How come the band doesn't play that song?

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How come the band doesn't play that song?

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It's non-PC.

The band should play the song. It is a good one.


Out

Concur. It's a great song for the FTAB.

I would love to hear it when the PMC marches in.

Also found some interesting back ground on the song posted another site by someone more knowledgeable than me....


Garry Owen As I Understand It

It's Garry Owen with two r's. Here's the explanation of this proud term as I've always understood it.

Garry Owen is more than a song. And it's not a person, as many people might think; it's a place. Translated from the Gaelic, it means "Owen's Garden"and refers to a neighborhood in Limerick, Ireland. Garry Owen (also known as Garryowen) was home to a group of horse soldiers who immigrated to the United States in the mid 1800's and joined the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, the very same regiment that rode with General Geroge Armstrong Custer into the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It's my understanding that the men of the 7th Cavalry adopted the song "Garry Owen," for obvious reasons, around this time and that it has been the regiment's theme song ever since. It's a rousing song, especially when played by tin whistles, fiddles, and other instruments common to Irish/Celtic traditional music.

Members of the 7th Cavalry Regiment often say "Garry Owen" to each other as a greeting and a salutation and an exclamation. This has spread throughout the United States Army's modern 1st Cavalry Division which is the parent unit of the 7th Cavalry Regiment. I first heard "Garry Owen" when I joined the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regimenta famed and storied unit in Vietnamin 1969. You may have seen a sign that read "Garry Owen" and showed the 7th Cavalry Regiment crest in the Movie "We Were Soldiers," which depicted the battle of the Ia Drang Valley that took place in 1965 and was one of the fiercest and costliest battles of the entire Vietnam War.

Of course, units of the 1st Cav bearing the 7th Cavalry Regiment's name are fighting proudly and with great distinction in Iraq today. If you see a soldier in an airport or elsewhere bearing the 1st Cav's crest on his or her sleeve, be sure to greet that soldier with a proud "Garry Owen!" And if you don't get a glimmer of recognition from that (after all, their business is fighting, not historythat will come later!), just say "First Team!"

I am proud to have as my second family all the brothers and sisters of the 7th Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Cavalry Division. I am also especially proud to have had as my Company Commander in Vietnam a man named Patrick J. Keane, then a captain, who actually came from Garry Owen in the town of Limerick, Ireland.

In the movie "We Were Soldiers", referenced above, when the soldiers who had been cut off were returning to the line, the young soldier said "Garry Owen" to Mel Gibson. When I was attached to the 1st Cav at Ankhe in '66 the Garry Owen sign was common. It would be a great song for the band to play during the march-in,

The first years of the modern Cav, we would play it as the Cav passed in review. Someone decided that the theme song of General Custer wasn't the best tune. We switched to "Yellow Rose of Texas".

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Of course, units of the 1st Cav bearing the 7th Cavalry Regiment's name are fighting proudly and with great distinction in Iraq today. If you see a soldier in an airport or elsewhere bearing the 1st Cav's crest on his or her sleeve, be sure to greet that soldier with a proud "Garry Owen!" And if you don't get a glimmer of recognition from that (after all, their business is fighting, not historythat will come later!), just say "First Team!"

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There are lots of non-7th CAV units in 1CD

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The first years of the modern Cav, we would play it as the Cav passed in review. Someone decided that the theme song of General Custer wasn't the best tune. We switched to "Yellow Rose of Texas".

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I like Garry Owen & it is a lot more than the theme song of Custer, but Yellow Rose of Texas is a much better choice for PMC.

I'm not sure it makes a difference to some, but the 7th Cav Rgt had a fairly distinguished record in Viet Nam. Garry Owen would be a good song for PMC.

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Of course, units of the 1st Cav bearing the 7th Cavalry Regiment's name are fighting proudly and with great distinction in Iraq today. If you see a soldier in an airport or elsewhere bearing the 1st Cav's crest on his or her sleeve, be sure to greet that soldier with a proud "Garry Owen!" And if you don't get a glimmer of recognition from that (after all, their business is fighting, not historythat will come later!), just say "First Team!"

