Something for the weekend. Written in 1843, by Thomas a Becket, yeah, the name is correct, with lyrics by David Shaw, Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean was probably the most popular patriotic ballad of the Nineteenth Century. A fitting song for a Memorial Day weekend.
OÂ Columbia! the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot’s devotion,
A world offers homage to thee;
Thy mandates make heroes assemble,
When Liberty’s form stands in view;
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the red, white, and blue,
When borne by the red, white, and blue,
When borne by the red, white, and blue,
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the red, white and blue.
When war wing’d its wide desolation,
And threaten’d the land to deform,
The ark then of freedom’s foundation,
Columbia rode safe thro’ the storm;
With her garlands of vict’ry around her,
When so proudly she bore her brave crew;
With her flag proudly floating before her,
The boast of the red, white and blue,
The boast of the red, white and blue,
The boast of the red, white, and blue,
With her flag proudly floating before her,
The boast of the red, white and blue.
The star spangled banner bring hither,
O’er Columbia’s true sons let it wave;
May the wreaths they have won never wither,
Nor its stars cease to shine on the brave.
May thy service united ne’er sever,
But hold to the colors so true;
The army and navy forever,
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!
The army and navy forever,
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!
Soundslike a relative of mine. 😉
When I hear this, I see Popeye beating the stuffing out of Bluto. Sign of my age, I guess.
That’s where I first heard the tune also. Those old Popeye cartoons were great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miw_Jw7j2sE
Hey – somebody put up an old comment of mine under my previous commenting name. I suspect a certain Donald R. McClarey. :lol
But yes, I claim St. Thomas a Becket as an ancestor – why not ? Who can disprove it? My great grand parents & previous generations lived in London for centuries..
Hey, cool! I had half assumed this song to be merely extracted from The Music Man. I first learned this–the first verse, anyway–as a chorus member in an amateur production of that musical when I was 14.
Great to see it had more background than that.
Glad I’m not the only one who remembers this from Popeye.