard from my father and uncles, that the song sung by my grandfather at the dinner of the Cincinnati where Colonel Burr was present, was General Wolff’s famous camp song, which begins with the words ‘How stands the glass around?'” . Source: https://itshamiltime.com/2015/02/25/hamil-tunes-how-stands-the-glass-around/ .

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. BURL IVES? According to Burl Ives, legend has it that General Wolfe sang this song the night before his victory and his death at the Battle of Quebec in 1759. It became known throughout the colonies as Wolfe's Song. . Source: https://www.contemplator.com/america/whysoldr.html .