and printed and sold in great numbers for decades before and after the War of 18 12. Newspaper printers of this time found that issuing broadsides from their sometimes-idle presses generated welcome extra income and also closely tied them to the word on the streets, where news and gossip were flyi ng. A songster, as defined by scholars of early Am erican music, is a bound collection of broadsides-usually much smaller than a typical single broadside (in order to fit into one's pocket), ye t often made up of dozens, if not hundreds, of sets oflyrics. While a broadside told of a particular event or hero (or sometimes rwo on that single sh eet-what a bargain!), so ngsters were topical. The co mpiler gathered many related songs in to one place and marketed it to a specific audience. For example, The Columbian Naval Melody (Boston, 1813) was clearly marketed to sailors and patriots alike, people wishing to extol America's virtues and military glory. People today sometimes forget that the term "Columbia" was often used back then synonymously with America or the United States; we are reminded of this today on Columbus Day, or when we remember that Washington is the District of Columbia, perhaps. Songsters continued to provide musical news through the C ivil Wa r era and both wo rld wars for soldiers, families, and lots of other Americans. Why did so ngsters fall our of fas hion then ? Radio, so und recording, television, and Hollywood were beginning to usurp the live performance of so ng as its standard format. With the forgoing definitions and musical context in place, the next part of this article will focus on one form of musical dissemination-the broadside. For whil e sheet music has brought the news to wealthy Americans, and newspape rs and songsters clearly played a gigantic role for the middle classes as well as the wealthy, the broadside served as a central communicator to the m asses. My favor ite song of this era appea rs on several broadsides. It unfolds chronologically, in a lengthy and detailed fashion, under the apt title: A New Song on the Causes-Beginning, Events, End, and Consequences of the Late W'tir with Great Britain. You cannot ask for a more clear and descripti ve tide than this. Apparently written in 1815 and published several times in New York and elsewhere, it recounts the whole story of the War of 181 2 over the co urse of twenty-one verses (yes, rwe nty-one-remember fo lks were then eager for detail and no t rushing off to check email or FaceBook status updates). The author of these lyrics was Silas Ballou of New Hampshire (1753- 1837), and he chose a popular melody, "The Girl I Left Behind Me." If you are unable to bring this tune to mind, yo u clearly should spend more time listening to fife, drum , and bugle corps, hanging out at folk festivals, or attending traditional square dances and C ivil War reenactments. 3 Ballou's summary account is acc urate but tinged with his own religious interpretation, not surprising, as he was a comp iler of hymns and active in the American Universalist Church . His very o peni ng verse is both religious and nationalistic:
Old England forty years ago, When we were young and slender, 3 My re nd ition of selected verses from this song is avai lable on the NMHS website
at www.seah iscory.org.
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She aim'd at us a mortal blow, But God was our defender. Jehovah saw her horrid plan, Great Washington he gave us, His holiness inspired the man, With power and skill to save us. Moving quickly through the post-Revolutionary indignities of impress ment and the utter violation of sailors' rights and free trade, the listener is reminded that:
We'll make old England's children know, We are the brave descendants, Of those who flogg'd their fathers so, And gained our independence. (v. 5) Details increasingly paint the brutal scenes of war. From the description of enemy cas ualties we learn that:
From George's Fort to Erie's beach, Our savage foes were beaten Their naked bones were left to bleach, When wolves their flesh had eaten. (v. 13) Verse 15 addresses the torching of the Library of Congress and other public buildings in Washington as a "shameful story" in which:
They burnt the volumes which compris'd The best of information Their barb'rous deeds will be despis'd By every Christian nation. Throughout this song, Ballou underscores American pride in Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and "D ecatur, [Isaac] Hull, and Bainbridge, dear" (v.7), while vilifying not just the enemy but American General William Hull for his horrible tactical errors at Detroit. Increasingly towards the final verses, this song provides colorful descriptions of the enemy soldiers, citing "thei r vile intrusion" and that they "fled in sad confusion" as we had met them "o n tow'ring waves with co urage, skill and splendo r." At most every turn, Americans are smart and fast and brave, often o utnumbered yet victorious-the cause is true, supported by God and the blessings of deceased heroes of the Revolutionary War. I invite yo u to read through and co nsider the other verses depicted on page 19 and then ask yourself: How is this similar to or different from the way we are presented the news today? H ow might such a song h ave been written by the British? Honestly, there would have bee n little popular interest in such a summary telling of their mostly unsuccessful interaction wi th the U nited States, 18 12- 1815 . Afte r signing the treaty, Brito ns were sim ply rel ieved that hostilities in North America had concluded , and ifanything they wo uld rather sin g abo ut the past glo ryofLord Nelson at Trafalgar and the fin al defeat of Napoleon. Period. Yet there was o ne signifi cant British naval victory of this era, just off American waters, that jarred British songwriters into action-the British frigate Shannon's taking of the American frigate Chesapeake, on 13 June 181 3. SEA HISTORY 139, SUMMER2012