"Face the music"

[panache45]

To “face the music” means to be confronted with the unpleasant consequences of one’s actions. How did that meaning come about? What music is it referring to?

[Doctor_Who]

But now it’s time to face the music about “face the music,” which is to say that no one knows exactly where the phrase came from. We do know that it dates back to the mid-1800s and is probably American in origin.

Some authorities believe that “face the music” comes from the musical theater, and refers to the pit orchestra that the actors or performers must face while they are on stage. “Facing the music,” in this scenario, would be an allusion to actors’ dogged determination to go on with the show in spite of the stage fright felt by many performers.

Another popular theory traces “face the music” to the military, possibly to a ceremony stripping a soldier of his rank to the accompaniment of a military band. This explanation is not impossible, but etymologist Robert Claiborne has come up with another one that strikes me as much more likely. The “music,” Claiborne theorizes, may have been a sardonic reference to either the gunfire of battle or the loud reprimands issued by officers, either of which would be very difficult to face.

That’s from here about halfway down the page. A quick look around google turns up pretty much the same results.

[Doctor_Who]

This site has a little more detail:

So far as we can discover, the expression was originally an American one. The first recorded use is in the Congressional Globe for 4 March 1850: “There should be no skulking or dodging … every man should ‘face the music’ ”. It seems then to have had the meaning of facing hardship or danger. Only in the 1860s did it take on the sense it now usually has, of taking the consequences of one’s action, or suffering due punishment for some transgression.

It seems to suddenly burst into popular consciousness in 1850, with many examples to be found in the years that immediately follow (this suggests an origin as a catchphrase in popular writing or music, but none has been traced). One school of thought says that it comes from musical theatre. A nervous or inexperienced performer would have to summon up all his courage to face the audience, which would require him also to face the musicians in the orchestra pit, a cynical and world-weary group who had seen everything.

A second theory is that it is of military origin, though no two writers agree on what that might be. Explanations include a soldier taking his place in the ranks during an assembly, so facing the military band; a cavalry man trying to keep his restless horse quiet while the band is playing; or a soldier being drummed out of his regiment.

[panache45]

Could the possible military origin be taken a step further? I’m thinking of a drumbeat or other music, accompanying a firing squad.

[Rhubarb]

[QUOTE=panache45]
Could the possible military origin be taken a step further? I’m thinking of a drumbeat or other music, accompanying a firing squad.
[/QUOTE]

This was my thought also, but I think I may have gotten the idea from old movies.

There is also a line in Starship Troopers, the book, not the movie or the song, where there is an execution of a deserter. Heinlein alludes to the execution by saying “they played the (some song title like Danny Deever)”. My memory is failing me. Does anyone else recall this passage?

[Rhubarb]

[QUOTE=Rhubarb]
This was my thought also, but I think I may have gotten the idea from old movies.

There is also a line in Starship Troopers, the book, not the movie or the song, where there is an execution of a deserter. Heinlein alludes to the execution by saying “they played the (some song title like Danny Deever)”. My memory is failing me. Does anyone else recall this passage?
[/QUOTE]

Google is my friend.

It is Danny Deever, and it’s a Kipling reference. In the poem, Kipling references playing the Dead March. And that’s what I’ve always taken “face the music” to mean.