Hi, so I was wondering they sound very simmilar but I cant really tell, does anybody have more information on these songs like their author and when they were made and if they actually share the same melody?

17 comments

  1. It’s the same tune, Battle Hymn came first. Helluva Way to Die was written to that tune decades and several wars later.

  4. They’re both to the tune of John Brown’s Body but they’re all different songs.

    The deep answer is that they are all from an old spiritual hymn “oh brothers will you meet us.”

    It may be older than that one too but that’s how folk music goes.

  5. Yes, and to add to that, the tune is far older than John Brown’s Body that some here have mentioned. The tune comes from the old tent revivals during the 2nd Great Awakening:

    Say Brothers, Will You Meet Us? https://youtu.be/8N8dBex8lY8

  6. This tune has been used for any number of songs. As a kid we had some kind of anti-school song set to this tune that I only vaguely remember – it was pretty violent, so they’ve probably taken great pains to supress it these days.

  7. Same tune. Written (well, if you could call “gory, gory” something that was “written”) ages apart.

  8. They are. There are several songs from the time period set to the tune of battle hymn of the republic.

  9. You mean John Brown’s Body?

    Jokes aside, it’s a traditional tune with several different sets of lyrics.

  11. people based songs off of church hymns all the time, because they were a huge part of the culture. political tracts, joke songs, serious songs, all kinds. people used to just know a few tunes by heart and so if you heard a new song using the same tune you could memorize it in time for the next chorus and join in.

  12. Say Brothers, Will You Meet Us (or Canaan’s Happy Shore)- folk hymn from the camp meeting tradition —>

    John Brown’s Body- Union marching song —>

    Battle Hymn of the Republic- written by Julia Ward Howe. Her husband actually help fund John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry.

    Look up Battle Hymn on Wikipedia for additional info.

  15. “Blood on the Risers” was written as a sort of parody of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” using the same tune. Personally, I prefer it.

  16. Yes. This tune was originally a camp hymn called “[Say, Brothers Will You Meet Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N8dBex8lY8)”, which is probably derived from either slave work songs or sea shanties. It was used in the Civil War for the Union marching [John Brown’s Body](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jso1YRQnpCI), which had very abolitionist lyrics and was very popular among northern troops. The song was adapted by the abolitionist Julia Ward Howe into [Battle Hymn of the Republic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy6AOGRsR80), and was also used by First Arkansas black regiment as a [marching song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKss9jF2Yxw).

    After the war, the song was further adapted by the IWW into [Solidarity Forever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW_1hP0SHSQ), the most famous and beloved song in the American labor movement. It was also used by cooperative movement as [their own hymn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOvs9p_Ly9M).

    The version you are asking about, “Gory, Gory”, is called [Blood on the Risers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HtVYr9aKRM), and it dates to WW2 paratroopers.

    Other versions include [The Belfast Brigade](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdcDiiFFgLc) and [Up Went Nelson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__3v0eKHB_s) (IRA songs), a number of football chants, and various other sundry adaptations ranging from nursery rhymes to protest songs to Christmas carols.

    I personally adapted it when working as a river deckhand on the Mississippi, with the chorus “I’ll fish your corpse out with a pike pole… and the barge will crush your spine”, with lyrics warning careless boaters to get away from our tow. For example, “You will spin end over end for 200 feet of steel, breaking arms and legs until you’re thrust into the wheels, and spat out into the river like a half-digested meal, and the barge will crush your spine”, or “And once that you are dead, you will sink into the crick, to be lodged between some boulders or impaled upon a stick, where the fishes eat your eyes and the turtles eat your dick, when the barge has crushed your spine”.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like