# American History X Song

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-history-x-song/116891>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 1, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-history-x-song/116891 "2002-07-01T20:02:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-history-x-song/116891/1 "2002-07-01T20:02:45Z")

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In the scene where the morbidly obese character is singing along to that racist song (“My eyes have seen the glory of the tramplin’ at the zoo…”), what’s the name of that song, and the original artist? Much thanks.

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**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-history-x-song/116891/2 "2002-07-01T20:15:36Z")

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Off to Cafe Society.

**DrMatrix** - General Questions Moderator

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**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-history-x-song/116891/3 "2002-07-02T00:19:14Z")

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I haven’t seen the film, but based on the lyrics, it’s probably that old standby _The Battle Hymn of the Republic_, written by Julia W. Howe in 1862.

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**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-history-x-song/116891/4 "2002-07-02T00:24:40Z")

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…but she only wrote the lyrics. The song previously appeared as _John Brown’s Body_ in 1859, and first as a Methodist hymn called _Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us?_ The music was written by William Steffe.

_Battle Hymn_ begins with the line “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

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**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-history-x-song/116891/5 "2002-07-02T02:33:56Z")

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It’s a skinhead chant to the tune of “The Battle Hymm of the Republic” known as “The White Man Marches On”. Some skinhead types attribute it to long standing white supremacist musician/moron Johnny Rebel, although I couldn’t find any confirmation of that.

Now, I believe I’ll have a bath and wash the ick off.