The Army Song: "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" ~ 1942 US Office of Emergency Management; WWII

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Originally a public domain film from the National Archives or Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Army_Goes_Rolling_Along

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

"The Army Goes Rolling Along" is the official song of the United States Army[1] and is typically called "The Army Song". It is adapted from an earlier work titled the "U.S. Field Artillery March"...

History

The original version of this song was titled As the caissons go rolling along. The lyrics are different from those in the present official version.

The United States Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard had adopted official songs, and the Army was eager to find one of its own. They conducted a contest in 1948 to find an official song, but no entry received much popular support. In 1952, Secretary of the Army Frank Pace asked the music industry to submit songs and received more than 800 submissions. "The Army's Always There" by Sam Stept won, and an Army band performed it at President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inaugural parade on January 20, 1953.

However, many thought that the tune was too similar to "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," so the Army decided to keep much of the melody from the U.S. Field Artillery March but with new lyrics. Harold W. Arberg was a music advisor to the Adjutant General; he submitted lyrics which were accepted.[5] Secretary of the Army Wilber Marion Brucker dedicated the music on Veterans Day, November 11, 1956. The song is played at the conclusion of most U.S. Army ceremonies, and all soldiers are expected to stand at attention and sing. When more than one service song is played, they are played in the order specified by Department of Defense directive: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

Lyrics (The Army Goes Rolling Along - 1956, current official version)

As of 08 May 2013 the first verse, the chorus, and refrain are sung (Per ALARACT 124/2013).

Verse:

March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free

Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory

We're the Army and proud of our name

We're the Army and proudly proclaim

Chorus:

First to fight for the right,

And to build the Nation’s might,

And The Army Goes Rolling Along

Proud of all we have done,

Fighting till the battle’s won,

And the Army Goes Rolling Along.

Refrain:

Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey!

The Army's on its way.

Count off the cadence loud and strong

For where e’er we go,

You will always know

That The Army Goes Rolling Along.

Verse:

Valley Forge, Custer's ranks,

San Juan Hill and Patton's tanks,

And the Army went rolling along

Minutemen, from the start,

Always fighting from the heart,

And the Army keeps rolling along.

(Refrain)

Verse:

Men in rags, men who froze,

Still that Army met its foes,

And the Army went rolling along.

Faith in God, then we're right,

And we'll fight with all our might,

As the Army keeps rolling along.

(Refrain)...