I Was Once a Teenage Hobo!

Circa mid-50s or was that circus mid-50s!?

Marching with the Pitman Original Hobo Band and playing a tuba of all things! And not very good cause I never told a lesson. I just huffed and puffed away! And what’s with that weird polka dot, no, polka square pattern outfit!

Me thinks we were playing,

When the Saints Come Marching In!

The Original Hobo Band was founded in Pitman, New Jersey in 1946 when a group of returning WWII veterans realized their old band uniforms no longer fit. So, they adopted the theme of the American hobo. The Original Hobo Band soon became known as the only marching brass band to not wear military-style uniforms: just old worn and torn up cloths.

Musically, the band has always shone brightly as reflected in the great demand to play concerts, parades, picnics, dedications, or any other affair where lively band music was needed. The band has placed first in well over 100 competitions. Band favorite selections included: When the Saints Go Marching On, and The Stars and Stripes Forever.

Yes!

When the Saints Go Marching In:

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Oh how, I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in …

This song was famously recorded on May 13, 1938, by Louis Armstrong and his orchestra. The song is sometimes confused with a similarly titled composition “When the Saints Are Marching In” from 1896 by Katharine Purvis (lyrics) and James Milton Black.