Pete Seeger performing "John Brown's Body":

And Orson Welles on John Brown, Julia Howe and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic":

-- GloverWright - 9 Feb 2010

Thanks, Glover!

On a related note, you can't mention the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" without mentioning Elvis.

I've always thought the seamless shift from "Dixie" to "Battle Hymn" is pretty cool. -- RonMazor - 9 Feb 2010 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo's_letter_to_the_London_News_regarding_John_Brown As the link says, this is Victor Hugo responding to the John Brown situation - focusing in large part on the trial. It's included in the wikipedia biography of John Brown, but it's easy to miss. I'm including it here because it's a contemporary media reaction. As Moglen said, we'll eventually get around to discussing "that terrorist John Brown" - but before the general narrative coalesced to that point there was a lot of support for his actions, or at least intentions poorly implemented. It's interesting how "the facts of history" are often bowlderized in the name of a cohesive story. Law students aren't the only ones who would prefer a foolish consistency to a confused and confusing situation.

Ron - that was just an awesome rendition. Like you said, the transition is seamless and that really belies the juxtaposition of the songs. -- StephenSevero - 15 Feb 2010