"The Army Goes Rolling Along" is the official song of theUnited States Army[1] and is typically called "The Army Song". It is adapted from an earlier work from 1908 entitled "The Caissons Go Rolling Along", which was in turn incorporated intoJohn Philip Sousa's "U.S. Field Artillery March" in 1917.
The original version of this song, written in 1908 byEdmund Gruber, was titled "TheCaissons Go Rolling Along." Those lyrics differ from the current official version.[2] Gruber's version was transformed into a march byJohn Philip Sousa in 1917 and renamed the "U.S. Field Artillery March."
In 1944 the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous Federal Court ruling that Gruber, though he had permitted the song to be included in a 1921 complilation of West Point songs, had never formally copyrighted the work.[3]
Many[who?] thought that themelody was too similar to "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts". The Army decided to use much of the melody from Sousa's "U.S. Field Artillery March" with new lyrics. Harold W. Arberg, a music advisor to theAdjutant General, submitted lyrics that the Army adopted.[6] Secretary of the ArmyWilber Marion Brucker dedicated the music onVeterans Day, November 11, 1956.[7] The song is played after 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, Space Force, and Coast Guard.[8]
The tune was used in 44 movies or television series from 1934 to 2011.[11]
Robert A. Heinlein used the 1908 Caisson Song as the basis for "The Road Song of the Transport Cadets", the official song of the fictional United States Academy of Transport in his 1940 short story "The Roads Must Roll". Characters in the story refer to the origin as both the "Song of the Caissons" and the "field artillery song."[12]
Hasbro used the tune for itsG.I. Joe toyline during the 1960s with the words "G.I. Joe...G.I. Joe...fighting man from head to toe...on the land...on the sea...in the air."
In the 1960s, theHoover Company used this tune for the promotion of their "Hoover Junior" vacuum cleaner with the lyrics "All the fluff, dust and grit. Hoover gets at every bit. For it beats as it sweeps as it cleans".
In 1962, the song was parodied inThe Jetsons Season 1, Episode 6, "The Good Little Scouts."[13] It was the marching song of Elroy Jetson's space troop.
InThe Muppet Show episodeJuliet Prowse, when Kermit asks the Muppet Glee Club to sing something, the Glee Club all sing a bunch of different songs in unison, and one frog singsThe Army Goes Rolling Along.
In 1979, the song was sung byMargaret Houlihan inM*A*S*HSeason 7, Episode 16 (titled "The Price") while she was in the shower. It is also partially sung inSeason 3 Episode 19 (titled "Aid Station") byMargaret,Hawkeye Pierce, andMax Klinger as they arrive back at their unit,M*A*S*H 4077th. InSeason 6 Episode 16, Margaret loses her wedding ring, which is inscribed with "Over hill, over dale, our love willnever fail," inspired by the original lyrics to "The Caisson Song." Hawkeye and BJ get a tinker to inscribe an identical ring, but the inscription is humorously misspelled as "Over hill, over dale, our love willever fail."
Tom Lehrer references the late 1940s-mid 1950s contest that eventually resulted in the adoption of the song in a spoken-word section on his 1959 albumAn Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer. Lehrer discusses the contest to introduce his song "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier", which satirizes the Army of the 1950s from the perspective of a young conscript by humorously suggesting he had submitted it for consideration as the Army song.
This song is sung byGoofy,Chip 'n' Dale, Christian Buenaventura, Michelle Montoya, Toby Ganger, andBrandon Hammond inMickey's Fun Songs: Campout at Walt Disney World.
TheKidsongs Kids sing this song in "A Day At Camp". In that same series, the song "The Circus is Coming to Town" is set to the song's tune.
