Ancient Origin of a Famous Song

It is not generally known that the famous tune sung all over the English speaking world to the works of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" is of quite ancient origin, and has served a remarkable number of functions in the course of its existence. A French writer asserts that it was originally used by the Crusaders, and was led to this belief from having heard it sung by Arabs in Palestine, but the learned Grove says this could not possibly be. "The breadth of phrasing" say the dictionary, "the major mode, and the close on the dominant, are as characteristic of the popular tunes of the time of Louis XIV as they are unlike the un-rhythmical melodies of the middle ages." A tune very similar to this was used by a French soldier after the battle of Malplaquet to satirize the English general, Marlborough, or "Malbrook" as the French called him. In this form it attained wide popularity. It would, however, very likely have been forgotten by now had not Madame Poitrine used it as a lullaby for the infant heir to the French throne in 1781. Marie Antoinette heard the tune, and "Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre" (Malbrook is off to the war) soon became very popular all over France, and was a favorite melody for satirical couplets of all kinds used in French vaudevilles of the period.

The tune had become so closely associated with the French that Beethoven used it in a "Battle Symphony" he once wrote to commemorate the defeat of the French at Vittoria by the allied armies under Wellington. In this piece it was cleverly contrasted with "Rule Britannia" and "God Save the King". Nevertheless the melody seems to have been as popular with the British as it was with the French. It was, probably, first used by them in 1872 at Gibraltar to the words  "D'Artois returns from Spain".

It soon became popular in England after this, and was used chiefly as an instrumental piece for violin or flute, and finally became a teaching piece on the harpsichord. About 1830, however, somebody used the melody for the words, "We Won't Go Home Till Morning", second verse "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow", and from that time on the melody has found its way into very nearly every country under the sun - to say nothing of the seven seas. For wherever Anglo-Saxons gather, from New York to San Francisco, and from London to London by way of Montreal and Melbourne, the tune is always used when they wish to do honor to one of their number.

The Etude Magazine August 1910