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There are lots of non-7th CAV units in 1CD

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Very true.

5th and 8th Cavalry for combined arms battalions
7th and 9th Cavalry for recon squadrons

But still, Garry Owen is pretty much the Division song, and was played at every 1st Cav Division ceremony I've ever attended.

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I like Garry Owen & it is a lot more than the theme song of Custer

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The historic knowledge of the average person listening to the Aggie Band is very, very limited.

Prime example, (then) Major Haney arranged a medley of Civil War tunes that we played often in the mid-70s. And of course, some special snowflake complained, and we had to remove "Dixie" from the medley. What did Haney replace it with?

"Bonnie Blue Flag"

The PC idiots were satisfied. Maybe Major Haney was sharper than I credited him.

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They have now dropped "BONNIE". where will the insanity stop.

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They have now dropped "BONNIE". where will the insanity stop.

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We have Google now, so people don't have to know anything, they can look up "Bonnie Blue Flag."

It was funny while it lasted.

Rara temporum felicitate, ubi sentire quae velis, et quae sentias dicere licet.

It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks.

--- Publius Tacticus (56 117AD), Roman orator, lawyer, senator

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I like Garry Owen & it is a lot more than the theme song of Custer

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The historic knowledge of the average person listening to the Aggie Band is very, very limited.

Prime example, (then) Major Haney arranged a medley of Civil War tunes that we played often in the mid-70s. And of course, some special snowflake complained, and we had to remove "Dixie" from the medley. What did Haney replace it with?

"Bonnie Blue Flag"

The PC idiots were satisfied. Maybe Major Haney was sharper than I credited him.

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They have now dropped "BONNIE". where will the insanity stop.

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Better stop playing the "Yellow Rose" too. It's VERY Confederate.

Perhaps they will stay stupid and drop both "Bonnie Blue Flag" and "Yellow Rose," nevertheless they could still play "Garry Owen"

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Of course, units of the 1st Cav bearing the 7th Cavalry Regiment's name are fighting proudly and with great distinction in Iraq today. If you see a soldier in an airport or elsewhere bearing the 1st Cav's crest on his or her sleeve, be sure to greet that soldier with a proud "Garry Owen!" And if you don't get a glimmer of recognition from that (after all, their business is fighting, not historythat will come later!), just say "First Team!"

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There are lots of non-7th CAV units in 1CD

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Very true.

5th and 8th Cavalry for combined arms battalions
7th and 9th Cavalry for recon squadrons

But still, Garry Owen is pretty much the Division song, and was played at every 1st Cav Division ceremony I've ever attended.

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2-7 is a Combined Arms Battalion also. I have wondered why 1st Cav doesn't just go with the regimental system, with each brigade reflagged with the 5th and 7th Cav, and the last one coming from either the 8th, 9th or 12th, which ever had the most battle history. Of course, 3ID would probably get their panties in a bunch if they had to give up 3-7 to 1CD. Does anyone actually give a hoot about a brigade? Tons of lineage in a regiment.

The Army says a Brigade is the most cost effective unit that is deployable and sustainable.

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The Army says a Brigade is the most cost effective unit that is deployable and sustainable.

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All you have to do is reflag the battalions in each brigade to battalions within one regiment, and call it a regiment instead of a brigade. 2nd and 3rd CR is already done this way. Please name one brigade with the history of any of the Army's true regiments. Maybe the 173rd, but that is about it, and that is a stretch.

Didn't units used to be lumped into regimental combat teams?

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Didn't units used to be lumped into regimental combat teams?

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Yes, I believe they were called that during the Korean War time frame. I know the Cav regiments were referred to as such in Korea.

To answer your question as to why the FTAB doesn't play it for March-ins is the music's timing which is set at 6/8 (six eight) time. This is a pretty brisk (lively) beat to the bar which would make it difficult to work in with the rest of the marches and the normal timing of the Corps marching rhythm.
At least that's my best guess.

