name that tune

Da-da-da DA da DA da DA-da!

Everyone Knows This Tune, But No One Knows Its Name We exaggerated a little with the title of this newsletter. Some people reading this (maybe you!) know the title of this tune. But many people don't, even though every single person recognizes the music. In fact, we'd wager that more people can name the composer, John Philip Sousa, than can name the title—which is something you can say about the works of only a handful of composers in history. The tune is called "The Washington Post." You also might see it referred to as "The Washington Post March," to clarify people are talking about a song and not the newspaper. If you thought it was called "The Washington Post March," you're better informed than most people, but we'll actually slip you into the category of people who didn't know the true name, on a technicality.   Like the name suggests, the march originated with the paper The Washington Post. Sousa did not compose it for the military or some grand patriotic function like a presidential inauguration. The Post commissioned him to write it so they could play it at an 1889 assembly where they announced the results of a kids' essay contest they hosted.    The younger kids wrote about stuff like flowers and animals. The winning essay in the high school category is available on the Post's site to read today. Mary Priest wrote about the pressures on girls to sacrifice their own desires in the name of duty, which might sound like a modern topic, but the essay takes a twist into 19th-century moralizing. It talks about a friend of Mary's who became a nurse and died treating yellow fever. It concludes that maybe "Saint Helen" should have just stayed home—not for her own sake but because that was the responsibility she owed her father and brother.   The contest aimed to attract newspaper subscriptions, so you might say the march was written to sell papers. If you're a fan of the Post, it's a shame that the tune sort of shed its title as it became more and more well known and public domain over the years. That needn't have happened. Times Square is still known as "Times Square," even though the New York Times had its headquarters there for just one decade, over a century ago.  For more stories behind tunes, check out: "The Clown Song" Was Written as an Epic, Heroic Theme 6 National Anthems That Will Make You Tremble With Fear The Star Wars Prequel Scores Have So Many Clever Clues Daily Digest 13 Canadian History Facts To Read While Drinking Maple Syrup By Jonah N. / November 10th, 2022 The Best Rambo Sequel Is About An 11-Year-Old Boy By JM McNab / November 09th, 2022 Steven Spielberg Paid for David Lynch Cameo in Cheetos By Keegan Kelly / November 09th, 2022 Internet Comedian DESTROYS 'Heckler' for, Uh, Sitting Quietly With His Arms Crossed By Keegan Kelly / November 09th, 2022 Taylor Swift Cast Mike Birbiglia Because He Was The 'Nightmare Son' She Never Had By Keegan Kelly / November 09th, 2022 READ MORE ARTICLES         |         PICTOFACTS         |         Videos   Literally media Ltd. 190 West St, Suite 17B, Brooklyn NY 11222 COPYRIGHT © 2005-2022 Cracked is published by Literally media Ltd. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.   ONE CRACKED FACT | View in browser