Over There

According to the Library of Congress, Cohan wrote "Over There" during his commute to work on April 7, 1917,{{Cite web |last=Whitfield |first=Sarah K. |date=2021 |title='Over There' – Nora Bayes (1917) |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Over-There_Whitfield.pdf |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=Library of Congress}} a day after the U.S. officially abandoned their policy of non-interventionism and joined the Allied Powers. Its opening verse is derived from "Johnny, Get Your Gun", an 1886 song written by Monroe Rosenfeld, while its rhythm was based on a three-note bugle call.{{Cite web |title=Over There |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200000015/ |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Library of Congress}}

Cohan personally chose Nora Bayes to premiere "Over There" in June 1917,{{Cite podcast |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/06/01/531004379/over-there-at-100 |title='Over There' At 100 |website=Morning Edition |publisher=NPR |host=Rachel Martin |date=2017-06-01 |access-date=2024-10-14}} but the Peerless Quartet recorded it first on June 6 with Columbia Records.{{Cite web |title=Over there |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-656848/ |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}} Bayes's rendition released on July 13. Though early tests with soldiers saw lukewarm reception, the song was very popular with the civilian public. Other versions recorded by Billy Murray, the American Quartet, and Arthur Fields were also made. President Woodrow Wilson described it as "a genuine inspiration to all American manhood". By the end of 1918, over 2 million copies of sheet music were sold.

Though written and intended for World War I, the song has been revived on various occasions during and after World War II. It was not heavily used during the Vietnam War, but it regained some popularity in the 21st century after the September 11 attacks and during the war on terror.*{{cite book|last=Collins|first=Ace|title= Songs Sung, Red, White, and Blue: The Stories Behind America's Best-Loved Patriotic Songs |url=https://archive.org/details/songssungredwhit00coll/page/138|url-access=registration|publisher=HarperResource|year= 2003|isbn= 0060513047|pages=138–145 |access-date=2022-04-29 |via=Internet Archive}}

File:17-cohan-overthere.jpg]]

File:Over There 1.jpg

As sung by early 20th-century recording artist Billy Murray:

{{poemquote|Verse 1

Johnny,{{Efn|"Johnny" is a very common English given name and is used to address any anonymous man or men.}} get your gun, get your gun, get your gun.

Take it on the run, on the run, on the run.

Hear them calling you and me,

Every Son of Liberty.

Hurry right away, no delay, go today.

Make your daddy glad to have had such a lad.

Tell your sweetheart not to pine,

To be proud her boy's in line.

Verse 2

Johnny, get your gun, get your gun, get your gun.

Johnny, show the Hun you're a son of a gun.

Hoist the flag and let her fly;

Yankee Doodle,{{Efn|Also sung as "Like true heroes..."{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzzAEFVyd4YC&pg=PA17 |title=Reading Lyrics: More than a Thousand of the Finest Lyrics from 1900 to 1975 |editor1-first=Robert |editor1-last=Gottlieb |editor2-first=Robert |editor2-last=Kimball |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=New York |isbn=9780375400810 |page=17 |year=2000 |access-date=2022-04-29 |via=Google Books}}}} do or die.

Pack your little kit, show your grit, do your bit.

Yankee{{Efn|Also sung as "Soldiers..."}} to the ranks from the towns and the tanks.{{Efn|Short for "tank town", meaning any town so small its primary purpose was to provide water for steam locomotives.}}

Make your mother proud of you

And the old red, white, and blue.{{Efn|Also sung as "And to liberty be true."}}

Chorus

Over there, over there,

Send the word, send the word over there

That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,

The drums rum-tumming everywhere.

So prepare, say a prayer,

Send the word, send the word to beware –

We'll be over, we're coming over,

And we won't come back till it's over, over there.}}

• Since 2009, UK financial services comparison website Go.Compare has used an adapted version of the song for their adverts, sung by Wynne Evans.{{cite web |url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/gocompare-creates-opera-singer-comparethemarkets-meerkat/927523 |first=Fiona |last=Ramsay |title=GoCompare creates opera singer to take on Comparethemarket's meerkat |work=campaign.co.uk |date=18 August 2009 |access-date=18 January 2024 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/go-compare-most-annoying-man-9723580 |title=Go Compare: The most annoying man on telly is back |first=Karen |last=Price |date=26 July 2015|work=WalesOnline |access-date=18 January 2024 }}
• The song provides the introduction to the Kanonenfieber song "The Yankee Division March" (with Trevor Strnad).{{cite news |url=https://www.metal1.info/metal-reviews/kanonenfieber-yankee-division-ep/ |title=Passend zum EP-Titel startet der Quasi-Titeltrack "The Yankee Division March" mit dem in beiden Weltkriegen populären Song "Over There" (George M. Cohan), der vom Einmarsch der "Yanks" kündet|first=Moritz|last=Grütz|date=26 July 2015|work=Metal 1|access-date=18 January 2024 }}
• In the video game Hell Let Loose, set in World War II, the song plays when the Allies faction wins a match.{{cite web |last1=Saltz |first1=J. D. |title=Welcome to Hell [Let Loose] |url=https://bigbossbattle.com/hell-let-loose-review/ |website=Big Boss Battle (B3) |date=7 September 2021}}

• List of best-selling sheet music

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Wikisource}}

• [https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-24786/ Nora Bayes recording July 13, 1917], via U.S. Library of Congress, National Jukebox
• [http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/overthere.htm Vintage Audio: Over There]
• [https://archive.org/download/BillyMurray_part3/BillyMurray-OverThere.mp3 Rendition by Billy Murray and quartet]
• [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/OVER%20THERE.pdf Library of Congress essay] on recording on the National Recording Registry.
• [https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/ShtMus/id/1273 Sheet music for "Over There"], Leo Feist, Inc., 1917.
• [https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200000015/ Over There from Patriotic Melodies]

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{{Nora Bayes}}

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Category:1917 songs

Category:American patriotic songs

Category:Songs about the military

Category:Songs of World War I

Category:Billy Murray (singer) songs

Category:Songs written by George M. Cohan

Category:Nora Bayes songs

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients

Category:Songs used as jingles

Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings

Category:American military marches