Every song tells a story, but in today’s Appalachian Moments blog post we discover the inspiration and true meaning of some old time and bluegrass standards that might surprise you!
The song mystery we’ll lend an ear to today is Soldier’s Joy.
Even though the song Soldier’s Joy is thought of as an American classic, its origins date back over 200 years and across the Atlantic to Scotland and Ireland. Some have connected the lyrics to Robert Burns in Scotland circa late 1700’s:
‘Til leveled from their hopes on high
Beneath your feet the victims lie
Then love and wine each hour employ
For such shall be the Soldier’s Joy.
And while you might consider a soldier’s joy to be anything from love and wine or even just a dry campsite, turns out that this upbeat and catchy tune developed a much darker meaning, thanks mainly to updated lyrics from the Civil War.
Once a soldier was wounded, medical personnel on the battlefield bandaged the soldier as fast they could, giving him whiskey (to minimize the shock) and then morphine via a syringe for the pain. We’ll let the new lyrics to the song take it from here to help explain:
Gimme some of that Soldier’s Joy, you know what I mean
I don’t want to hurt no more, my leg is turning green.
Twenty five cents for whiskey, twenty five cents for beer
Twenty five cents for morphine, get me out of here
One sad truth from that conflict is that many combatants died from their wounds or from disease than were killed in action during the war between the states, with or without a Soldier’s Joy.
Turns out today’s opioid epidemic is nothing new. Morphine was first extracted from opium in the early 1800s and named for Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams, and by the way, in case you didn’t know, it is highly addictive.
In fact, conservative estimates list that over 200,000 Civil War soldiers became hooked on the drug and took home what people called “The Army Disease” of opioid addiction that lasted for a generation.
So, despite being a lively tune, Soldier’s Joy ends up being a dark and cautionary tale about the ravages of war on those who wage it.
Thanks for taking the time to travel back into history with us and for liking, sharing and commenting on this post!