Soldier Joy Vitally A

Soldier's Joy" is one of the oldest and most widely distributed tunes in the English-speaking world. The tune appeared in late eighteenth-century sheet music and dance instruction manuals on both sides of the Atlantic. By the nineteenth century, it was published in numerous books of fiddle tunes, usually classified as a reel or country dance. Yet the lively tune could be played on just about any instrument, as the piano score below, published in Boston in 1885, illustrates

Read the sheet music

Printed publications can be used as evidence of the tune's age and popularity, but most musicians who played it and dancers who danced to it did not learn the tune from a printed page. They learned it by hearing it. Some heard it at dances in their communities; some heard it at home, played by a family member. Others may have heard it played by Army bands during wartime, to lift the spirits of troops in camp or as they marched to battle.

The invention of recording equipment near the turn of the twentieth century allowed even more people to hear the tune. Country singer Jimmy Driftwood wrote lyrics to "Soldier's Joy" and recorded his version of it in 1957.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Soldier
• Joy
• Vitally
• fiddle
• violin
• lesson
• eck
• robertson

[ASTROALL]

So far that I know there are 2 variations,this one is more popular.

Vitally

[irateofwatford]

I was surprised to find that the tune keeps cropping up in fiddlers' notebooks in various parts of France too, if under different titles. I understand it was one of the tunes used by dancing-masters (early 19th century, probably) who were employed by the French Army to teach the troops correct deportment. From there the tune passed into French folk tradition.