Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!

DESCRIPTION: The prisoner cries as he recalls mother and home. He recalls the battle where he was taken. But then he recalls that the troops are coming, and cheers his fellows: "Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching, Cheer up comrades they will come...."
AUTHOR: George F. Root
EARLIEST DATE: 1864 (sheet music published by Root & Cady)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar prisoner freedom
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Root-StoryOfAMusicalLife-GeorgeFRoot, pp. 246-249, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #242, "In the Prison Cell I Sit" (1 short text, which appears to be this although Hubbard does not so identify it)
Jackson-PopularSongsOfNineteenthCenturyAmerica, pp. 214-217, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! or The Prisoner's Hope" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, pp. 420-421, 'Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! or The Prisoner's Hope" (1 broadside text plus a copy of the sheet music cover, both from Root & Cady)
Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar, pp. 35-37, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (The Prisoner's Hope)"; p. 37, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp, II (Southern Version)" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Silber-SoldierSongsAndHomeFrontBalladsOfCivilWar, pp. 86-87, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2368, p. 159, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! The Prisoner's Hope" (7 references)
Dime-Song-Book #16, p. 17, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text)
Emerson-StephenFosterAndCo, pp. 118-119, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (The Prisoner's Hope)" (1 text)
Messerli-ListenToTheMockingbird, pp. 149-150, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text)
Heart-Songs, p. 449, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 347-348, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 66, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text)
Colonial-Dames-AmericanWarSongs, pp. 85-86, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! or The Prisoner's Hope" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 588+, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!"
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 434, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" (notes only)
MidwestFolklore, Edith Fowke, "Canadian Variations of a Civil War Song," Volume 13, Number 2 (Summer 1963/1964) pp. 101-104 "(Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!)" (no full text of the original, but with excerpts of many variants)
DT, TRMPTRMP*
ST RJ19214 (Full)
Roud #10911
RECORDINGS:
S. H. Dudley, "Tramp Tramp Tramp" (Berliner 0157-Y, rec. 1898)
Frank J. Gaskin, "Tramp Tramp Tramp" (Berliner 0157-Z, rec. 1896)[
Arthur] Harlan & [Frank] Stanley, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" (Victor 5021, 1907) (CYL: Edison 9439, 1907) (CYL: Edison [BA] Special E [as Harlan & Stanley w. chorus], n.d.)
Frank C. Stanley, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (CYL: Edison 5002, c. 1898)
Unknown baritone "Tramp Tramp Tramp" (Berliner 0157, rec. before 1895)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Tramp (I)" (tune)
cf. "An Anti-Fenian Song" (tune)
cf. "The Bounty Jumper's Lament" (tune)
cf. "God Save Ireland" (tune)
cf. "The Salutation" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Wallaby Brigade (File: FaE186)
In Bohunkus, Tennessee (File: EM354)
Our Leaky Tents (File: LDC288)
The Tramp (I) (File: San185)
An Anti-Fenian Song (File: FMB102)
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (World War I version) (File: MWFD104)
The Little Busy Bee (by William McGavin; in _The Song Wave for School and Home_, 1882)
Jump! Jump Jump! Our Friends Are Coming (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 80)
On! On! On! A Sequel to Tramp, Tramp, Tramp ("Oh! the day it came, at last") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 117; Dime-Song-Book #17, p. 8)
Rum! Rum! Rum! The Bummer's Hope. A Parody on The Prisoner's Hope ("In the marble halls I sit," by John C. Cross) (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 137)
We Have Chosen for Our Chief (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 170)
When the Bonny Moon (by G. M. Dodge, [class of 18]68) ("When the bonny moon is seen Glinting down on Bowdoin green") (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, pp. 129-130)
The Chimes ("To the busy morning light, To the slumbers of the night") (by F. W. Finch) (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 109)
Hope for the Toiling ("Daily at my task I work, Thinking, brothers dear, of you") (by B. M. Lawrence) (Foner, p. 112)
Song for Working Voters ("In the fields and shops we drudge, Working on from day to day") (Foner, p. 114)
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (Greenback version) ("Upon the western breeze, and from the eastern seas, The cheering cry of 'Liberty' is heard") (by Mary Dana Schindler) (Foner, p. 141)
Labor's Chorus ("In the labor ranks we stand! Joining earnest heart and hand") (by E. A. Bacon) (Foner, p. 157)
March! March! March! ("In the crowded scenes of toil, in the workshop and the mine") (Foner, p. 164)
Eight-Hour Song (1) ("Let us gather once again, Let us strike with might and main") (Foner, p. 217)
Eight-Hour Song (2) ("We have toiled for others' gains, And have robbed both purse and brains") (Foner, p. 218)
The Toiler's National Anthem ("Toiling brothers, why contend Till your youthful days are spent") (by M. J. Heany) (Foner, p. 232)
Bang! Bang! Bang! ("Come, ye toilers of the land, Join the people's party band") (Foner, p. 280)
Marching Song ("In our poverty and toil Lookin upon the world") (by Charles H. Kerr) (Foner, p. 314)
Prohiition Land ("There's a pleasant land I know Where the children safely go") (by Frances B. Damon) (Anna Adams Gordon, _Popular Campaign Songs_, National W.C.T.U. Publishing House, 1915, p. 21)
Rally for Victory ("From the land of palm and cane To the wooded hills of Maine") (by H. H. Barstow) (Anna Adams Gordon, _Popular Campaign Songs_, National W.C.T.U. Publishing House, 1915, p. 24)
Scratch, Scratch, Scratch ("Scratch, scratch, scratch, the bugs are biting; Cheer up, comrades, they will come") (Harbin-Parodology, #216, p. 56)
Bug Song ("Tramp, tramp, tramp, the bugs are marching, Up and down the tent they go") (Harbin-Parodology, #230, p. 58)
Tramp Tramp Tramp the Scouts are Marching (cf. Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 288)
Canadian Border Song ("Come, boys, let's sing a song, for the day it won't be long When united to our country we will be") (MidwestFolklore, Edith Fowke, "Canadian Variations of a Civil War Song," Volume 13, Number 2 (Summer 1963/1964), p. 103)
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (Boer War version) (MidwestFolklore, Edith Fowke, "Canadian Variations of a Civil War Song," Volume 13, Number 2 (Summer 1963/1964) p. 103)
NOTES [140 words]: Root-StoryOfAMusicalLife-GeorgeFRoot, pp. 136-137, writes of this song, "As I have said, when anything happened that could be voiced in a song, or when the heart of the nation was moved by particular circumstances or conditions caused by the war, I wrote what I thought would then express the emotions of the soldiers or the people.... I voiced the feeling of the people in regard to the treatment of prisoners by 'Starved in prison,' and gave a more hopeful view in 'Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching.'"
On pp. 151-152, he calls this his last successful war song; it "had but a short life -- less than a year, but in that time our profit on it was ten thousand dollars."
In 1910 a musical, "Naughty Marietta," featured a song called "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" It was not this; it was written by Rida Johnson Young and Victor Herbert. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: RJ19214

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