The top five recordings of the Royal Marines band

You cannot beat the rousing precision, and panache of a Royal Marines Band in full swing. It's music of the highest order, where lively air and dramatic drums make for inspiring military marching music. Military band music, with its perfect time and step, complements a brisk walk perfectly. This article will look at the top five recordings of the Royal Marines band.

When Britannia ruled the waves

Rule Britannia
One of the most fiercely patriotic songs of them all, which tells a time when the British Navy did indeed ‘rule the waves’, Rule Britannia is a standard in any Royal Marines band set. The song originated from the poem by James Thomson, and was set to music in 1740 by Thomas Arne. The song is traditionally played at the Last Night of the Proms, and is a firm favourite amongst British military bands, and the Royal Marines Association. Jerusalem ‘And did those feet in ancient time, walk upon England’s mountains green?’ is the opening line to William Blake's classic poem Jerusalem, and one which nearly, everyone in Britain is familiar with. Blake’s patriotic master-piece was set to music, by composer Charles Hubert Hastings Parry in 1916, and the Royal Marines band has been performing it ever since. A Life on the Ocean Wave
Popular with people on both sides of the Atlantic, A Life on the Ocean Wave was written by Henry Russell in 1838, after watching ships enter a harbour in New York City. In 1882, it was adopted by the Royal Marines for the use of the regimental quick march.

When the British military bands go marching In

Colonel Bogey March
Written in 1914, by Lieutenant F. J. Rickets, who later became director of music for the Royal Marines, the Colonel Bogey March is the authorised march of The King's Own Calgary Regiment. Yet, it never sounds better than when the Royal Marines band are playing it. Interestingly enough, many vulgar and humourous verses have been sung to the tune, one of them, going by the title of "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball’. When the Saints Go Marching In
This American gospel classic and jazz standard needs no introduction.
Traditionally, the song was used as a funeral march. Eternally, entangled with the city of New Orleans and Louis Armstrong, ‘The Saints’ as it is sometimes known, always gets a standing ovation when the Royal Marines band perform their unique rendition. It is a well-loved standard within their set, which always brings out the
goose-bumps, and sends shivers up the spine of anyone, lucky enough to be in the audience.