William Booth was the English Methodist minister who, along with his wife, founded the Salvation Army in 1865. The charitable organization established a military-like structure, and the highest ranking officer, the “General,” is purported to be chosen by God.
Booth’s death in 1912 inspired American poet Vachel Lindsay to write a colorful ballad depicting the General’s entry into heaven. It is a grand procession which “Booth led boldly with his big bass drum,” flanked by a parade of society’s outcasts. (“Drabs from the alleyways, drug fiends pale”). Upon meeting Christ, their worldly afflictions are healed.
Charles Ives’ 1914 song, General William Booth Enters into Heaven, begins with the thud of the bass drum. The refrain, “Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” rises with a quote of the hymn melody, There is a Fountain. Glorious cacophony gives way to mystery. A tonal center emerges at the song’s transcendent climax (“Jesus came from out the court house door”). The vocal line drifts away in quiet, dreamy counterpoint with the hymn tune. Following a final statement of the refrain, the drumbeats fade into silence.
Booth led boldly with his big bass drum
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
The Saints smiled gravely and they said, “He’s come.”
(Washed in the blood of the Lamb, the blood of the Lamb.)Walking lepers followed rank on rank,
Lurching bravos from the ditches dank
Drabs from the alleyways, drug fiends pale
Minds still passion ridden, soul flowers frail:
Vermin eaten saints with moldy breath,
Unwashed legions with the ways of Death
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)Ev’ry slum had sent its half a score
The round world over (Booth had groaned for more).
Ev’ry banner that the wide world flies
Bloomed with glory and transcendent dyes,
Big voiced lasses made their banjoes bang,
Tranced, fanatical they shrieked and sang;
“Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”Hallelujah, Lord! It was queer to see
Bull necked convicts with that land make free.
Loons with trumpets blown a blare, blare, blare,
On, on, upward thro’ the golden air!
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)Jesus came from out the court house door,
Stretched his hands above the passing poor.
Booth saw not, but led his queer ones
Round and round…
Yet! in an instant all that blear review
Marched on spotless, clad in raiment new.The lame were straightened, withered limbs uncurled,
And blind eyes opened on a new, sweet world.
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
–Vachel Lindsay
Recordings
- Ives: General William Booth Enters into Heaven, Gerald Finley, Julius Drake Hyperion Records
Featured Image: William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army