"Rainbow Division March"
by Arthur Pryor's Band
Poster courtesy of the Library of Congress |
The parades of returning troops seemed to be endless. When a new troop ship arrived, there was another parade and, of course, the accompanying marching bands and the marches they played to lead the boys home. Some of the first musical products of the victory were the marches produced to honor the army, the navy, the marines, the generals, the heroes, victory itself, liberty, and on and on. "The Rainbow Division March" was written to honor the ménage of National Guard units cobbled together by then Col. Douglas MacArthur in order to get semi-prepared troops to the battlefields of France a little more quickly. The 42nd Division that he created, he said, was made of units that spanned the nation "like a rainbow." Being Douglas MacArthur, of course, he said it to reporters and the name stuck. It was, coincidentally, one of the most decorated units in the A.E.F. The march is not a Sousa rouser, but it is an excellent composition by an Italian composer. As such it has the feel of a European march in the style of Kenneth Alford of "Colonel Bogey" fame or the renowned "Radetsky March." That small quirk of style is a subtle irony for a march honoring America's best. The euphoria attendant on the rest of the recordings manifests itself in a self-congratulatory rush of recordings. There is no further need for messages and manipulation to sell the war. The only purpose for these songs is to celebrate. Yet, while celebrating, the songs seem to take on an oracular nature, cataloguing the issues of the coming decade and forecasting the losses they will incur.
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