Battle Hymn of John Brown's Baby (E&J)

David Hopkins hopkat at sa2.so-net.ne.jp
Wed Dec 15 19:16:51 EST 1999


There are, of course, several "folk" versions of this tune that are not 
particularly patriotic, the most famous of which is certainly "John Brown's 
Body." One of them goes like this:

John Brown's baby has a cold upon his chest
John Brown's baby has a cold upon his chest
John Brown's baby has a cold upon his chest
So he rubbed it with camphorated oil.

(I'm not making this up!)
This is, oddly, the version that came to Japan as


権兵衛さんのあかちゃんが風邪ひいた (x3)
そこで慌てて湿布した。

So I wouldn't look for much political meaning in its use in the movie.

David Hopkins




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