The Wikipedia entry:"American Patrol" is a popular march written by F.W. Meacham in 1885. Written originally for piano, it was then arranged for wind band and published by Carl Fischer in 1891. Meacham's widow renewed the copyright in 1912. It was later arranged for Glenn Miller's swing band by Jerry Gray, and was also arranged by composer Morton Gould. It incorporates melodies from other patriotic American songs of the era such as "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" and "Dixie".
"American Patrol" was popular in both the Great War and World War II.
Glenn Miller made it swing baby, yeah:
It's been used in a lot of movies, I think, but I'm only finding Radio Days and Swing Shift,
ReplyDeleteI'm also thinking it was used in Foyle's War, one of my favorite high-brow television series.
It was used in something I saw on television, recently, I believe. But I can't remember what it was exactly.
ReplyDeleteKen Burns used the tune in his PBS mini-series "The Roosevelts." If I'm not mistaken, the scene was when Teddy Roosevelt had just initiated the U.S. involvement in building the Panama Canal. I thought the tune sounded out-of-place because I had associated it with Glenn Miller and WWII, until I learned it dates back to 1885.
ReplyDelete