Songs of the American Revolution
- October 15, 2025: The World Turned Upside Down
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And of course I used the piano script from 42 Astounding Scripts to create a MIDI file and then GarageBand to make a slideshow of the Revolution.
One of the most enduring stories about the American Revolution is that of Lord Cornwallis’s surrender to George Washington at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. It was the beginning of the end of the revolution; all that was left were long negotiations for a peace treaty. As the British Army left the field on October 19, their band showed their confusion and dejection at having been beaten by a bunch of wild colonial boys by playing the then-popular song “The World Turned Upside Down (PDF File, 560.9 KB)”.
A Sestercentennial Year
- Battle of Bennington
- Upside Down Yorktown ⬅︎
- Cherry Valley Massacre
- Battle of the Kegs
- Sestercentennial Cookery
- The New Colossus
I thought it would be kind of cool to do the music for “The World Turned Upside Down” using the
pianoscript from 42 Astounding Scripts and Automations for the Macintosh. I didn’t know the song’s lyrics or its melody. All I knew was its title and the story of its use.It turns out practically no one knows it. “The World Turned Upside Down” may be the most famous song in American history that practically no one knows. I’m not the only person who has noticed this. While I was searching for period sheet music, I ran across Dennis Montgomery’s similar observation on American Revolution.org:
More American Revolution
- Cherry Valley: A Massacre of the Revolution
- Mel Gibson’s The Patriot is disparaged for the ruthlessness it portrays among the British. But such barbarity certainly did exist. One massacre by British troops is still remembered by the residents of Cherry Valley, New York.
- The World Turned Upside Down
- The legend of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington at Yorktown says that the band played “The World Turned Upside Down”. It probably didn’t. But we’re going to print the legend anyway.
- Our lot is cast in this happy land…
- Samuel B. Young’s August 16, 1819, Oration to commemorate the 1777 Battle of Bennington.
- Battles of the Revolution
- Sources from well-known and lesser-known battles of the American Revolution.
More folk music
- The World Turned Upside Down
- The legend of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington at Yorktown says that the band played “The World Turned Upside Down”. It probably didn’t. But we’re going to print the legend anyway.
More music history
- Let mortal tongues awake
- Samuel Francis Smith’s America—more commonly known as “My Country, ’Tis of Thee”— is short, direct, and a wonderful hymn to God as the soul of liberty. It’s a perfect hymn for the Fourth of July. It’s also very easy to play using the piano script from 42 Astounding Scripts.