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When The Saints Go Marching In Meaning

The task of discovering the actual origin of “When the Saints Go Marching In” is a difficult one. The song’s history has sometimes been confused with the origin of “When the Saints ARE Marching In,” written by James M. Black and Katherine Purvis. They are totally different songs.

Louis Armstrong’s recording of “When the Saints Go Marching In” (Decca Records, 1938) is credited with the launch of it’s popularity and with bringing Armstrong to the forefront of the music world. It was a song that Armstrong had sung as a child. He was born in New Orleans on Aug. 4, 1901, in a ghetto at Uptown New Orleans, better known as the “Back of the Town.” His childhood was spent in abjection and hardship.

Over time, many other artists have recorded the song, but with far less success than the “Satchmo” rendition. It seems to appeal to age groups from teens through senior adults. It was recorded in 2013 by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was a New Orleans-style celebration in the White House Monday, Aug. 9, 2010 as the President hosted the 2009 Super Bowl champions, the New Orleans Saints. The team entered the East Room, crowded with members of the media while the U.S. Marine Band appropriately played “When the Saints Go Marching In.” The length of the title has caused some New Orleans residents to simply refer to the song as “Saints.” The melody is traditionally used as a funeral march. While accompanying the coffin to the cemetery, bands play the tune, along with other selections, as a dirge. When returning from the interment, the bands switch to the familiar upbeat or Dixieland style of play.

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Ron Rona, one of the managers of Preservation Hall, a music establishment in the French Quarter in New Orleans since 1961, reported to me that at scheduled times six to eight musicians gather in the hall to play favorite musical selections. The musicians enjoy the sessions as well as the visitors who come to hear their music.

The hall has seating for approximately 100 people. There are two sessions each evening – at 8 and 10 p.m. No drinks or food are served.

The “band,” in addition to playing their own selections, will take requests from the audience. As you can imagine there are requests, again and again, for the groups to play “Saints.” The bands have become so tired and weary of playing that song they now charge each person $20 for requesting it. The “request charge” began as $1 several years ago.

A vast majority of the people in the United States can sing at least a portion of the song.

O when the saints go marching in,

When the saints go marching in,

O Lord, I want to be in that number,

When the saints go marching in.

Wynton Marsalis, a native of New Orleans and one of the Top 10 trumpet players in the world, said of “Saints” in an interview with Charlie Rose, “We play the song as if it were our birthright.” He also remarked, “The chorus speaks of redemption and salvation.”

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“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city.” – Revelation 22:14

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