"When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as "The Saints", is an American gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. The precise origins of the song are not known. Though it originated as a Christian hymn, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz band. The song is sometimes confused with a similarly titled composition "When the Saints are Marching In" from 1896 by Katharine Purvis (lyrics) and James Milton Black (music).
Read more about When The Saints Go Marching In: Uses, Lyrics, Analysis of The Traditional Lyrics
Famous quotes containing the words marching in, when the, saints and/or marching:
“A common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Most writers steal a good thing when they can,
And when ‘tis safely got ‘tis worth the winning.
The worst of ‘t is we now and then detect ‘em,
Before they ever dream that we suspect ‘em.”
—Bryan Waller Proctor (1787–1874)
“O cunning enemy, that to catch a saint,
With saints doth bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The Saints come,
as human as a mouth,
with a bag of God in their backs,
like a hunchback,
they come,
they come marching in.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)