Familiar Songs - Their Authors & Histories

300 traditional songs, inc sheet music with full piano accompaniment & lyrics.

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HAIL, VOL UMBIA!
589
Sound, sound the trump of fame! Let Washington's great name Ring through the world with loud applause ! Ring through the world with loud applause! Let every clime, to freedom dear, Listen with a joyful ear; With equal skill, with steady power, He governs in the fearful hour Of horrid war, or guides with ease The happier time of honest peace. Firm, united, etc.
Behold the chief, who now commands, Once more to serve his country stands, The rock on which the storm will beat, The rock on which the storm will beat! But armed in virtue, firm and true, His hopes are fixed on Heaven and you; When hope was sinking in dismay, When gloom obscured Columbia's day, His steady mind, from changes free, Resolved on death or Liberty. Firm, united, etc.
ADAMS AND LIBERTY.
Robert Treat Paine, Jr., author of " Adams and Liberty," was born in Taunton, Mass., December 9, 1778. His father was a signer of the Declaration of Independence! Paine's name was originally Thomas; but he appealed to the Legislature to allow him to take that of his father, Robert, on the ground that since Tom Paine had borne it he " had no Christian name." He was graduated at Harvard, and gave promise of an unusually bright intellect. But he was vain, lazy, and vicious, and would do no work, even with his pen, except when compelled by poverty. He married an actress, and was denied his father's house and purse. He received enormous sums for his productions. His " InvenĀ­tion of Letters " brought him five dollars a line; and for " Adams and Liberty " he received seven hundred and fifty dollars, a fabulous sum for the time. Paine died in the attic of his father's house, November 11, 1811.
After "Adams and Liberty" was written, Paine was dining with Major Benjamin Russell of the Sentinel, when he was told that his song had no mention of Washington. The host said he could not fill his glass until the error had been corrected, whereupon the author, after a moment's thinking, scratched off the last stanza of the song as it now stands.
The air to which the words were written is an old English hunting-tune entitled " Anacreon in Heaven." It was composed by Samuel Arnold who was born in Oxford, England, August 10, 1740, received a fine musical education, and before he was twenty-three years old was composer for Covent Garden Theatre. He became organist to the King, composer for the chapels royal, and conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music. He died October 22, 1802.