From Waterloo To The Somme - Brass Band - LM774

COMPOSER : Traditional, Rossini, Will D. Cobb & Frederic Weatherly

ARRANGER : Laurie Johnston

A great collection of war songs from The Battle of Waterloo to The Somme

The four main melodies in this piece are..

1 Over the hills and Far Away.

This song dates back as far as Queen Anne but was popular among soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars. Probably the most well known version these days is that by John Tams from the television series Sharpe.

2 The Green Hills of Tyrol.

This is one of the oldest tunes played by pipe bands today although originally written by Rossini for the William Tell ballet music. Pipe major John MacLeod of the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders heard it played by a Sardinian Military band during the Crimean War and transcribed it for pipes as a tribute to the number of VC's won by Scottish regiments in this conflict. It became very well known when Andy Stewart took the tune for his song The Scottish Soldier.

3 Goodbye Dolly Gray.

This is a music hall song by Will D. Cobb and was popularised as a Boer War anthem. It was written during the earlier Spanish - American and held it's popularity through to the first world war.

4 Roses of Picardy.

Written by Frederick Wetherly in 1916 it became a very big hit with the soldiers fighting in the trenches. Picardy is a region of northern France where the Somme battlefields are to be found which among other things possibly accounts for the songs great popularity. It sold on average 50.000 copies a month during the great war.