Marsh Family sings 'Battle Hymn of the Empire' and other parodies

Today's short, evergreen entry is a musical interlude featuring the Marsh Family beginning with "Battle Hymn of the Empire" - Marsh Family adaptation of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" about Trump.

The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” is an iconic American song, drawing on lots of roots and precursors, but pulled into its most famous shape by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe. During the American Civil War it became a signature marching song for the Union Army, linked to patriotism and faith, and has since become part of the canon of American national music. We do not attempt or treat it lightly, but our version reflects on how the first week of 2026 has already seen Trump's troops advancing his domestic and foreign policy agendas. Every marching step is another step away from the principles and traditions embedded in the song: we have seen the transgression of international law in Venezuela, the murder of unarmed Americans in Minneapolis (and its defence by the administration), the US's withdrawal from multiple international organisations, and explicit threats issued to other sovereign powers and polities, including Greenland.

It didn't take the Marsh Family long to respond to Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump's raid and coup in Venezuela and threats to Greenland.*

That was dark, so I'm including two funnier parodies for an encore. First, "MTG Has Broken Cover" - Marsh Family parody of "Billie Jean" by MJ about Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The song Billy Jean was a fictional narrative about a woman who makes false claims and goes from desirable to undesirable. Released in 1983, it was the second single from the fantastic album “Thriller” and became Jackson’s best selling solo single. Lots of his lyrics address paranoia and distrust, but it was the fit of the protagonist’s name in the chorus that really clinched an idea for us to take on this classic pop-disco track.

We’ve twisted the words around the story of Marjorie Taylor Greene, and how one of the vocal “Big Beasts” of Trump’s support base has now rancorously broken with him.

*Snork* MTG as a xenomorph. Just the same, may she be the first of many rats abandoning Hoover Harding Cleveland's sinking ship.

I conclude with "Trump'll Nail Ya" - Marsh Family parody adaptation of sea shanty "Drunken Sailor" about BBC crisis.

It’s been a while since we revisited a sea shanty – you may recall, mother doesn’t approve of these – but we’ve dug deep and repurposed “Drunken Sailor” to talk about the news this week of the BBC cocking up their edit of a speech on a Panorama programme over a year ago (making it appear more vehement than it was). As a consequence of this hitting the headlines in a targeted attack on the UK’s flagship broadcaster, which has been caught up in culture wars, post-truth, and its own self-generated problems, Donald Trump has now issued a threat of legal action. Obviously this is a model he’s used to good effect (for his purposes) in the USA, having taken on ABC, CNN, and CBS and won big settlements there and elsewhere.

The first recorded description of “Drunken Sailor” is from a Pacific Ocean whaling voyage in 1839 that departed from New London, Connecticut. So very appropriate for Trump’s latest giant lumbering trans-oceanic phishing foray.

So much has gone on since this was recorded that I'd forgotten about the story.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for another brief evergreen entry tomorrow.

My friend from drum corps Kevin G. added the middle name on Bluesky. My response was "For the former record holder for dumbest U.S. president and also one of the most corrupt. Let's see how long it takes me to get used to the sound of Hoover Harding Cleveland." It took less than a week.