marko
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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- Mar 16, 2011
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I posted this once before a few years ago but this Friday will mark the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's famous ride. Thought some of you might appreciate a break from the tariff threads.
Connections:
This is the true story connecting Paul Revere, a Nobel Peace Prize and a Number One hit song.
We’re all familiar with Longfellow’s poem “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” who set out to warn the Boston countryside about the impending arrival of British troops. While historically inaccurate, the poem solidified Revere’s name in history even though he was more of a composite of several men (and one woman) who rode that night.
Well beyond and after his famous “Midnight Ride” Paul had an amazing life and career as a silversmith, engraver, statesman and businessman. There’s an entire town named after him among other notables, including siring 16 children! In fact, many of his descendants still live in Massachusetts to this day; a few of them, yes, named Paul Revere!
What is not so well known is that Revere did not ride alone on his way to Lexington and Concord. There were several other riders who headed out that night to alert other towns along different routes and Revere headed out of Boston with two others. In fact, while Revere was able to get as far as Lexington, he was stopped and detained outside of town by the British Army and never completed his intended route to Concord. (Today, there’s a roadside marker commemorating the place where he was captured).
What happened was this: Just after midnight, Revere and his two fellow riders approached a contingent of British soldiers at a Lexington checkpoint. They knew they were in trouble. They were spotted and the three of them scattered in different directions. Only Revere was detained. In the confusion, the two others were not captured.
One of the two was a man by the name of William Dawes. He rode into a field, was thrown from his horse, the horse took off and Dawes ended up walking back to Lexington on foot. His role the rest of that evening is a bit murky but he continued in later weeks and months as a patriot actively involved in the cause for American independence. He was eventually commissioned as a major in the Boston militia regiment and acted as quartermaster. He died in 1799.
But his story does not end there.
Mr Dawes’ great-great grandson was a fellow by the name of Charles Dawes. He was born 90 years after the famous ride in 1865 and over time became a successful businessman. Eventually he ended up in politics and under President Harding was appointed to the Allied Reparations Project to help Germany restore its economy after World War I. This led to what was known as the “Dawes Plan” and his work on this earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.
In 1925, Charles became Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge.
After leaving politics he went back to his business interests and died in 1951 at the age of 85.
But the story does not end there!
It seems that back in 1912, Charles wrote an instrumental titled “Melody in A Major” for violin. It was a minor popular song at the time and was largely forgotten. Forty years later in 1951 a fellow by the name of Carl Sigman added lyrics to the song and renamed it “It’s All in the Game” (many a tear has to fall, but it’s all in the game) where, in 1958 it sat for six weeks as the number one hit on American Billboard’s charts.
So, that’s the whole story connecting Paul Revere, a Nobel Prize and a #1 hit song.
Mr Dawes and Bob Dylan share the distinction of being the only Nobel Prize winners and #1 song writers as well as being the only other member of Congress and a #1 song writer with Sonny Bono.
"It's All in the Game" also holds a significant place in music history as the first song by an African-American artist to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 100.
Connections:
This is the true story connecting Paul Revere, a Nobel Peace Prize and a Number One hit song.
We’re all familiar with Longfellow’s poem “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” who set out to warn the Boston countryside about the impending arrival of British troops. While historically inaccurate, the poem solidified Revere’s name in history even though he was more of a composite of several men (and one woman) who rode that night.
Well beyond and after his famous “Midnight Ride” Paul had an amazing life and career as a silversmith, engraver, statesman and businessman. There’s an entire town named after him among other notables, including siring 16 children! In fact, many of his descendants still live in Massachusetts to this day; a few of them, yes, named Paul Revere!
What is not so well known is that Revere did not ride alone on his way to Lexington and Concord. There were several other riders who headed out that night to alert other towns along different routes and Revere headed out of Boston with two others. In fact, while Revere was able to get as far as Lexington, he was stopped and detained outside of town by the British Army and never completed his intended route to Concord. (Today, there’s a roadside marker commemorating the place where he was captured).
What happened was this: Just after midnight, Revere and his two fellow riders approached a contingent of British soldiers at a Lexington checkpoint. They knew they were in trouble. They were spotted and the three of them scattered in different directions. Only Revere was detained. In the confusion, the two others were not captured.
One of the two was a man by the name of William Dawes. He rode into a field, was thrown from his horse, the horse took off and Dawes ended up walking back to Lexington on foot. His role the rest of that evening is a bit murky but he continued in later weeks and months as a patriot actively involved in the cause for American independence. He was eventually commissioned as a major in the Boston militia regiment and acted as quartermaster. He died in 1799.
But his story does not end there.
Mr Dawes’ great-great grandson was a fellow by the name of Charles Dawes. He was born 90 years after the famous ride in 1865 and over time became a successful businessman. Eventually he ended up in politics and under President Harding was appointed to the Allied Reparations Project to help Germany restore its economy after World War I. This led to what was known as the “Dawes Plan” and his work on this earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.
In 1925, Charles became Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge.
After leaving politics he went back to his business interests and died in 1951 at the age of 85.
But the story does not end there!
It seems that back in 1912, Charles wrote an instrumental titled “Melody in A Major” for violin. It was a minor popular song at the time and was largely forgotten. Forty years later in 1951 a fellow by the name of Carl Sigman added lyrics to the song and renamed it “It’s All in the Game” (many a tear has to fall, but it’s all in the game) where, in 1958 it sat for six weeks as the number one hit on American Billboard’s charts.
So, that’s the whole story connecting Paul Revere, a Nobel Prize and a #1 hit song.
Mr Dawes and Bob Dylan share the distinction of being the only Nobel Prize winners and #1 song writers as well as being the only other member of Congress and a #1 song writer with Sonny Bono.
"It's All in the Game" also holds a significant place in music history as the first song by an African-American artist to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 100.
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