Significance of Union Music Today
Songs created by, or for the Union typically became patriotic classics, and were added to a larger group of patriotic songs.
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" was typically a natural vehicle for presidential election campaigns.
Supposedly the greatest use of the tune was in "Solidarity Forever," a song for the Union in 1915, stating the struggle between the working class and the employing class. Workers built the cities and buildings yet they are poor and starving despite the work they have done.
- In the 1900 campaign of Eugene V. Debs, the lines "Hail the social revolution! Cheer the peaceful revolution!" were part of the chorus to his parody of the original tune.
Supposedly the greatest use of the tune was in "Solidarity Forever," a song for the Union in 1915, stating the struggle between the working class and the employing class. Workers built the cities and buildings yet they are poor and starving despite the work they have done.
- The patriotic and unifying idea that "John Brown's Body" conveyed made it the ideal vehicle for "Solidarity Forever" to put itself in, inspiring workers to fight for their cause.