Charles Ives - He Is There!

Fifteen years ago today
A little Yankee, little yankee boy
Marched beside his granddaddy
In the decoration day parade
The village band would play
Those old war tunes
And the G. A. R. would shout
"Hip Hip Hooray!" in the same old way
As it sounded on the old camp ground

That boy has sailed o'er the ocean
He is there, he is there, he is there
He's fighting for the right
But when it comes to might
He is there, he is there, he is there;
As the Allies beat up all the warlords!
He'll be there, he'll be there
And then the world will shout
The Battle-cry of Freedom
Tenting on a new camp ground
For it's rally round the Flag boys
Rally once again
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom

Fifteen years ago today
A little Yankee, with a German name
Heard the tale of "forty-eight"
Why his Granddaddy joined Uncle Sam
His fathers fought that medieval stuff
And he will fight it now;
"Hip Hip Hooray! this is the day,"
When he'll finish up that aged job
That boy has sailed o'er the ocean
He is there, he is there, he is there
He's fighting for the right
But when it comes to might
He is there, he is there, he is there;
As the Allies beat up all the warlords!
He'll be there, he'll be there
And then the world will shout
The Battle-cry of Freedom
Tenting on a new camp ground
For it's rally round the Flag boys
Rally once again
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom

There's a time in ev'ry life
When it's do or die, and our yankee boy
Does his bit that we may live
In a world where all may have a "say."
He's conscious always of his country's aim
Which is Liberty for all
"Hip Hip Hooray!" is all he'll say
As he marches to the Flanders front

That boy has sailed o'er the ocean
He is there, he is there, he is there
He's fighting for the right
But when it comes to might
He is there, he is there, he is there;
As the Allies beat up all the warlords!
He'll be there, he'll be there
And then the world will shout
The Battle-cry of Freedom
Tenting on a new camp ground
For it's rally round the Flag boys
Rally once again
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom

Arguably the first modernist composer, Charles Ives (1874-1954) was a solitary figure who composed in obscurity for most of his life. The son of a U.S. Army bandleader, Ives enjoyed a wildly successful career as an insurance executive. In his spare time, he composed music in a wide variety of genres that combined popular song, church hymns, military marches, and European art music in ways that used tone clusters, polytonality, and other techniques decades before they were adopted by European composers.