Make yourself a milk shake, sit back, close your eyes and imagine this...

You are at a large gathering of the military... the Marines, in fact... past, present, and future Marines. The band sounds the first notes of the Marine Hymn... all stand (a mark of pride and respect) and that huge gathering starts singing "From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli..." and the tune the band is playing and to which you are singing is... "You Ain't Nothin But a Hound-dog!"

Well all that is silly, of course. But the analogy is not that far fetched. The well-known tune (probably the most recognized military song in the world) is taken from a wildly popular musical comedy of Jacques Offenbach, Geneviève de Brabant which opened in Paris at the Theatre de Bouffes Parisiennes on 19 November 1859.

According to the Marine Corps, Major Richard Wallach, USMC was in Paris in 1878 during which there was a revival of the Offenbach opera-bouffe. If you listen closely you can hear the tune was sung on street corners, in cafes, all around the town.

Marine tradition credits the first verse of the hymn as having been written by an anonymous Marine who was on duty in Mexico following the capture and occupation of Mexico City and Chapultepec castle (known as the Halls of Montezuma)... an event that is about as exciting to anyone of Mexican descent as the flying of the old Confederate flag over the Georgia Statehouse.

Various authorities have written about the tune's origin. John Phillip Sousa is but the most famous of these.

The wonderful irony is that in Offenbach's musical the tune is sung by a couple of military types who march about the stage shouting the joys of military life. "We guard the village's sleep," they sing, "We chase away the street gangs. We don't talk to imbeciles. We take up all the fashions. We charm you with our poise. See Sargent how peaceful it is? It's great to be a soldier boy." Pretty dull stuff in English, isn't it?

The tunes of the two songs are not identical but they are close enough to be readily recognized.

One wonderful story from the Marines is that one of the members of the Marine Corps Band (probably in the latter part of the 19th century) had a Spanish wife who recalled that "the aria...was one familiar to her childhood and it may, therefore, be a Spanish folk song."

Offenbach's melodies were incredibly popular in his time and it is most possible that it could have surfaced south of the Pyrenees as a popular ditty. Any thought of Offenbach having lifted a Spanish song is curious. Offenbach was a manic composer who was given to composing (standing at a tall desk) during the parties and dances he continually threw. He also wrote frantically in the cabs that took him about Paris. His friends remembered of his composing little entertainments for parties and summer holidays... whenever he had a spare moment on his hands. Unfortunately the music has not survived. In any case there is no record of Offenbach's being a tune swiper. Word portraits repetedly picture him slashing pages, scenes, and what-not from his works when he considered that they failed to work on stage He must have been a trial to his long suffering actors. On the other hand his operas made lots of people famous, and rich... a result not to be sneezed.

Other U.S. Military songs that might be of interest are:

The Air Force Song by Robert Crawford, written for a song contest sponsored by Liberty magazine in 1938 for the

Cleveland Air Races of 2 September of that year. From the 757 entries Crawford's effort was selected by the contest committee made up of Air Force wives.

The Navy's Anchors Aweigh was written by Lieut. Charles A. Zimmermann, USN. As the leader of the Naval Academy Band, Zimmermann had made a habit of composing a march for each graduating class. By 1892 "Zimmy" was so popular with midshipmen that he was collecting an annual tribute of a gold medal from the class.

In 1806 Midshipman First Class Alfred Hart Miles and Zimmermann joined anchors and came up with "a piece of music that would be inspiring, one with a swing to it so it could be used as a football marching song, ... that would live forever." One would hope that it was done over large pitchers of beer. But, alas, Zimmermann and Miles huddled around the organ in the Naval Academy Chapel and knocked off a masterwork. It was first played and sung at the Army-Navy game in November of 1906. Navy won! The original fist verse ran:

Stand Navy down the field, sails set in the sky. We'll never change our course, so Army you steer shy-y-y-y Roll up the score, Navy. Anchors Aweigh. Sail Navy down the field and sing the Army, sink the Army Grey.

Later, verses were written so as not to be quite as offensive to the Army.

The Army song The Army goes rolling along (Based on The Caisson Song of Brig. General E. L. Gruber) was written and adapted by H. G. Arberg

The Song of the Seebees. (Lyrics: Sam M. Lewis, Music: Peter de Rose)

Other deserving military songs are, no doubt, out there but those are for others to document. It's time for another martini.