As you all probably know,
An American Trilogy is a medley, arranged by country composer Mickey Newbury. Newbury first recorded An American Trilogy for his 1971 album
Frisco Mabel Joy. The recording reached #9 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart.
An American Trilogy consists of three 19th-century songs:
1.
‘Dixie’, aka ‘Dixie’s Land’ or ‘I Wish I Was In Dixie’.
2.
‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’, aka ‘Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory’.
3.
‘All My Trials’Digging a bit deeper...
1.
‘Dixie’, aka ‘Dixie’s Land’ or ‘I Wish I Was In Dixie’.
The song had originated in the minstrel shows of the 1850s and quickly became popular throughout the US. During the American Civil War, it was adopted as a national anthem of the Confederate States of America.
‘Dixie’ was (probably) written and composed by Daniel Decatur Emmett in 1859. Emmett also published the song in 1860 through Firth, Pond & Co. in New York. Nonetheless, there was and still is controversy about his ownership of the song. By 1908, four years after Emmett's death, no fewer than 37 (!) people had claimed the song as theirs.
Listen to a 1916 rendition of ‘Dixie’ by the Metropolitan Mixed Chorus with Ada Jones and Billy Murray here:
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2.
‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’, aka ‘Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory’, a marching hymn of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The song was written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe in November 1861 and first published in
The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862 (please see below).
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Interestingly, however, Howe wrote new lyrics to a pre-existing tune
‘John Brown’s Body’, which in turn stems from the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. Moreover, ‘John Brown’s Body’ itself is another hybrid song, using the tune of
’Oh Brother’ and the
‘Glory Glory Hallelujah’ chorus.
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3.
‘All My Trials’, aka ‘All My Sorrows’ or ‘Bahamian Lullaby’, related to African American spirituals. It became popular as a folk song during the social protest movements of the late 1950s and 1960s. The origins of the song are unclear. The first commercial recording was released (as "Bahamian Lullaby") on Bob Gibson's 1956 debut album
Offbeat Folksongs.
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