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better stop playing Yellow Rose too, it's VERY Confederate

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Actually, I'm surprised the anti-racism folks haven't raised their ugly heads over that one! After all, the Yellow Rose of Texas" referred to a "high yellow" black lady of the night! Ignorance is bliss.

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To answer your question as to why the FTAB doesn't play it for March-ins is the music's timing which is set at 6/8 (six eight) time. This is a pretty brisk (lively) beat to the bar which would make it difficult to work in with the rest of the marches and the normal timing of the Corps marching rhythm.
At least that's my best guess.

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It would be fun to play it and laugh at the CTs trying to keep in step. Seems like that's part of why the Drum and Bugle Corps would pull out things like the theme from Exodus or the theme from Viva Max for some of the formations.

I like the Regimental nomenclature too, just sayin' the Army has other ideas. Back on topic, play "Garry Owen"'when seated and the Aggies are kicking ass and taking names on the field.

The Army's Fife & Drum band plays Garry Owen at parades, including the CJCS transition.

They play it at a little slower cadence than it is usually performed -- the band seems to be able to march to it just fine.

Seems there is some interest in hearing Garry Owen from the FTAB, perhaps some former BQs can persuade them to do it. Are y'all up to the challenge?

Garry Owen
Bonnie Blue Flag
Dixie
Yellow Rose

Play them all!

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Seems there is some interest in hearing Garry Owen from the FTAB, perhaps some former BQs can persuade them to do it. Are y'all up to the challenge?

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Write to the director If you want a change, ask for it.

Let's do it!!! How do we contact the band director?

Garryowen, (one word) from the old 18th century Irish drinking limerick. Loosely translates to 'we're the largest, baddest mechanized formation on the planet. Kneel.'

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To answer your question as to why the FTAB doesn't play it for March-ins is the music's timing which is set at 6/8 (six eight) time. This is a pretty brisk (lively) beat to the bar which would make it difficult to work in with the rest of the marches and the normal timing of the Corps marching rhythm.
At least that's my best guess.

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Except a 6/8 march is beat as if it is a 2/4 march. Marching to it is no more difficult than a 2/4 or cut time 4/4.

Traditional Garry Owen is 6/8 and perfectly fitting to be marched to. Oh, and it doesn't have to be beat any faster than a 2/4, although it usually is when played in a non-marching setting.

A 3/4 "march" is really difficult to march to if one is not used to it, because the down beat moves from the left to the right foot, and then left to right, over and over. The downbeat is the left foot, normally, so when we played one to march the Corps to chow, we enjoyed watching the CTs try to hop step to get to the down beat over and over. It looked like they were skipping down the quad. Devious, we were.

Fat Man told us to "refrain" from its use, but he was smiling at the time, so we played it every time.

Sadly, I don't remember what the 3/4 march was anymore.

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To answer your question as to why the FTAB doesn't play it for March-ins is the music's timing which is set at 6/8 (six eight) time. This is a pretty brisk (lively) beat to the bar which would make it difficult to work in with the rest of the marches and the normal timing of the Corps marching rhythm.
At least that's my best guess.

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Except a 6/8 march is beat as if it is a 2/4 march. Marching to it is no more difficult than a 2/4 or cut time 4/4.

Traditional Garry Owen is 6/8 and perfectly fitting to be marched to. Oh, and it doesn't have to be beat any faster than a 2/4, although it usually is when played in a non-marching setting.

A 3/4 "march" is really difficult to march to if one is not used to it, because the down beat moves from the left to the right foot, and then left to right, over and over. The downbeat is the left foot, normally, so when we played one to march the Corps to chow, we enjoyed watching the CTs try to hop step to get to the down beat over and over. It looked like they were skipping down the quad. Devious, we were.

Fat Man told us to "refrain" from its use, but he was smiling at the time, so we played it every time.

Sadly, I don't remember what the 3/4 march was anymore.

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So does a real cavalry trooper step off with the right front hoof or the left rear hoof ?